Postgame Quotes: vs. Northwestern
1/8/2023 2:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Northwestern
Jan. 8, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | HEAD COACH
Q. On the defensive issues…
WOODSON: Xavier Johnson and Race Thompson are sitting on the sideline, and X has been out a while now, who anchors in guarding the ball coming up the floor and does a lot of pretty good things defensively for us. That's why we're struggling a little bit defensively. We've got two starters that are sitting on the sideline, and I'm reaching trying to figure out who's going to replace that.
Q. On where things are at with the team…
WOODSON: Well, you've got to keep practicing, and we've got to keep working. Nobody is going to feel sorry for the Indiana Hoosiers, and yes, we've got to key guys that are sitting on the bench not in uniform, but we've got other guys that are in uniform that's got to step up and play.
I thought tonight getting down early, we struggled early on. Now, maybe I have to tinker with the lineup again. I thought starting Geronimo, I thought he would give us a lift being a junior and the fact that he's done it. By no means am I blaming it on Geronimo, but we got off to such a slow start, 17 down to a good team like that -- they're playing well. I'm not taking anything away from them. They played a hell of a game.
We got down early, and it was a dogfight trying to get back, and we could never get back.
Q. On playing zone…
WOODSON: We played a lot of zone, more zone than I've ever played as a coach. We picked up and we pressed in the 2-2-1 back to a 2-3. So yeah, I am trying to change it up a little bit. But still, no excuse. We gave up 80 points tonight, and you're not going to beat very many teams in the Big Ten giving up 80.
Q. On the turnovers…
WOODSON: Well, again, when you're dealing with young players, things like that happen. As well as Jalen played today, he had six turnovers. The turnovers that we had led to 25, 26 points, and that's tough to overcome.
We've got to be better in that area, and we have been. We've been averaging right at 12 a game, and 16 doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it's how you turn it over that leads to points and that puts you behind.
Q. On slowing things down defensively…
WOODSON: It ain't rocket science; you've got to work harder. You've got to work harder. I think they've outworked us the last two games, even though you just said it, we got off to a great start at Iowa, I think, and we didn't sustain it because the second half they outworked us.
I mean, it's something that we've got to continue to work. It's not going to -- nobody is just going to hand-deliver you wins. We've got to go earn a win. We've got to go to Penn State now and see what we're made of.
Q. On working harder…
WOODSON: Play harder, everything. Both sides of the ball. It's my job to get them to play harder. That might cure a lot of problems when you're struggling.
Q. On the play from Trayce Jackson-Davis…
WOODSON: Well, the guy had 18 and 24 points -- I mean, 24 rebounds and 18 points. I'd say he played a solid game.
When you're 17 down and you're searching, you surely don't want your best player sitting over there next to you. I thought he played his butt off, gave us all he could give us, but we fell short.
Q. On the foul issues…
WOODSON: Well, again, when you're down and you have to press, 10 of those fouls came at the very end, 10 points. So if you hadn't been in the game, you maybe hadn't had to foul, and the fouls would have been pretty evenly.
I thought we shot a few fouls ourselves. I don't know what we ended up shooting. We were 10 for 14, they were 19 for 28, but all of those came because we had to press and get back in the game to slow the clock down.
I mean, we haven't been fouling a whole lot. We've just got to make our free throws. We were a little bit better that area tonight. It cost us, I thought, at the Iowa game.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | FORWARD
Q. On what's breaking down defensively…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I think that obviously we need to quit fouling. We gave up about seven, eight fouls in the first 10 minutes, and then they're shooting bonus the rest of the way, and I also think that we're getting straight-line drived a lot, and it's requiring guys to get out of position and help, and it gives up open threes, and they're getting wide-open looks and they're knocking them down.
I think fouling and then just honestly straight-line drives are the biggest things for us.
Q. On Hood Schifino's scoring prowess…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, obviously he's one of our best players, and he's going to have the ball in his hand, especially with X out, and we need him to make plays. That's what he did tonight. He made big shot after big shot, and props to him because he really helped put the team on his back and carry us when we needed scoring. Without him, it could have been a 10-, 15-point game.
Q. On what's happened the last few games…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Well, obviously we've just got to regroup. We can't count on guys going down, but at the same time, it's the game of basketball, and we've got to have guys step up. We come out really strong against Iowa and then we lay an egg and come out flat here, and you can't have that when you're playing against Big Ten competition.
We've got to come out strong, and guys got to be ready to play, and that's the easiest way to put it. I've got to do a better job leading them to do that.
Q. On where the team needs to work harder…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think sometimes we kind of get discombobulated almost, where we're not playing our type of defense. Like the straight-line drives we got nail help, and sometimes the nail guy is not there, and we're just not going our coverages. Coach had a great game plan and I don't think we followed it at all, honestly. We didn't switch when we needed to switch, and it's mental errors.
When you don't listen to your coaches, that's going to really hurt you because obviously they were getting whatever shot they wanted.
Q. On trying to avoid lapses in games…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, I just got to talk to them. Some of these guys, they haven't ever been put in this position, especially with X and Race out. We've got guys coming in that have never been playing in Big Ten basketball games, like CJ Gunn coming in, Jordan Geronimo starting. Those are guys that haven't been put in this position, and they've got to learn, but they've got to learn fast.
I've just got to do a better job in getting them ready and prepared mentally to go because they have all the physical attributes to be ready, they've just got to get that mental block out of their system and then they'll be good.
Q. On the physical challenge of the Big Ten…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I'm really just, I get -- it's the Big Ten. I get treatment, and that's all I do. I get treatment and then I play. That's what I do. That's what I've got to do; if I've got to play 40 minutes, I've got to play 40 minutes. That's the biggest thing for me is I've got to be ready and get myself as good as I can to play in the next game, and that's what I'm going to keep doing because I know my team needs me.
JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO | GUARD
Q. On looking to eliminate turnovers…
HOOD-SCHIFINO: I mean, just got to stop turning the ball over. There's not really too much you can do. I think first half, that killed us, especially with me; I had some turnovers, and they had some lay-ups and everything and converted off it.
We've just got to be better with the ball, and we've got a long way to go, but we'll get there.
Q. On Jackson-Davis' effort…
HOOD-SCHIFINO: Yeah, I mean, he's giving it to us every night. He's a dominant player and one of the best players I've played with.
For a guy to go out there and play his heart out and for us to still come up short is definitely tough, a tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, we've just got to keep working. It's a grown man's league, so every single night we're going to play a tough team and it's going to be tough. We've just to go back to the drawing board, just keep working, clean up the little things, and we'll be fine.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
CHRIS COLLINS | NORTHWESTERN HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
COLLINS: It's always special to play in this building. I always feels fortunate. This is one of the iconic places, in my opinion, in all of college basketball. Someone who's loved the game so much, when you come in and see all that red and you see it packed, your juices get flowing. Just really proud of my team today. I thought the start of the game set a really good tone for us. I thought our execution early in the game was really good. We knew they were going to have a lot of energy coming off the game against Iowa the other night, and we knew how important the start of the game going to be. Especially with the crowd. Our ability to get open shots, share the ball, I thought we got downhill, we got some layups, some open dunks, open threes. Had the lead there under the four timeout and we knew, that's why they are a heck of a team and well coach, they're not going to go down without a fight. I'm just happy they ran out of time. (Jalen) Hood-Schifino, the shots he was making in the last three minutes, and obviously (Trey) Galloway throws in a three quarter court shot. Fortunate we had one more point than they did. We made our free-throws, we didn't have any turnovers during that stretch, and just feel fortunate to come away with a really big road win.
Q. On their defense…
COLLINS: even though we gave up 83 today, our defense has been our calling card. Our offense has been the one that's been a struggle. Our defense has carried us all year long, and then today we needed all the offense. I thought we did some good things in terms of creating turnovers. But they are difficult to guard because of what Trayce (Jackson-Davis) can do. He's not a prototypical, low-post player. He gets the ball out on the mid-post and he drives it. It's really hard to know when to help and how to play off. I thought our ability to get 25 points off of the turnovers was a huge stat to the game because they weren't able to get their defense set. We were able to attack in transition and get some easy ones. You've got to be able to find a way to do that on the road.
Q. On what the big road wins say about the team…
COLLINS: We have a lot of heart. It's still early. Every game, we've played four now, we have 16 to go. To play this schedule we've played these first four games, to play Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, and Indiana, two of those on the road and come out of that 3-1. That's a really good stretch for our guys. We're not perfect by any strands of the imagination. We have a lot of limitations, but our guys really battle and they really fight, and there's power when you have a together group. Everyone knows their roles. We know our guards are the ones that are our keys. They have the ball in their hands, they make the decisions, and those other guys are filling into their roles nicely. We get good production, the bench guys are coming in and helping us. Matt Nicholson's emergence. I thought Ty Berry's game today, a double double with 11 rebounds was huge from the wing position. I just love going into those locker rooms. You can tell when a team is really together and they know they layed it all on the line. Super proud of our effort today.
Indiana vs. Northwestern
Jan. 8, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | HEAD COACH
Q. On the defensive issues…
WOODSON: Xavier Johnson and Race Thompson are sitting on the sideline, and X has been out a while now, who anchors in guarding the ball coming up the floor and does a lot of pretty good things defensively for us. That's why we're struggling a little bit defensively. We've got two starters that are sitting on the sideline, and I'm reaching trying to figure out who's going to replace that.
Q. On where things are at with the team…
WOODSON: Well, you've got to keep practicing, and we've got to keep working. Nobody is going to feel sorry for the Indiana Hoosiers, and yes, we've got to key guys that are sitting on the bench not in uniform, but we've got other guys that are in uniform that's got to step up and play.
I thought tonight getting down early, we struggled early on. Now, maybe I have to tinker with the lineup again. I thought starting Geronimo, I thought he would give us a lift being a junior and the fact that he's done it. By no means am I blaming it on Geronimo, but we got off to such a slow start, 17 down to a good team like that -- they're playing well. I'm not taking anything away from them. They played a hell of a game.
We got down early, and it was a dogfight trying to get back, and we could never get back.
Q. On playing zone…
WOODSON: We played a lot of zone, more zone than I've ever played as a coach. We picked up and we pressed in the 2-2-1 back to a 2-3. So yeah, I am trying to change it up a little bit. But still, no excuse. We gave up 80 points tonight, and you're not going to beat very many teams in the Big Ten giving up 80.
Q. On the turnovers…
WOODSON: Well, again, when you're dealing with young players, things like that happen. As well as Jalen played today, he had six turnovers. The turnovers that we had led to 25, 26 points, and that's tough to overcome.
We've got to be better in that area, and we have been. We've been averaging right at 12 a game, and 16 doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it's how you turn it over that leads to points and that puts you behind.
Q. On slowing things down defensively…
WOODSON: It ain't rocket science; you've got to work harder. You've got to work harder. I think they've outworked us the last two games, even though you just said it, we got off to a great start at Iowa, I think, and we didn't sustain it because the second half they outworked us.
I mean, it's something that we've got to continue to work. It's not going to -- nobody is just going to hand-deliver you wins. We've got to go earn a win. We've got to go to Penn State now and see what we're made of.
Q. On working harder…
WOODSON: Play harder, everything. Both sides of the ball. It's my job to get them to play harder. That might cure a lot of problems when you're struggling.
Q. On the play from Trayce Jackson-Davis…
WOODSON: Well, the guy had 18 and 24 points -- I mean, 24 rebounds and 18 points. I'd say he played a solid game.
When you're 17 down and you're searching, you surely don't want your best player sitting over there next to you. I thought he played his butt off, gave us all he could give us, but we fell short.
Q. On the foul issues…
WOODSON: Well, again, when you're down and you have to press, 10 of those fouls came at the very end, 10 points. So if you hadn't been in the game, you maybe hadn't had to foul, and the fouls would have been pretty evenly.
I thought we shot a few fouls ourselves. I don't know what we ended up shooting. We were 10 for 14, they were 19 for 28, but all of those came because we had to press and get back in the game to slow the clock down.
I mean, we haven't been fouling a whole lot. We've just got to make our free throws. We were a little bit better that area tonight. It cost us, I thought, at the Iowa game.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | FORWARD
Q. On what's breaking down defensively…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I think that obviously we need to quit fouling. We gave up about seven, eight fouls in the first 10 minutes, and then they're shooting bonus the rest of the way, and I also think that we're getting straight-line drived a lot, and it's requiring guys to get out of position and help, and it gives up open threes, and they're getting wide-open looks and they're knocking them down.
I think fouling and then just honestly straight-line drives are the biggest things for us.
Q. On Hood Schifino's scoring prowess…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, obviously he's one of our best players, and he's going to have the ball in his hand, especially with X out, and we need him to make plays. That's what he did tonight. He made big shot after big shot, and props to him because he really helped put the team on his back and carry us when we needed scoring. Without him, it could have been a 10-, 15-point game.
Q. On what's happened the last few games…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Well, obviously we've just got to regroup. We can't count on guys going down, but at the same time, it's the game of basketball, and we've got to have guys step up. We come out really strong against Iowa and then we lay an egg and come out flat here, and you can't have that when you're playing against Big Ten competition.
We've got to come out strong, and guys got to be ready to play, and that's the easiest way to put it. I've got to do a better job leading them to do that.
Q. On where the team needs to work harder…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think sometimes we kind of get discombobulated almost, where we're not playing our type of defense. Like the straight-line drives we got nail help, and sometimes the nail guy is not there, and we're just not going our coverages. Coach had a great game plan and I don't think we followed it at all, honestly. We didn't switch when we needed to switch, and it's mental errors.
When you don't listen to your coaches, that's going to really hurt you because obviously they were getting whatever shot they wanted.
Q. On trying to avoid lapses in games…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, I just got to talk to them. Some of these guys, they haven't ever been put in this position, especially with X and Race out. We've got guys coming in that have never been playing in Big Ten basketball games, like CJ Gunn coming in, Jordan Geronimo starting. Those are guys that haven't been put in this position, and they've got to learn, but they've got to learn fast.
I've just got to do a better job in getting them ready and prepared mentally to go because they have all the physical attributes to be ready, they've just got to get that mental block out of their system and then they'll be good.
Q. On the physical challenge of the Big Ten…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I'm really just, I get -- it's the Big Ten. I get treatment, and that's all I do. I get treatment and then I play. That's what I do. That's what I've got to do; if I've got to play 40 minutes, I've got to play 40 minutes. That's the biggest thing for me is I've got to be ready and get myself as good as I can to play in the next game, and that's what I'm going to keep doing because I know my team needs me.
JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO | GUARD
Q. On looking to eliminate turnovers…
HOOD-SCHIFINO: I mean, just got to stop turning the ball over. There's not really too much you can do. I think first half, that killed us, especially with me; I had some turnovers, and they had some lay-ups and everything and converted off it.
We've just got to be better with the ball, and we've got a long way to go, but we'll get there.
Q. On Jackson-Davis' effort…
HOOD-SCHIFINO: Yeah, I mean, he's giving it to us every night. He's a dominant player and one of the best players I've played with.
For a guy to go out there and play his heart out and for us to still come up short is definitely tough, a tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, we've just got to keep working. It's a grown man's league, so every single night we're going to play a tough team and it's going to be tough. We've just to go back to the drawing board, just keep working, clean up the little things, and we'll be fine.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
CHRIS COLLINS | NORTHWESTERN HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
COLLINS: It's always special to play in this building. I always feels fortunate. This is one of the iconic places, in my opinion, in all of college basketball. Someone who's loved the game so much, when you come in and see all that red and you see it packed, your juices get flowing. Just really proud of my team today. I thought the start of the game set a really good tone for us. I thought our execution early in the game was really good. We knew they were going to have a lot of energy coming off the game against Iowa the other night, and we knew how important the start of the game going to be. Especially with the crowd. Our ability to get open shots, share the ball, I thought we got downhill, we got some layups, some open dunks, open threes. Had the lead there under the four timeout and we knew, that's why they are a heck of a team and well coach, they're not going to go down without a fight. I'm just happy they ran out of time. (Jalen) Hood-Schifino, the shots he was making in the last three minutes, and obviously (Trey) Galloway throws in a three quarter court shot. Fortunate we had one more point than they did. We made our free-throws, we didn't have any turnovers during that stretch, and just feel fortunate to come away with a really big road win.
Q. On their defense…
COLLINS: even though we gave up 83 today, our defense has been our calling card. Our offense has been the one that's been a struggle. Our defense has carried us all year long, and then today we needed all the offense. I thought we did some good things in terms of creating turnovers. But they are difficult to guard because of what Trayce (Jackson-Davis) can do. He's not a prototypical, low-post player. He gets the ball out on the mid-post and he drives it. It's really hard to know when to help and how to play off. I thought our ability to get 25 points off of the turnovers was a huge stat to the game because they weren't able to get their defense set. We were able to attack in transition and get some easy ones. You've got to be able to find a way to do that on the road.
Q. On what the big road wins say about the team…
COLLINS: We have a lot of heart. It's still early. Every game, we've played four now, we have 16 to go. To play this schedule we've played these first four games, to play Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, and Indiana, two of those on the road and come out of that 3-1. That's a really good stretch for our guys. We're not perfect by any strands of the imagination. We have a lot of limitations, but our guys really battle and they really fight, and there's power when you have a together group. Everyone knows their roles. We know our guards are the ones that are our keys. They have the ball in their hands, they make the decisions, and those other guys are filling into their roles nicely. We get good production, the bench guys are coming in and helping us. Matt Nicholson's emergence. I thought Ty Berry's game today, a double double with 11 rebounds was huge from the wing position. I just love going into those locker rooms. You can tell when a team is really together and they know they layed it all on the line. Super proud of our effort today.
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