Postgame Quotes vs. Kennesaw State
12/29/2023 9:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Kennesaw State
Dec. 29, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On the spark Anthony Leal provided…
WOODSON: He's had a really great week of practice. After the break, he came back, and I thought his two days of practice, he deserved to play more. And I just decided to play him.
And he gave us a hell of a spark when he came in. I mean, just from a defensive standpoint. He did a lot of things that we didn't do early in that spot.
So, again, this is a team game, and when guys are called upon, I expect them to come in and play. And I thought he delivered tonight.
Q. On his thoughts on the game as a whole…
WOODSON: We won. That's what matters. They made a lot of shots, some tough shots. It's part of the game. But we didn't fold. When we went down four, our defense kicked in, got stops. We executed on the other end and got the lead and was able to bring it home.
So those are the things that I look at. Things that are fixable are free throws. We missed a lot of free throws. We turned the ball over 18 times. Those things are all fixable. And we just gotta keep working.
Q. On Malik's impressive night…
WOODSON: He's getting better. Everybody talk about development and who is being developed and this and that. And Malik, based on where he started with us last season and where he is today, he's a lot better.
And I think there's a lot of room still to grow as a player. He's just got to keep pushing and we've got to keep pushing him to get better.
Q. On the preparation for playing without Kel'el Ware…
WOODSON: Not at all. He practiced the two days coming back from the break, and then he just wasn't feeling well. So we sat him out. Payton was the next guy up, and he was tremendous tonight. I mean, his numbers, look at 10 and 8, four blocks, two assists in 14 minutes. He was pretty special, I think.
Q. On the success with smaller lineups…
WOODSON: Again, I mean, sometimes you have to match -- when I pulled Payton, I was basically -- not that he played -- I thought he played well to start the half, the second half. And I pulled him based on their match-ups because they went so small.
And in doing that, I know we could switch 1 through 5 with Malik at the 5. So that was the reason I did what I did. And I thought it helped us a little bit. And then coming down the stretch it really helped us because we were able to switch and not give up -- I mean, they were making 3s anyway. But switching allows you to at least keep a body in front of you and hope like hell that they don't make shots over the top.
Q. On Anthony Leal's role…
WOODSON: He's a senior. He's ready. I've seen it in practice. He hasn't done anything in terms of me not wanting him to play. He's been really good in practice. And he deserves to probably play a little bit more because he is playing well.
And I thought tonight he came in and gave us the boost that we needed. So we'll continue to keep our eyes on Anthony and see where we go with him.
Q. On what tonight meant for Payton Sparks in his first start…
WOODSON: I'm sure it's special for him. This is his first big-time start. And as a coach, I'm anxious to see if he's ready to play because he hadn't played big minutes. And he only played 14 minutes tonight, but I thought they were a positive 14 minutes to help us win a basketball game.
That tells me a lot about him in terms of being ready to play because you just never know. We didn't know that Ware wasn't going to play until this morning. And he was ready and he stepped in and gave us a major lift. That's what team play is all about, and everybody's just gotta stay ready to play.
MALIK RENEAU | INDIANA FORWARD & KALEB BANKS | INDIANA FORWARD
Q. On the ball movement and how that helped the team…
RENEAU: Coming into this game we had a little while to look at them, watch film on them and all that stuff. We knew we were going to be able to get open shots, open roads, all that stuff.
All we had to do was execute, get it to both sides of the floor. They'll eventually give up on defense and we'll be able to create wide-open shots. And we were doing that the whole game.
Q. On the impact Anthony Leal had to change the game…
RENEAU: He definitely had a spark off the bench. He came in with so much energy, it just rejuvenated us, I'll say, and got us back to what we needed to do on the court, and we got stops.
We started switching 1 through 5 and stuff like that. And then we stopped giving up the 3s towards the end of the game a lot. And then we started building the lead.
Q. On the energy Payton Sparks and Anthony Walker brought…
BANKS: He was great tonight. I'm very proud of him. He had a lot of game-changing plays, a nice put-back dunk. That was crazy for us. Some nice blocks. Really gave us some momentum. And the whole bench played well tonight, and he stepped up big for us tonight.
Q. On how teammates from last year motivated him (Reneau) to grow into his role…
RENEAU: It was a big motivation seeing him (Jalen Hood-Schifino) go after his first year. But I really got the motivation from Trayce and Race, seeing how they played in the whole Big Ten and seeing how they dominated. I just needed time to understand the game and go out there.
Now I'm playing nice and with my pace and being able to score on either block and finish with both hands, step out and create my shot from the 3 ball, shoot the 3 ball, too.
I just feel like the year I had just watching Trayce's stuff, I seen a lot. And now my game is slowing down and I'm able to create plays for myself and for others.
Q. On the importance of getting to the line…
RENEAU: I mean, once we realized that the team's in the bonus -- or we're in the bonus, coach's inside/out, that's how we're playing. We're trying to draw fouls, try to get to the free-throw line and convert at the free-throw line.
Anytime we see a team that's in the bonus, we're going at it, we're attacking and we're trying to draw fouls or scoring -- that's either or.
BANKS: Like Malik said, we were in the bonus basically. We just like to use our size tonight. We realized we were the bigger team, so if we attack it will be a big problem for them to stop us.
Q. On defending the 3-point line…
RENEAU: I mean, they (Kennesaw State) lead the country in 3-point attempts. So, we're just trying to alter a lot of shots that they're shooting and just limit them to not a lot of 3 points, even though they made a lot of shots. They made 17 3s tonight, keeping them in the game a lot of times where we're trying to pull away.
But they're a fast-paced team. They try to get up and down the court, a lot of ball-screen action, a lot of up and down with them, cherry picking. We just had to stop their initial force.
And then we realized that we could switch 1 through 5, it was easier to get back to the shooters because we're switching the 1 and the 5 man now. So, there's no need for the [inaudible] stuff.
So, when we finally realized the 1 through 5 switching had worked, we started to pull away at the end and it gave us a little breathing room.
Q. On what playing some occasional zone defense provides…
RENEAU: I mean, we work on our zone a lot. We might not show it a lot of times, but in case of this situation, we'll just show a zone real quick to get the other team off what they want the run coming out of the timeout or looks like that. So, if we work on it, we're going to put it out here and there sometimes.
Q. On Malik Reneau's career night…
BANKS: I'm very proud of Malik. I feel like his work is showing and he's showing well. I can recognize that. And I'm sure Malik is finally reaping the benefits off his work. He can do a lot of things, rebound, pass, score. So tonight he really just showed us his scoring ability.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
ANTOINE PETTWAY | KENNESAW STATE HEAD COACH
Q. Opening statement …
PETTWAY: This was a hard fought game tonight. Indiana is a really talented group. I thought (Malik) Reneau had an awesome game for them. I loved the fight our guys gave them. We had great individual performances, and collectively as a team we fought to the very end. That's what I ask of my guys. All of these games prepare us in the non-conference for the ASUN (conference). That is where we have to make sure that we earn our money. I thought we did a great job getting our wins in the non-conference. I wish we could have made it ten (wins) tonight, but I am very proud of the group in the locker room. I am very blessed and lucky to coach that group in there. That is a special group. I think that we are going to amazing things.
Q. On playing in the environment of Assembly Hall…
PETTWAY: It's a tough environment, but that's why we play these games. It's going to prepare us for the ASUN (conference) to perform on the road against teams like Bellarmine, going on the road to Jacksonville, going on the road to Eastern Kentucky. These guys will have already seen that type of environment before, so they are going to be prepared when we face teams like that. The whole non-conference slate is to get you prepared for the ASUN, and I thought we did a great job of doing that.
Q. On the play of Simeon Cottle, Terrell Burden and Jusaun Holt…
PETTWAY: I talked to our guys before and told them to believe coming out. The harder you work, the harder it is to scream. Those guys were screaming hard in the gym, and I asked a lot out of them in practice. They get in the gym on their own, so when we get into an environment like that and in a game like this, I am going to give them freedom and pump confidence into those guys. That is what you saw from all three of those guys. When they are open, we are going to shoot it, read close outs, corner-five, we are going to play our style of play It is a fun style of play, and it is real fun when you defend and they can get out in transition. That is the key. We have to keep defending.
Indiana vs. Kennesaw State
Dec. 29, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On the spark Anthony Leal provided…
WOODSON: He's had a really great week of practice. After the break, he came back, and I thought his two days of practice, he deserved to play more. And I just decided to play him.
And he gave us a hell of a spark when he came in. I mean, just from a defensive standpoint. He did a lot of things that we didn't do early in that spot.
So, again, this is a team game, and when guys are called upon, I expect them to come in and play. And I thought he delivered tonight.
Q. On his thoughts on the game as a whole…
WOODSON: We won. That's what matters. They made a lot of shots, some tough shots. It's part of the game. But we didn't fold. When we went down four, our defense kicked in, got stops. We executed on the other end and got the lead and was able to bring it home.
So those are the things that I look at. Things that are fixable are free throws. We missed a lot of free throws. We turned the ball over 18 times. Those things are all fixable. And we just gotta keep working.
Q. On Malik's impressive night…
WOODSON: He's getting better. Everybody talk about development and who is being developed and this and that. And Malik, based on where he started with us last season and where he is today, he's a lot better.
And I think there's a lot of room still to grow as a player. He's just got to keep pushing and we've got to keep pushing him to get better.
Q. On the preparation for playing without Kel'el Ware…
WOODSON: Not at all. He practiced the two days coming back from the break, and then he just wasn't feeling well. So we sat him out. Payton was the next guy up, and he was tremendous tonight. I mean, his numbers, look at 10 and 8, four blocks, two assists in 14 minutes. He was pretty special, I think.
Q. On the success with smaller lineups…
WOODSON: Again, I mean, sometimes you have to match -- when I pulled Payton, I was basically -- not that he played -- I thought he played well to start the half, the second half. And I pulled him based on their match-ups because they went so small.
And in doing that, I know we could switch 1 through 5 with Malik at the 5. So that was the reason I did what I did. And I thought it helped us a little bit. And then coming down the stretch it really helped us because we were able to switch and not give up -- I mean, they were making 3s anyway. But switching allows you to at least keep a body in front of you and hope like hell that they don't make shots over the top.
Q. On Anthony Leal's role…
WOODSON: He's a senior. He's ready. I've seen it in practice. He hasn't done anything in terms of me not wanting him to play. He's been really good in practice. And he deserves to probably play a little bit more because he is playing well.
And I thought tonight he came in and gave us the boost that we needed. So we'll continue to keep our eyes on Anthony and see where we go with him.
Q. On what tonight meant for Payton Sparks in his first start…
WOODSON: I'm sure it's special for him. This is his first big-time start. And as a coach, I'm anxious to see if he's ready to play because he hadn't played big minutes. And he only played 14 minutes tonight, but I thought they were a positive 14 minutes to help us win a basketball game.
That tells me a lot about him in terms of being ready to play because you just never know. We didn't know that Ware wasn't going to play until this morning. And he was ready and he stepped in and gave us a major lift. That's what team play is all about, and everybody's just gotta stay ready to play.
MALIK RENEAU | INDIANA FORWARD & KALEB BANKS | INDIANA FORWARD
Q. On the ball movement and how that helped the team…
RENEAU: Coming into this game we had a little while to look at them, watch film on them and all that stuff. We knew we were going to be able to get open shots, open roads, all that stuff.
All we had to do was execute, get it to both sides of the floor. They'll eventually give up on defense and we'll be able to create wide-open shots. And we were doing that the whole game.
Q. On the impact Anthony Leal had to change the game…
RENEAU: He definitely had a spark off the bench. He came in with so much energy, it just rejuvenated us, I'll say, and got us back to what we needed to do on the court, and we got stops.
We started switching 1 through 5 and stuff like that. And then we stopped giving up the 3s towards the end of the game a lot. And then we started building the lead.
Q. On the energy Payton Sparks and Anthony Walker brought…
BANKS: He was great tonight. I'm very proud of him. He had a lot of game-changing plays, a nice put-back dunk. That was crazy for us. Some nice blocks. Really gave us some momentum. And the whole bench played well tonight, and he stepped up big for us tonight.
Q. On how teammates from last year motivated him (Reneau) to grow into his role…
RENEAU: It was a big motivation seeing him (Jalen Hood-Schifino) go after his first year. But I really got the motivation from Trayce and Race, seeing how they played in the whole Big Ten and seeing how they dominated. I just needed time to understand the game and go out there.
Now I'm playing nice and with my pace and being able to score on either block and finish with both hands, step out and create my shot from the 3 ball, shoot the 3 ball, too.
I just feel like the year I had just watching Trayce's stuff, I seen a lot. And now my game is slowing down and I'm able to create plays for myself and for others.
Q. On the importance of getting to the line…
RENEAU: I mean, once we realized that the team's in the bonus -- or we're in the bonus, coach's inside/out, that's how we're playing. We're trying to draw fouls, try to get to the free-throw line and convert at the free-throw line.
Anytime we see a team that's in the bonus, we're going at it, we're attacking and we're trying to draw fouls or scoring -- that's either or.
BANKS: Like Malik said, we were in the bonus basically. We just like to use our size tonight. We realized we were the bigger team, so if we attack it will be a big problem for them to stop us.
Q. On defending the 3-point line…
RENEAU: I mean, they (Kennesaw State) lead the country in 3-point attempts. So, we're just trying to alter a lot of shots that they're shooting and just limit them to not a lot of 3 points, even though they made a lot of shots. They made 17 3s tonight, keeping them in the game a lot of times where we're trying to pull away.
But they're a fast-paced team. They try to get up and down the court, a lot of ball-screen action, a lot of up and down with them, cherry picking. We just had to stop their initial force.
And then we realized that we could switch 1 through 5, it was easier to get back to the shooters because we're switching the 1 and the 5 man now. So, there's no need for the [inaudible] stuff.
So, when we finally realized the 1 through 5 switching had worked, we started to pull away at the end and it gave us a little breathing room.
Q. On what playing some occasional zone defense provides…
RENEAU: I mean, we work on our zone a lot. We might not show it a lot of times, but in case of this situation, we'll just show a zone real quick to get the other team off what they want the run coming out of the timeout or looks like that. So, if we work on it, we're going to put it out here and there sometimes.
Q. On Malik Reneau's career night…
BANKS: I'm very proud of Malik. I feel like his work is showing and he's showing well. I can recognize that. And I'm sure Malik is finally reaping the benefits off his work. He can do a lot of things, rebound, pass, score. So tonight he really just showed us his scoring ability.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
ANTOINE PETTWAY | KENNESAW STATE HEAD COACH
Q. Opening statement …
PETTWAY: This was a hard fought game tonight. Indiana is a really talented group. I thought (Malik) Reneau had an awesome game for them. I loved the fight our guys gave them. We had great individual performances, and collectively as a team we fought to the very end. That's what I ask of my guys. All of these games prepare us in the non-conference for the ASUN (conference). That is where we have to make sure that we earn our money. I thought we did a great job getting our wins in the non-conference. I wish we could have made it ten (wins) tonight, but I am very proud of the group in the locker room. I am very blessed and lucky to coach that group in there. That is a special group. I think that we are going to amazing things.
Q. On playing in the environment of Assembly Hall…
PETTWAY: It's a tough environment, but that's why we play these games. It's going to prepare us for the ASUN (conference) to perform on the road against teams like Bellarmine, going on the road to Jacksonville, going on the road to Eastern Kentucky. These guys will have already seen that type of environment before, so they are going to be prepared when we face teams like that. The whole non-conference slate is to get you prepared for the ASUN, and I thought we did a great job of doing that.
Q. On the play of Simeon Cottle, Terrell Burden and Jusaun Holt…
PETTWAY: I talked to our guys before and told them to believe coming out. The harder you work, the harder it is to scream. Those guys were screaming hard in the gym, and I asked a lot out of them in practice. They get in the gym on their own, so when we get into an environment like that and in a game like this, I am going to give them freedom and pump confidence into those guys. That is what you saw from all three of those guys. When they are open, we are going to shoot it, read close outs, corner-five, we are going to play our style of play It is a fun style of play, and it is real fun when you defend and they can get out in transition. That is the key. We have to keep defending.
Players Mentioned
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Forward
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Center
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