Postgame Quotes Indiana vs. Marian (Exhibition)
11/3/2023 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Marian (Exhibition)
Nov. 3, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On Kel'el Ware…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, it's been a lot of really going at him in practice to get him to be aggressive and do the things that we want him to do on the offensive end. And he's starting to show some signs that he can do that.
I mean, he's a skilled guy, but we've got to get him now where -- because it's getting ready to start for real now, and he's going to be playing much bigger guys, more talented bigs.
I'm just curious to see where he's going to be once we start that journey.
Q. On shooting 25 free throws…
WOODSON: It takes a lot of pressure off playing that half court. We also had 27 points, fast break points. And that's going to be huge moving forward so we don't have to rely on playing so much in the half court.
We can generate points with our defense. That's a bonus when you are playing offense, when you can get up and passing lanes and disrupt opponents with your defense and get steals and get out and run. That's how the game should be played.
Q. On the guards taking care of the ball…
WOODSON: Again, we've been stressing, we watched so much from a film standpoint where we just are not making the extra pass. Our guy draws two people and somebody's sitting there wide open and we'll try to drive through the guy, through the two people and around them instead of making the extra pass. That's going to be critical.
The only way you beat defenses is you've got to make the extra pass. If it calls for you to set a screen, you have to set screens. I thought tonight we really sacrificed the ball and made assists. X and Gal both had six assists tonight.
Q. On Mackenzie Mgbako…
WOODSON: He's been solid. He's been solid ever since he came here. From a defensive standpoint, we have to speed the process up with him because the way we scramble and do things, you've got to communicate it and then you've got to give energy to get where we need to go from a defensive standpoint. And he's still in the learning stages right now, as well as a lot of the newcomers.
Q. On Anthony Walker…
WOODSON: He's been solid. He's given me enough confidence, that whole second unit has given me enough confidence since we've been together that I can play them. I mean, I feel good -- somebody's not playing well in the first unit, I feel really good about playing guys in the second unit because they compete. They like to compete. And that's how it's got to be the rest of this season.
Q. On Ware's second-half production…
WOODSON: Well, I called a couple of plays for him in the second half. But it's not about play calling. I mean, he's big enough when we run our pick and roll offense, he's big enough to roll and demand the ball as a big target. He can run the floor and get buckets that way. He can get offensive rebounds.
So, I mean, I've never bought into guys saying, well, Coach, you don't run plays for me. There's all kind of ways of scoring the basketball. And he's capable of doing that. And sometimes you have to pick on other guys that are guarding him.
I mean, I ran a back screen where he got a bullet pass down the middle and ended up laying it in. Plays like that, you gotta take advantage of it, but I thought he was solid tonight.
He did a lot of good things on the floor. I was out there. And we're going to need him to continue to grow.
Q. On the first game after Bob Knight's passing…
WOODSON: I mean, it's been tough. I prep every game the same way. But knowing that he's not around anymore, it means more now to me.
I mean, I wish I could do all the things he's done as a coach, which is impossible to do, for me. And my thoughts will always be with him. They'll never go anywhere.
As long as I come into this building knowing that this is Bob Knight's building, I'm going to always think about him and just hopefully I can make him proud. That's all I think about every day that I come here and work and coach.
Q. On the concern heading into the season…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, again, these are two practice games. When it's for real, I mean, I don't have a concern. I just want to make sure that our guys are prepared and ready to play at a high level and just keep doing the things that we've been doing. I mean, we've done some pretty good things from an offensive and defensive standpoint and we've got to build on those things and don't forget how we've done them. That's what's important moving forward. And everybody's got to push each other to get better. We've still got a long way to go and it starts on Tuesday.
GABE CUPPS | INDIANA GUARD & KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER
Q. On how he feels about his game…
WARE: I feel like my game has just been evolved, and the more I get in shape, like Coach Woodson said, the past previous practice he's been pushing me to run hard and all the coaches have. The more I get in condition, I feel like we're going to be a better team.
Q. On getting adjusted to the college game…
CUPPS: I think playing extended minutes tonight kind of showed me that you can still get tired with those long media timeouts. But playing with guys like Kel'el, it makes the game a lot easier just to be able to read ball screens and be able to come off, like you can just throw it up if somebody's not there or if they're trailing it or if they can't see the ball. So it definitely adds a whole other element to the game that makes it more fun.
Q. On getting support from the team…
WARE: It means a lot. Because if you do make a mistake, just leave it in the past, just move on to the next play, the next play, and just keep going until we win the game.
Q. On what Ware opens in an offense…
CUPPS: I would say he just creates a lot more space vertically and just throughout the court, especially to be able to step out and shoot like he can. Bigs can't get detached from him.
If they go out and close out on him, he's athletic and he moves well enough to be able to put it on the floor and back cut and throw lobs, be a threat vertically too.
Q. On being a defensive catalyst…
CUPPS: I mean, I think we try to take it to the red team every day and we try to challenge them. So everybody just competes on our team, and I think when everybody's going at each other and they have the thought in mind they're just making each other better, that's when you get a really successful team. I think I've done a good job in practice of just coming consistently and pressuring the ball all the time. When I get out here, guys usually aren't as fast or strong as X that I'm guarding every day in practice.
I feel confident that if I can get up and pressure X every day, then I can come out here and pressure guys up the floor the whole time.
Q. On the late timeout in the first half…
WARE: Well, we knew that they were a team that could shoot the ball, and so we had to just make sure that we get to the 3-point line, if they drive in, then of course we have bigs down there that could block, me, Malik, and Walk, he had a couple of blocks tonight. Just had to take away their two-points.
Q. On the second-half production…
WARE: I would say in the first half I'm sort of just moving at a fast pace when all I've got to do is just slow down. Once I slow down everything will just come to me and everything will open up for the team.
Q. On his aggressiveness…
WARE: I would say it's mental. Like I said, in the first half, everything would be sped up, when all I have to do is just slow down and everything will come to you, the floor will open, you'll be able to see everything, instead of just rushing into a move to it.
Q. On getting out and running…
CUPPS: Coach Woodson has made it a point to us that we want to try to thrive in transition and get a lot of fastbreak points. Anytime I get the ball and see open floor, I want to push it and try to get guys easy shots. I think it's deflating for a defense to give stuff up in transition, and with our ball pressure and our anticipation on defense, we can get out and run a lot. That's good for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
SCOTT HEADY | MARIAN HEAD COACH
OPENING STATEMENT: We came here, and this is a great experience for our guys to play in this environment against a Big Ten opponent, one of the top programs over the years in the country. It was a great experience for our guys. We talked before the game that we just wanted to have as many good possessions in the game as we could have. That maybe they score. That may be that we don't score. But as long as we had a good defensive possession doing the things we can do, and a good offensive possession doing the things we wanted to do. I thought we had a lot of those, so we can take a lot of good things from this. At halftime their transition points and they got to the free throw line a lot, and we turned the basketball over. The second half, it was the opposite. We didn't turn the basketball over. We kept them off the free throw line. They didn't hurt us on the offensive boards. Those are all positive things. Their defensive length and their athleticism obviously hurt us on the offensive end. They didn't give us a lot of easy looks. The first ten minutes of the second half they hit shots, they got threes going in and (Kel'el) Ware got going inside, and our offense got a little stagnant at the same time. But overall, it was a great experience and I think we can take a lot of good things from the game.
Q. On difference from playing Indiana last season…
HEADY: There are some similarities. (Trayce) Jackson-Davis didn't play in our game last year, so that was a big difference in that game. But it was really a lot similar. We shot at around 37 percent in the game. It was the same thing today. Their length and athleticism was an issue with us at times, but we did battle and I think in the first half and the last six to eight minutes I'm pleased with what we did.
Q. On the challenges that switching defenders creates…
HEADY: It takes you out of your actions. The things that you usually get, you're not getting those things. We didn't run as many sets as we would usually run. We just had to come down and space the floor and try to run some motion. (Indiana) took us out of some of the things that we would usually run in the half court. They can switch everything if they wanted to. Those big guys can move, guard, and cause a lot of problems. That was something that we didn't adjust to very well.
Indiana vs. Marian (Exhibition)
Nov. 3, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On Kel'el Ware…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, it's been a lot of really going at him in practice to get him to be aggressive and do the things that we want him to do on the offensive end. And he's starting to show some signs that he can do that.
I mean, he's a skilled guy, but we've got to get him now where -- because it's getting ready to start for real now, and he's going to be playing much bigger guys, more talented bigs.
I'm just curious to see where he's going to be once we start that journey.
Q. On shooting 25 free throws…
WOODSON: It takes a lot of pressure off playing that half court. We also had 27 points, fast break points. And that's going to be huge moving forward so we don't have to rely on playing so much in the half court.
We can generate points with our defense. That's a bonus when you are playing offense, when you can get up and passing lanes and disrupt opponents with your defense and get steals and get out and run. That's how the game should be played.
Q. On the guards taking care of the ball…
WOODSON: Again, we've been stressing, we watched so much from a film standpoint where we just are not making the extra pass. Our guy draws two people and somebody's sitting there wide open and we'll try to drive through the guy, through the two people and around them instead of making the extra pass. That's going to be critical.
The only way you beat defenses is you've got to make the extra pass. If it calls for you to set a screen, you have to set screens. I thought tonight we really sacrificed the ball and made assists. X and Gal both had six assists tonight.
Q. On Mackenzie Mgbako…
WOODSON: He's been solid. He's been solid ever since he came here. From a defensive standpoint, we have to speed the process up with him because the way we scramble and do things, you've got to communicate it and then you've got to give energy to get where we need to go from a defensive standpoint. And he's still in the learning stages right now, as well as a lot of the newcomers.
Q. On Anthony Walker…
WOODSON: He's been solid. He's given me enough confidence, that whole second unit has given me enough confidence since we've been together that I can play them. I mean, I feel good -- somebody's not playing well in the first unit, I feel really good about playing guys in the second unit because they compete. They like to compete. And that's how it's got to be the rest of this season.
Q. On Ware's second-half production…
WOODSON: Well, I called a couple of plays for him in the second half. But it's not about play calling. I mean, he's big enough when we run our pick and roll offense, he's big enough to roll and demand the ball as a big target. He can run the floor and get buckets that way. He can get offensive rebounds.
So, I mean, I've never bought into guys saying, well, Coach, you don't run plays for me. There's all kind of ways of scoring the basketball. And he's capable of doing that. And sometimes you have to pick on other guys that are guarding him.
I mean, I ran a back screen where he got a bullet pass down the middle and ended up laying it in. Plays like that, you gotta take advantage of it, but I thought he was solid tonight.
He did a lot of good things on the floor. I was out there. And we're going to need him to continue to grow.
Q. On the first game after Bob Knight's passing…
WOODSON: I mean, it's been tough. I prep every game the same way. But knowing that he's not around anymore, it means more now to me.
I mean, I wish I could do all the things he's done as a coach, which is impossible to do, for me. And my thoughts will always be with him. They'll never go anywhere.
As long as I come into this building knowing that this is Bob Knight's building, I'm going to always think about him and just hopefully I can make him proud. That's all I think about every day that I come here and work and coach.
Q. On the concern heading into the season…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, again, these are two practice games. When it's for real, I mean, I don't have a concern. I just want to make sure that our guys are prepared and ready to play at a high level and just keep doing the things that we've been doing. I mean, we've done some pretty good things from an offensive and defensive standpoint and we've got to build on those things and don't forget how we've done them. That's what's important moving forward. And everybody's got to push each other to get better. We've still got a long way to go and it starts on Tuesday.
GABE CUPPS | INDIANA GUARD & KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER
Q. On how he feels about his game…
WARE: I feel like my game has just been evolved, and the more I get in shape, like Coach Woodson said, the past previous practice he's been pushing me to run hard and all the coaches have. The more I get in condition, I feel like we're going to be a better team.
Q. On getting adjusted to the college game…
CUPPS: I think playing extended minutes tonight kind of showed me that you can still get tired with those long media timeouts. But playing with guys like Kel'el, it makes the game a lot easier just to be able to read ball screens and be able to come off, like you can just throw it up if somebody's not there or if they're trailing it or if they can't see the ball. So it definitely adds a whole other element to the game that makes it more fun.
Q. On getting support from the team…
WARE: It means a lot. Because if you do make a mistake, just leave it in the past, just move on to the next play, the next play, and just keep going until we win the game.
Q. On what Ware opens in an offense…
CUPPS: I would say he just creates a lot more space vertically and just throughout the court, especially to be able to step out and shoot like he can. Bigs can't get detached from him.
If they go out and close out on him, he's athletic and he moves well enough to be able to put it on the floor and back cut and throw lobs, be a threat vertically too.
Q. On being a defensive catalyst…
CUPPS: I mean, I think we try to take it to the red team every day and we try to challenge them. So everybody just competes on our team, and I think when everybody's going at each other and they have the thought in mind they're just making each other better, that's when you get a really successful team. I think I've done a good job in practice of just coming consistently and pressuring the ball all the time. When I get out here, guys usually aren't as fast or strong as X that I'm guarding every day in practice.
I feel confident that if I can get up and pressure X every day, then I can come out here and pressure guys up the floor the whole time.
Q. On the late timeout in the first half…
WARE: Well, we knew that they were a team that could shoot the ball, and so we had to just make sure that we get to the 3-point line, if they drive in, then of course we have bigs down there that could block, me, Malik, and Walk, he had a couple of blocks tonight. Just had to take away their two-points.
Q. On the second-half production…
WARE: I would say in the first half I'm sort of just moving at a fast pace when all I've got to do is just slow down. Once I slow down everything will just come to me and everything will open up for the team.
Q. On his aggressiveness…
WARE: I would say it's mental. Like I said, in the first half, everything would be sped up, when all I have to do is just slow down and everything will come to you, the floor will open, you'll be able to see everything, instead of just rushing into a move to it.
Q. On getting out and running…
CUPPS: Coach Woodson has made it a point to us that we want to try to thrive in transition and get a lot of fastbreak points. Anytime I get the ball and see open floor, I want to push it and try to get guys easy shots. I think it's deflating for a defense to give stuff up in transition, and with our ball pressure and our anticipation on defense, we can get out and run a lot. That's good for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
SCOTT HEADY | MARIAN HEAD COACH
OPENING STATEMENT: We came here, and this is a great experience for our guys to play in this environment against a Big Ten opponent, one of the top programs over the years in the country. It was a great experience for our guys. We talked before the game that we just wanted to have as many good possessions in the game as we could have. That maybe they score. That may be that we don't score. But as long as we had a good defensive possession doing the things we can do, and a good offensive possession doing the things we wanted to do. I thought we had a lot of those, so we can take a lot of good things from this. At halftime their transition points and they got to the free throw line a lot, and we turned the basketball over. The second half, it was the opposite. We didn't turn the basketball over. We kept them off the free throw line. They didn't hurt us on the offensive boards. Those are all positive things. Their defensive length and their athleticism obviously hurt us on the offensive end. They didn't give us a lot of easy looks. The first ten minutes of the second half they hit shots, they got threes going in and (Kel'el) Ware got going inside, and our offense got a little stagnant at the same time. But overall, it was a great experience and I think we can take a lot of good things from the game.
Q. On difference from playing Indiana last season…
HEADY: There are some similarities. (Trayce) Jackson-Davis didn't play in our game last year, so that was a big difference in that game. But it was really a lot similar. We shot at around 37 percent in the game. It was the same thing today. Their length and athleticism was an issue with us at times, but we did battle and I think in the first half and the last six to eight minutes I'm pleased with what we did.
Q. On the challenges that switching defenders creates…
HEADY: It takes you out of your actions. The things that you usually get, you're not getting those things. We didn't run as many sets as we would usually run. We just had to come down and space the floor and try to run some motion. (Indiana) took us out of some of the things that we would usually run in the half court. They can switch everything if they wanted to. Those big guys can move, guard, and cause a lot of problems. That was something that we didn't adjust to very well.
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