Postgame Quotes: vs. North Alabama

Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. North Alabama
Dec. 21, 2023

MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On the 3-point shooting…
WOODSON: It's good to see the ball go in the hole. When you take 'em, you're supposed to make 'em. I thought tonight we did a good job in getting the ball moved around. We had 25 assists. That means the ball was moving a little bit and guys made some shots.

Q. On the ball movement leading to good shooting…
WOODSON: Well, again, we've had good looks all year. The ball has moved some all year. Just got to stick the ball in the hole when you have the shots. I thought tonight guys were comfortable, they shot it. When they had the shoot they took it and they made it.

But we had bodies moving. We set some screens. That helps, too. You got some good looks.

Q. On Trey playing with an edge…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, again, when Gabe got the two fouls, Trey is basically our only ball handler big-time on the floor. I thought he did a great job in getting us into our sets and getting the ball where it needed to go. CJ, helped out a little bit, as well.

Then we were able to get Gabe back in after we rested him a little bit. I went with him before the half even with the two fouls and told him to be smart about not picking up his third.

Q. On Malik's 3-point shooting…
WOODSON: Well, it helps. I mean, he hadn't taken a whole lot of them this year. The fact that he shot 'em all tonight in rhythm, that helps. That's with anybody that's shooting the three ball.
I mean, if you sit there, we've had this year quite a few where we set on the three-point line wide open, we just didn't knock 'em down. I thought tonight everybody who made 'em were in rhythm and felt pretty good. Was kind of nice to see the ball go through the hole.

Q. On extended minutes from the bench pieces…
WOODSON: Well, again, they haven't played a whole lot of minutes. You can see some of the fatigue set in, even with Payton, the minutes that he played.
With that group, I got to do extra work 'cause they're not getting big-time minutes. So when they're called upon, I expect them to play and produce.

We got to do extra work with that group, which we have been doing. But we got to continue that because you never know. Somebody goes down, you're going to have to depend on them for a stretch of minutes that can help you win a basketball game.

We'll keep working with those guys. I was pleased with their play tonight. They did some good things for us. Hopefully we can just grow from that and after the break come back ready and get ready for Kennesaw.

Q. On the turnaround from Tuesday…
WOODSON: Yeah, I mean, a win's a win to me because I'm always gauging based on how we play. We didn't play particularly well in our last ballgame, the first half. The second half, when we went on our run, we started playing Indiana basketball.

Tonight I thought we came out ready. We consistently played well throughout the course of the game. The results was a win.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Enjoy your holidays.

MALIK RENEAU | INDIANA FORWARD
Q. On his three-point shooting…
RENEAU: A lot of improvement from the three. I think we really coming in, like, this past week or so, you could see a lot of people had been in the gym getting up shots, getting up extra shots. Even during practice, after practice, before practice.

I think that contributed to having so much confidence on the court and being able to knock down shots.

Q. On his development…
RENEAU: Yeah, I mean, building confidence. I've been working out with Coach Cheaney a lot, just understanding how he played the game, how he was able to work around the court, be able to get his shot wherever he wanted on the court. Just getting reps up, man, being confident when you go out there, not being scared to shoot the ball. I think that was the main part for me.

Q. On his confidence level after this game…
RENEAU: Yeah, I mean, that brings a lot of planning that I can space the floor out, be able to knock one down or be able to shoot the ball and make a couple. Teams got to defend for that now. It just brings so much confidence to myself coming in after this break, coming into the Big Ten play.

Q. On what was working with the ball movement…
RENEAU: Yeah, I mean, just being able to get the ball side to side, be able to move the defense, get it to the third side, the fourth side, then the defense finally breaking down and getting easy lobs over the top and stuff like that. Just having a lot of movement, off-ball cutting and stuff like that to free up Kel'el on the lobs, get open threes around the paint.

They were double-teaming a lot in the post from the feeder. We made the adjustment to either cut down to the short three, the corner three, or just to cut through the nail to make the layup. It opened up a lot in the post. Just being able to set stronger screens and be able to connect on the screens to get open. I think we did a great job on that.

Q. On seeing everyone hitting shots…
RENEAU: Everybody's touching the ball. Everybody feels like they're a part of the team. We had a lot of assists tonight. I think it was 25. That's a lot of assists to have in a game.
Just being able to move the ball and get everybody a touch and get everybody a feel of the ball to not feel like you left out on the court or you just out there.

I feel like when you touching the ball, you get more confidence and the ball's moving around, you get more shots, everybody is getting a shot. That was a great thing to see.

Q. On Trey's nine assists…
RENEAU: I feel it was the court opening up. We hit 12 threes tonight. Just opening up the court, being able to space the floor out, opened it up a lot for Gallo to get in the lane and kick out for threes and lobs over the top to Kel'el. I think that was a great job by Gallo. He played great today.

Q. On the upcoming break…
RENEAU: No, absolutely not. Basketball is year-round over here (smiling). I'll be working out and all that stuff, training, conditioning for the four days I'm gone for.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

TONY PUJOL | NORTH ALABAMA HEAD COACH
Q. Opening Statement…
PUJOL: First off, I want to congratulate Coach Woodson and his program. This is a team that has struggled from behind the three-point line during the year, and I thought that tonight (Indiana) did a really good job of balancing their attack. They made some timely shots and it really put us on our heels. I loved the fight from our guys tonight. They just overwhelmed us from an offensive standpoint.

Q. On the surprise from Indiana's success from three…
PUJOL: Like I said earlier when I got interviewed by the Big Ten Network, I wasn't surprised at all. This is (Indiana's)gym. This is where they play. This is where they practice. It doesn't surprise me. One of their threes was at the end of the shot clock. I have to look at film, but I think we contested them. We wanted to make sure that we kept them out of the paint because for them, that's where strength is.

Q. On the slow start to the game…
PUJOL: Give credit to IU. They do a great job defensively. I thought we struggled a little bit with our length, but as the game kept going one of the things that happened right before the half was that we started getting stops. Then it allowed us to play in transition which opens up the floor for us. That creates the advantage for us. I thought that helped us in the first half.

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