Postgame Quotes: vs. RV/RV Illinois
2/18/2023 3:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Illinois
Feb. 18, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | HEAD COACH
Q. On Trayce Jackson Davis' legacy at Indiana…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, as a player myself, I was never about accolades, man. It's just something I was blessed to be able to do, and scoring the basketball. The beauty about Trayce and Mike Woodson, we both didn't shoot threes. He doesn't shoot them, and I never had the three-point line.
I couldn't be more proud of a young man than Trayce today. That record has -- I've been sitting in that spot for a long time, and for him to surpass it, man, it's special. It just means the body of work that he's put in over the years, but he can't stop there. It's just points. He's still staring at two things, a Big Ten title and a national title, and that's where I'm trying to get him.
Q. On making key plays down the stretch…
WOODSON: We're hungry, too. This was a separation game. If they win, they separate. Even though we've got a long way to go still, this game was important.
You've got to applaud Illinois and how they played. They were without their best player, and they were trying to move up, too, and they played that way.
But we made the plays coming down the home stretch I thought that we needed to make in terms of getting stops, and Jalen's two big free throws, the jump shot he made, and then getting it out of that double-team right at the end there.
Q. On the intensity on the defensive end…
WOODSON: It had a lot to do with it. I think the first half we were getting beat on the boards. They won all the 50/50 balls. We were just moving in slow motion, I thought. It was heated in the locker room at halftime a little bit.
But I thought we came out, and they jumped right on us right from the start, and we just kept scrapping and scraping, and we made a game out of that at the end and was able to do it what we needed to do to win.
Q. On keeping faith with Jalen Hood-Schifino…
WOODSON: He's a freshman. Freshmen make mistakes. I just look at the process of where he's come from and the fact when you lose your starting point guard in Xavier Johnson and you turn the ball over to a freshman to run your ballclub at a major program, that's huge. It's huge.
Make no mistake about it, he's put us in in position along with the supporting cast with Trayce Jackson-Davis leading the way. You're not going to shoot it well all the time, but I always judge players at the end of the game about who they are as a player, and he made the plays down the stretch that counted. That's what I look at.
If he had miscued those plays, then I'm in his ear after the game or tomorrow saying, hey, these are things that you've got to learn the next time you're in that position. But he made every right play except for throwing the ball away out of the time-out. As a coach, that kind of tears you up. But I thought he made winning plays coming down the stretch to help us win it.
Q. On Race Thompson's adjustment following his injury…
WOODSON: No, I think he's coming along smoothly, I think. I played him up at Northwestern 25 minutes. I think he got 22 minutes or so tonight. So I've just got to gauge that a little bit. Somehow I've got to get Tamar and Geronimo -- Malik is playing at a good level. I've got to get them back in the swing of things because we're going to need guys like that as we continue this journey.
We've still got a long way to go, and I just don't want to pile up. Trayce is playing damn near the whole game. I think he played 37 tonight. We've got to start scaling him back if we can with Malik and Geronimo giving us some minutes up front.
Q. On Miller Kopp responding following the Northwestern game…
WOODSON: Well, Miller has been around a long time, and that Northwestern scene is not a good scene for him, going back to last season. It is what it is, man, but the bottom line, he's played well here at home for us. So I expect him to make shots here.
He's got the fan base, and he's got everybody in his corner, so it makes it a lot easier for him.
Q. On concern with turnovers and free throws…
WOODSON: Well, again, we've kind of been up and down in those areas in terms of the free throws, but for the most part we've been better this year shooting free throws, especially when it counts.
You're always concerned about that. You look at every statistical category on the stat sheet, you can go in and nit-pick and say this and that, and in some games it's just smooth sailing and things are great.
But again, stats are what they are. Sometimes -- I gauge things on what happens at the end of the game. If it's a close game. A lot of it's on me. Yeah, I live my fantasies through these guys to see who's going to make plays. That's what I get excited about.
Tonight, Jalen made plays, shooting a stupid number. It was crazy. But he still made plays down the stretch to help us win the game.
Q. On three-point shooting in the game…
WOODSON: Again, I thought that they were the most aggressive team the first half, and we were just playing on our heels. A ball was just floating around the perimeter easily. Guys were just freelancing, beating us off the drive. It wasn't pretty basketball the first half I didn't think. I thought the second half, especially as the game started to get tighter, our defense started to pick up and eliminated a lot of the threes and the good looks that they had the first half.
Q. On Jalen Hood-Schifino's good and bad plays…
WOODSON: Well, it wasn't pretty, what I said. I mean, that's a coach's worst nightmare, man. You come out of the time-out and you throw the ball right to your opponent, and they didn't have to work for it. When he was coming back down, I was screaming at him like -- and he took it upon himself to run a pick-and-roll and make up for it and make the shot, and then he makes the two free throws, so go figure.
Q. On the second-half adjustment to guard Matthew Mayer…
WOODSON: Miller got an earful, and guys that didn't switch up on him, at halftime -- hell, I thought he was going to go for a career high here the way he was playing. He was playing extremely well. But second half we kind of closed in on him and took away a lot of the gaps where he was able to work on.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | FORWARD
Q. On passing Coach Woodson on the all-time scoring list…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I mean, it's an accomplishment. Again, I'm going to probably look at it more during the end of the year, but I'm just glad that we found a way to get that one. They were fighting. They were clawing. They were without one of their best players, and those dudes showed a lot of heart here. Just finding a way down the stretch and getting stops when we needed to, it was big for us.
Q. On watching Race Thompson come back from injury…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Race is a great player, and he helps our team a lot. It's hard for him. I know it is, especially mentally, because he wants to be out there. Even if he says he's good, he's 100 percent, I know he's still going through some things. But he's playing as hard as he can, and that's what we need from him. He's starting to get back healthy, and he had a lot of big buckets today.
Q. On playing until the final whistle…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, in the first half I remember a certain play where they might have gotten three, and Coach ripped us at halftime. I remember the first time we played them, I think they had 14 offensive rebounds. They're a good rebounding team, but in the second half I felt like we took a lot of things away. Coach just ripped us; he told us that we've got to start playing harder, we've got to get these 50/50 balls if we want to win, and we did that down the stretch.
Q. On Jalen Hood-Schifino…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, so Fino, he's a gamer. He works hard every day. He has the ultimate confidence in his abilities. Obviously he's a freshman, and sometimes he's going to struggle. That's when I come in, Miller comes in, and we get behind him and we tell him to keep going. I remember in the last media time-out, I said, if we run that high angle, get to your spot because you're going to be open. He was kind of frustrated a little bit, he didn't really want to run it, and then down the stretch got to that spot and hit a huge shot, especially after turning the ball over. It just shows how high of like a focus he has, and he's just next-play mentality, and he's just ready to go always.
Q. On Miller Kopp shooting more…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I'm so angry if he doesn't shoot it. Every time he touches it I want the ball up. Every single time.
Q. On next week's matchup with Michigan State…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, first and foremost, just thoughts and prayers out to them. I think I speak for our whole team on that.
I love Coach Izzo, and that place is going to be rocking. They're going to play with a lot of emotion, a lot of heart. We've got to be ready. But sometimes it's bigger than basketball.
Obviously we've just got to go, and it's business, but at the same time, it is what it is, and we're going to play hard and they're going to play hard, and if we get one, we get one, but we've got to go at them.
MILLER KOPP | FORWARD
Q. On what changed in the second half defensively…
KOPP: Pretty much he was just saying I had to step up. He got too many good looks in the first half from transition, from broken plays, and a couple of my mishaps just mentally and not being aware and really locked in. He just got into me and pretty much let me know I had to step up and be more active and aware off the ball and do my work early.
Q. On bouncing back today from a tough shooting night…
KOPP: Well, you know, that night is over. It wasn't fun, but it is what it is, and it's over. I've got an amazing support system around me with teammates, with coaches, with Scott Dolson, just letting me know that they're with me and behind me and have my back no matter what for as long as I'm here and on.
For me, it was just about locking into this game, and my teammates needed me and I needed them, and we got it done.
Q. On what helps him get into rhythm…
KOPP: Well, I think the way they trapped, they were in rotation and early. I saw it even before I shot it, I kind of saw how they were playing Trayce and how they were trapping and rotating, and so I remember one of the first plays I was the feeder for Trayce and then after that when I wasn't, I could tell that they were pre-rotating to the feeder after leaving to go trap, and so I was the second pass, and I knew that one out of the trap, whether it was the one more or the skip that Trayce is so good at finding me at, I knew it was going to be open, so I just pulled it.
After that, it was about kind of, again, just finding my angles and making myself open so that Trayce could find me.
He always says to me, just like be ready, be ready, be ready. Every time. Literally every time-out be ready, be ready.
But he knows I want to do the best thing. So yeah, that's really it.
BRAD UNDERWOOD | HEAD COACH
Q. Opening Statement…
UNDERWOOD: I don't know if proud is the right word. Excited, elated, great college basketball game. Elite game. Unfortunately, we haven't played these guys healthy, but I'm a much bigger believer in our team right now then I have been at any point this season. Luke Goode's performance, Ty Rodgers hasn't practiced all week. He's been in bed with strep throat. RJ (Melendez) woke up yesterday with it. Obviously, we don't know anything about Terrance (Shannon). He's in concussion protocol. Leading scorer, one of our best defenders. To see Matt Mayer step up, to see Jayden Epps play great, I think everybody who knows anything about the game of basketball saw Luke Goode's value today. The ability to make shots, he never makes a mistake defensively, he gets his hands on loose balls, he's always in the right spots. A loose ball for a three is a big play in the game. I've got to look at the technical on Coleman (Hawkins). That's energy an passion. I think they (Indiana) went on a 9-0 run right after that. Great college basketball game. I don't want to take any of that away. I thought we did a great job on Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and he's got 28 and 12. I know what Mike's (Woodson) feeling when you've got one of the best players in the country, if not the best. It's a pretty good feeling. I feel really upbeat, we're going to turn around and play again on Monday in a Covid make-up game. We've got to take this same kind of energy and turn that into a game on Monday.
Q. On when Terrance Shannon was going to be out and the team's response…
UNDERWOOD: Penn State. Right after the game. He went into protocol that night. It's just the deal it is, and we have obviously lived in protocol longer than anybody in America I think, with a guy missing 14 games a year ago. Those things are what they are. what we didn't expect was strep throat running through our team and 102 degree fevers. But that's life in the Big Ten. That's not an excuse. Mike's doing a great job, that's a good basketball team, they whipped our butt, but that's not an excuse. I'm in a great place with the fight that this team showed today.
Q. On The team leading into the game…
UNDERWOOD: first of all, we got embarrassed the first time we played them. Matt was sick in that game, and we didn't play very well. They played great. It's two great basketball teams. Two teams that in postseason play could make a long, long run. We were dialed in, and they made a loose ball play that got them a three and that was a big play in the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Indiana vs. Illinois
Feb. 18, 2023
MIKE WOODSON | HEAD COACH
Q. On Trayce Jackson Davis' legacy at Indiana…
WOODSON: Well, I mean, as a player myself, I was never about accolades, man. It's just something I was blessed to be able to do, and scoring the basketball. The beauty about Trayce and Mike Woodson, we both didn't shoot threes. He doesn't shoot them, and I never had the three-point line.
I couldn't be more proud of a young man than Trayce today. That record has -- I've been sitting in that spot for a long time, and for him to surpass it, man, it's special. It just means the body of work that he's put in over the years, but he can't stop there. It's just points. He's still staring at two things, a Big Ten title and a national title, and that's where I'm trying to get him.
Q. On making key plays down the stretch…
WOODSON: We're hungry, too. This was a separation game. If they win, they separate. Even though we've got a long way to go still, this game was important.
You've got to applaud Illinois and how they played. They were without their best player, and they were trying to move up, too, and they played that way.
But we made the plays coming down the home stretch I thought that we needed to make in terms of getting stops, and Jalen's two big free throws, the jump shot he made, and then getting it out of that double-team right at the end there.
Q. On the intensity on the defensive end…
WOODSON: It had a lot to do with it. I think the first half we were getting beat on the boards. They won all the 50/50 balls. We were just moving in slow motion, I thought. It was heated in the locker room at halftime a little bit.
But I thought we came out, and they jumped right on us right from the start, and we just kept scrapping and scraping, and we made a game out of that at the end and was able to do it what we needed to do to win.
Q. On keeping faith with Jalen Hood-Schifino…
WOODSON: He's a freshman. Freshmen make mistakes. I just look at the process of where he's come from and the fact when you lose your starting point guard in Xavier Johnson and you turn the ball over to a freshman to run your ballclub at a major program, that's huge. It's huge.
Make no mistake about it, he's put us in in position along with the supporting cast with Trayce Jackson-Davis leading the way. You're not going to shoot it well all the time, but I always judge players at the end of the game about who they are as a player, and he made the plays down the stretch that counted. That's what I look at.
If he had miscued those plays, then I'm in his ear after the game or tomorrow saying, hey, these are things that you've got to learn the next time you're in that position. But he made every right play except for throwing the ball away out of the time-out. As a coach, that kind of tears you up. But I thought he made winning plays coming down the stretch to help us win it.
Q. On Race Thompson's adjustment following his injury…
WOODSON: No, I think he's coming along smoothly, I think. I played him up at Northwestern 25 minutes. I think he got 22 minutes or so tonight. So I've just got to gauge that a little bit. Somehow I've got to get Tamar and Geronimo -- Malik is playing at a good level. I've got to get them back in the swing of things because we're going to need guys like that as we continue this journey.
We've still got a long way to go, and I just don't want to pile up. Trayce is playing damn near the whole game. I think he played 37 tonight. We've got to start scaling him back if we can with Malik and Geronimo giving us some minutes up front.
Q. On Miller Kopp responding following the Northwestern game…
WOODSON: Well, Miller has been around a long time, and that Northwestern scene is not a good scene for him, going back to last season. It is what it is, man, but the bottom line, he's played well here at home for us. So I expect him to make shots here.
He's got the fan base, and he's got everybody in his corner, so it makes it a lot easier for him.
Q. On concern with turnovers and free throws…
WOODSON: Well, again, we've kind of been up and down in those areas in terms of the free throws, but for the most part we've been better this year shooting free throws, especially when it counts.
You're always concerned about that. You look at every statistical category on the stat sheet, you can go in and nit-pick and say this and that, and in some games it's just smooth sailing and things are great.
But again, stats are what they are. Sometimes -- I gauge things on what happens at the end of the game. If it's a close game. A lot of it's on me. Yeah, I live my fantasies through these guys to see who's going to make plays. That's what I get excited about.
Tonight, Jalen made plays, shooting a stupid number. It was crazy. But he still made plays down the stretch to help us win the game.
Q. On three-point shooting in the game…
WOODSON: Again, I thought that they were the most aggressive team the first half, and we were just playing on our heels. A ball was just floating around the perimeter easily. Guys were just freelancing, beating us off the drive. It wasn't pretty basketball the first half I didn't think. I thought the second half, especially as the game started to get tighter, our defense started to pick up and eliminated a lot of the threes and the good looks that they had the first half.
Q. On Jalen Hood-Schifino's good and bad plays…
WOODSON: Well, it wasn't pretty, what I said. I mean, that's a coach's worst nightmare, man. You come out of the time-out and you throw the ball right to your opponent, and they didn't have to work for it. When he was coming back down, I was screaming at him like -- and he took it upon himself to run a pick-and-roll and make up for it and make the shot, and then he makes the two free throws, so go figure.
Q. On the second-half adjustment to guard Matthew Mayer…
WOODSON: Miller got an earful, and guys that didn't switch up on him, at halftime -- hell, I thought he was going to go for a career high here the way he was playing. He was playing extremely well. But second half we kind of closed in on him and took away a lot of the gaps where he was able to work on.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS | FORWARD
Q. On passing Coach Woodson on the all-time scoring list…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I mean, it's an accomplishment. Again, I'm going to probably look at it more during the end of the year, but I'm just glad that we found a way to get that one. They were fighting. They were clawing. They were without one of their best players, and those dudes showed a lot of heart here. Just finding a way down the stretch and getting stops when we needed to, it was big for us.
Q. On watching Race Thompson come back from injury…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Race is a great player, and he helps our team a lot. It's hard for him. I know it is, especially mentally, because he wants to be out there. Even if he says he's good, he's 100 percent, I know he's still going through some things. But he's playing as hard as he can, and that's what we need from him. He's starting to get back healthy, and he had a lot of big buckets today.
Q. On playing until the final whistle…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, in the first half I remember a certain play where they might have gotten three, and Coach ripped us at halftime. I remember the first time we played them, I think they had 14 offensive rebounds. They're a good rebounding team, but in the second half I felt like we took a lot of things away. Coach just ripped us; he told us that we've got to start playing harder, we've got to get these 50/50 balls if we want to win, and we did that down the stretch.
Q. On Jalen Hood-Schifino…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, so Fino, he's a gamer. He works hard every day. He has the ultimate confidence in his abilities. Obviously he's a freshman, and sometimes he's going to struggle. That's when I come in, Miller comes in, and we get behind him and we tell him to keep going. I remember in the last media time-out, I said, if we run that high angle, get to your spot because you're going to be open. He was kind of frustrated a little bit, he didn't really want to run it, and then down the stretch got to that spot and hit a huge shot, especially after turning the ball over. It just shows how high of like a focus he has, and he's just next-play mentality, and he's just ready to go always.
Q. On Miller Kopp shooting more…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I'm so angry if he doesn't shoot it. Every time he touches it I want the ball up. Every single time.
Q. On next week's matchup with Michigan State…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, first and foremost, just thoughts and prayers out to them. I think I speak for our whole team on that.
I love Coach Izzo, and that place is going to be rocking. They're going to play with a lot of emotion, a lot of heart. We've got to be ready. But sometimes it's bigger than basketball.
Obviously we've just got to go, and it's business, but at the same time, it is what it is, and we're going to play hard and they're going to play hard, and if we get one, we get one, but we've got to go at them.
MILLER KOPP | FORWARD
Q. On what changed in the second half defensively…
KOPP: Pretty much he was just saying I had to step up. He got too many good looks in the first half from transition, from broken plays, and a couple of my mishaps just mentally and not being aware and really locked in. He just got into me and pretty much let me know I had to step up and be more active and aware off the ball and do my work early.
Q. On bouncing back today from a tough shooting night…
KOPP: Well, you know, that night is over. It wasn't fun, but it is what it is, and it's over. I've got an amazing support system around me with teammates, with coaches, with Scott Dolson, just letting me know that they're with me and behind me and have my back no matter what for as long as I'm here and on.
For me, it was just about locking into this game, and my teammates needed me and I needed them, and we got it done.
Q. On what helps him get into rhythm…
KOPP: Well, I think the way they trapped, they were in rotation and early. I saw it even before I shot it, I kind of saw how they were playing Trayce and how they were trapping and rotating, and so I remember one of the first plays I was the feeder for Trayce and then after that when I wasn't, I could tell that they were pre-rotating to the feeder after leaving to go trap, and so I was the second pass, and I knew that one out of the trap, whether it was the one more or the skip that Trayce is so good at finding me at, I knew it was going to be open, so I just pulled it.
After that, it was about kind of, again, just finding my angles and making myself open so that Trayce could find me.
He always says to me, just like be ready, be ready, be ready. Every time. Literally every time-out be ready, be ready.
But he knows I want to do the best thing. So yeah, that's really it.
BRAD UNDERWOOD | HEAD COACH
Q. Opening Statement…
UNDERWOOD: I don't know if proud is the right word. Excited, elated, great college basketball game. Elite game. Unfortunately, we haven't played these guys healthy, but I'm a much bigger believer in our team right now then I have been at any point this season. Luke Goode's performance, Ty Rodgers hasn't practiced all week. He's been in bed with strep throat. RJ (Melendez) woke up yesterday with it. Obviously, we don't know anything about Terrance (Shannon). He's in concussion protocol. Leading scorer, one of our best defenders. To see Matt Mayer step up, to see Jayden Epps play great, I think everybody who knows anything about the game of basketball saw Luke Goode's value today. The ability to make shots, he never makes a mistake defensively, he gets his hands on loose balls, he's always in the right spots. A loose ball for a three is a big play in the game. I've got to look at the technical on Coleman (Hawkins). That's energy an passion. I think they (Indiana) went on a 9-0 run right after that. Great college basketball game. I don't want to take any of that away. I thought we did a great job on Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and he's got 28 and 12. I know what Mike's (Woodson) feeling when you've got one of the best players in the country, if not the best. It's a pretty good feeling. I feel really upbeat, we're going to turn around and play again on Monday in a Covid make-up game. We've got to take this same kind of energy and turn that into a game on Monday.
Q. On when Terrance Shannon was going to be out and the team's response…
UNDERWOOD: Penn State. Right after the game. He went into protocol that night. It's just the deal it is, and we have obviously lived in protocol longer than anybody in America I think, with a guy missing 14 games a year ago. Those things are what they are. what we didn't expect was strep throat running through our team and 102 degree fevers. But that's life in the Big Ten. That's not an excuse. Mike's doing a great job, that's a good basketball team, they whipped our butt, but that's not an excuse. I'm in a great place with the fight that this team showed today.
Q. On The team leading into the game…
UNDERWOOD: first of all, we got embarrassed the first time we played them. Matt was sick in that game, and we didn't play very well. They played great. It's two great basketball teams. Two teams that in postseason play could make a long, long run. We were dialed in, and they made a loose ball play that got them a three and that was a big play in the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's BasketballDarian DeVries Press Conference
Tuesday, September 30
Teri Moren Press Conference - 2025 Media Day
Tuesday, September 30
MBB: Darian DeVries Press Conference (9/30/25)
Tuesday, September 30
FB: Fernando Mendoza & Elijah Sarratt - at Iowa Postgame Press Conference (09/27/25)
Sunday, September 28