Postgame Quotes vs. No. 2/2 Kansas

Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. No. 2/2 Kansas
Dec. 16, 2023

MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH

Q. On losing the lead in the last four to five minutes…
WOODSON: I don't think our defensive intensity was there the second half like we started the game and finished the first half. They picked their defense up. It was obvious. They held us through 31 points, and we gave up 43.

For the most part I thought we played a solid game, but they made the plays coming down the stretch. The two threes they made were huge. Then the two buckets Dickinson hit in the paint was kind of the difference in the game coming down the stretch.

Q. On Galloway's career night…
WOODSON: He had a good game. It was good to see because he's had his ups and downs this season. But tonight, he had a solid basketball game. I just hope he can build on that.

Q. On Ware's performance…
WOODSON: Well, I thought he did a good job early on. I thought the two buckets that we gave up, we gave up a layup to Adams, which we didn't take a foul. I mean, it was Ware that let him lay it in.

Then the two buckets that Dickinson got in the paint I thought was huge. I don't know if Ware was tired at that particular time, but he just didn't battle him like he did the first half and throughout the first half.

I thought those two shots were huge for them coming down the stretch.

Q. On Kansas' defensive adjustments…
WOODSON: We had Malik and Mackenzie both in foul trouble after we built the lead. We stayed around eight, nine, ten points in the second half early on. Those two guys picked up fouls, so you had to pull 'em and try to prolong the game. I thought that was somewhat the difference, too. They were able to capitalize on that.

Q. On the benefit and the growth team showed despite the loss…
WOODSON: Well, it's really the first game that we've had, we've been in a lot of close games, even the early games we've had, and we didn't cave. I thought tonight we didn't make the plays defensively that we needed to make in a game like this.

But it's a game that we can definitely build on, especially after you come out of a game like the Auburn game. I didn't know which way we would go.

I thought we played pretty well. You got to tip your hat to Bill and his team because they did everything they needed to do to secure the win down the stretch. We just didn't get it done.

Q. On if he encouraged Trey to be aggressive…
WOODSON: No. I encourage him to play hard, do the things that I think he's capable of doing. I thought tonight he finally displayed that.

I mean, I don't think anybody is holding Trey back. He had a hell of a game tonight. I was happy to see that. I just hope he can build on it.

Q. Kansas wasn't a team that was forcing a lot of turnovers coming into this game. Did they do anything different against you guys you didn't see on film?
WOODSON: I thought fatigue set in. I played (Gabe) Cupps and Gallo (Trey Galloway) the whole second half. I thought fatigue set in. Gallo (Trey Galloway) had about three turnovers coming down the stretch and ended up with five turnovers. That's normally not him.

I thought the fatigue factor and the fact we played him the minutes that we did kind of hurt us a little bit.

Q. On how Kansas' defended Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware…
WOODSON: Well, we knew coming into the game that it was going to be our starting five pretty much against their starting five. Their starting five won out.

No, I thought Ware didn't get a whole lot of good looks. Malik had a few good looks inside that he just didn't complete. For the most part I thought they played a pretty good ballgame. I got to get Malik rebounding the ball a little bit more. That might help us.

Q. On the response from the Auburn loss…
WOODSON: As a coach, I'm going to always have confidence in my team. We just had to go back to work. We put a good week of work in. We kind of put the Auburn game behind us because nobody wants to sit through that. As a coach and as a player, you don't want to go through that. But we did.

I thought we rebounded tonight. But again, we didn't win, so we got to go back to work tomorrow and get ready for our next two games.

TREY GALLOWAY | INDIANA GUARD

Q. On how to close out better in tight games…
GALLOWAY: Yeah, I mean I think down the stretch we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. I mean, a team like that, who's that talented and skilled, just poised, you can't let 'em hang around.

We got to extend that led at the 10-minute mark because they kept cutting into the lead, eventually took the lead.

If you let them stick around, they're going to be in the game. They just came out on top. We got to put them away when we have a chance.

Q. On what he saw on film this week from Kansas and being aggressive at the rim…
GALLOWAY: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us was the guards to be aggressive 'cause we saw what they were doing to our bigs. They wouldn't let them play. We had to step up and do some things.

I mean, we were moving with pace, so I was able to get over ball screens, on the DHLs, get downhill. I had shots and certain reads. But I thought overall there's many things that could improve on, as well.

Q. On the difference between this game and Auburn…
GALLOWAY: I'd say just our competitiveness. I mean, we got out-toughed against Auburn, and it showed in the second half, late in the first half. I think we took the right step forward.
Obviously, we didn't get the job done today, but they're a great team right now, they got a lot of experienced guys that have been there for a while, have championship DNA.

I think for us to learn from this 'cause, I mean, it hurts and stings, but there's a lot of good things to take away from it, too.

Q. On the missed 3-pointer late in the game…
GALLOWAY: Of course. I mean, I thought it was good. I mean, not all shots fall. Next opportunity I get, I'm going to shoot it again and make sure I make it.
I got to keep trusting my work 'cause I work hard for this. I know I'm going to be able to make shots. Next one I get, I'm going to make sure I knock it down.

Q. On what the team learned after this last week…
GALLOWAY: Yeah, I mean, we got fight. I know we got guys that are willing to compete. We showed it for 40 minutes today.
I think the biggest thing for us, those kind of games, down the stretch you got to be the more poised team and make winning plays down the stretch. They did that. They were able to make winning plays.

They came out on top.

I think just continuing to get better and learn from each other 'cause we're starting two freshmen right now, so we're still kind of getting them to come along. I think they're doing a great job.

We're only going to get better from here on out. I'm proud of my team.

Q. On if fatigue was a factor down the stretch…
GALLOWAY: I mean, no, I think down the stretch it's all about just really honing in on what they're trying to do. I mean, there's many plays I can think of down the stretch where there were some times we messed up assignments. I got to be able to get through that assignment. When Kevin (McCullar) hits that three, that was a big one, put them up three. Obviously the low-post catches for Hunter, you can't guard that. He's going to score that.

I think there's a lot of things we got to clean up down the stretch because those are the guys they're going to. We got to know that.

Q. On moving forward from here…
TREY GALLOWAY: I mean, it is. We're going to watch the film and learn from it. I mean, the great thing is we have another opportunity Tuesday to bounce back. We got to learn from this. Like I said, it stings. We got to bounce back, learn for the next game Tuesday.

Q. On what Kansas did differently in the second half…
GALLOWAY: You could tell they were more urgent in their defense. They were kind of really more focused and in a stance kind of doing more things to disrupt us, maybe trapping the handoffs, doing certain things to take us out of our rhythm.

I think we just got to find ways to keep flowing in the second half and keep playing our game. We can't let them affect what we do if they change up certain stuff.
I think for us, just really lock in on our game plan and stick with it.

Q. On how fatigue hurt the team in the last five minutes…
GALLOWAY: I mean, you could say that. We can't really focus on that because, I mean, their starting five is playing a lot of minutes as well. They have a lot of guys playing down the stretch with foul trouble. They'll still playing. They played a lot of minutes.

I think having our bench be ready whenever their name is called is going to be huge for us because it's not always going to be my night or someone else's night. It's going to be someone else stepping up, too. We have guys that are going to step up in big-time moments.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

BILL SELF | KANSAS HEAD COACH
Q. On what he told the team at halftime…
SELF: I didn't think that we were aggressive at all in the first half. We tried trapping the post and staying connected with (Kel'el Ware and Malik Reneau). When you do that, you take your most aggressive guy off guarding on the perimeter, which is KJ (Adams Jr.). We decided to go back and switch four and let Hunter (Dickinson) be a designated trapper. They would get to that a lot. I thought we did a pretty good job in the second half. Statistically, we really defended and turned (Indiana) over a few key times. Offensively is where we really executed, I thought the last seven or eight minutes.

Q. On Indiana's defense…
SELF: They had six feet in the paint for a lot of possessions it seemed like. I told the team that we are not going to win the game unless we make some shots. I thought in the first half that we got some good looks from behind the arc and didn't make them. We missed some layups. I don't know what we were from the free throw line in the first half, but I thought it was bad. We gave up some opportunities there, but it was an eight-point game that could have been three or five, but it could have also been 13 or 15. They had some transition opportunities where one time Mackenzie (Mgbako) went off of his foot when they had numbers. I told our guys that we should feel fortunate to be only down eight. Eight is still very manageable. If we play well in the first eight minutes, it's anyone's game. We didn't play well coming out of halftime, but from about the 14-minute mark I thought we played really well.

Q. On the value of having experience to close out games…
SELF: We got the ball to Hunter where we wanted to when we needed to. Guys drove the ball. When we got to the bonus, guys drove it more and guys got to the free throw line. I don't think Kevin (McCullar Jr.) had a great offensively until the game was actually on the line at game point. Then he makes a huge three and dominates the game, offensively, for us the last three minutes by driving the ball and getting to the line. Dajuan's (Harris Jr.) floater game came back. He is such a good floater shooter and hasn't made them this year, but he came back and looked to score. I thought Jamari (McDowell) and Elmarko (Jackson) gave us good minutes. It was just a hell of a team win. It was a great environment. What a place to play. I've been (to Assembly Hall) three times in the last 22 years. It's as good as any place. We have left here happy twice, and we were very fortunate to. That was a great atmosphere.

Players Mentioned

Trey Galloway

Malik Reneau

Kel'el Ware

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