Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Wisconsin
2/27/2024 10:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Wisconsin
Feb. 27, 2024
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On dealing with the unexpected break and how they adapted…
WOODSON: First of all, I want to thank our fan base, the crowd for going through what we all went through and still came back into the game and gave us the support we needed to get over the hump and win the game.
I truly thank the fans.
It's the first time I've ever been a part of something like that as a player and coach. When you go in the locker room, you're trying to clean up things going on during the course the game, especially the second half when we got going, and then try to get offensive plays in quickly so they know what we're doing when we come out to start play again.
It's a tie game. I thought we played well early. Wisconsin, they're well-coached. They're not going to ever quit. They pushed us to the end. I just thought we held in there after even going down. I think we went down three and Mack hit a big three to tie it.
From that point on we never looked back.
Q. On Kel'el Ware's performance…
WOODSON: It was unbelievable. He had a man's game. He really did. You get 27, 11 fly blocks, one turnover, you know, maybe we didn't go to him enough, but he was fantastic tonight. We needed every bit of it in order to win this game.
Q. On the key to closing out the game…
WOODSON: Again, this team, we been down a little bit. You know, losing four games like we've lost, you're searching as a coach. Players are searching trying to figure each other out.
And Mack stepped up after going down three, hitting the big three. Malik hit the big two leaning inside that put us back up two, which was a huge bucket. Then we came down and got a big stop defensively.
I mean, it's not like I haven't seen that out of our team. We just haven't done it consistently.
Tonight was Indiana basketball at its best I think.
Q. On Ware being consistent all season…
WOODSON: Again, I think when we brought him on board we didn't know what we were going to get. Really didn't. We knew he was very skilled and the word was that he didn't work hard. I thought after the first month of us getting after him a little bit that kind of picked up and it was nice carryover into the season.
He and Malik and Mack have had really wonderful seasons for us. For guys who really haven't played a lot in college basketball, it says a lot for my staff and the work these guys have put in, along with myself, to get these guys playing at high level.
It's great to have X back. I mean, every day I go to bed thinking about what this team could have been like if we had X earlier. To have him back tonight, you can see the game changes a little bit when he's on the floor. He didn't play particularly, well but I thought he did some good things when he was in there.
Good to have him back, man. Just got to keep patting him and keep him safe and see if we can get where we need to go.
Q. On Galloway's 12 assists and ball movement…
WOODSON: We got a lot of trust in Galloway. No doubt about that. He's played probably some of the most minutes of anybody on our team this year.
So we trust when the ball is in his hands he can make basketball plays. I thought tonight he delivered for us; made a lot of great plays. But he defended. I mean, his matchup was a tough matchup. He had a solid game. That's what I expect from him. I told him I was very pleased with his play tonight.
Q. On having Xavier Johnson back in the lineup…
WOODSON: Again, he gives us defensive pressure out front. He gives us speed in terms of he's the only guy that can really change directions and make plays off the bounce.
And then when we're pushing the basketball, that's when we're at our best. When he's got the ball and pushing and we can get ahead of the ball, we can play a little faster with X on the floor. We just got to get him in a little better shape and get him playing the right way.
I thought he was trying to do a little too much tonight. But what the hell, he hadn't played in so long. Just happy to see him back out on the floor.
Q. On being resilient throughout all the adversity and coming out on top…
WOODSON: That locker room is very happy right now. When you go through a stretch like that, I don't wish that on anyone. Nobody likes to lose. Me being who I am, I hate losing.
But there is a lot that comes with that, man. You got to stay patient. You can't just bury the guys. You can't do that. You got to pat them. We all forget these are 18- and 19-year-old young men, man. Sometimes their feelings are crushed too.
But that locker room is happy. It's like we got that monkey off our back, so I'm happy for them.
Q. On winning the rebounding battle…
WOODSON: Well, we have to validate it, man. You know, it's -- I'm happy as hell we're off this slide, but now we got to go to Maryland who has played well at home, is playing well, and see if we can validate what we did this evening and see if we can have a carryover into the Maryland game.
KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER
Q. On the bigger picture to the win…
WARE: This win means a lot. It's not even just about me. That whole team has just been, as y'all seen, on a little downhill. I feel like tonight we finally got over the hump everybody has been talking about.
Q. On what it was like dealing with the stoppage…
WARE: Actually I didn't even know. We was walking to the bench and the ref was saying we have to go inside, and I looked over to my right and seen the little flash going off. That's all I knew about that.
Q. On the challenge to finish with the win…
WARE: Even at the beginning of the season we were put in so many situations where we had to fight for the win, and tonight we came out fought for that win.
Q. On what he brought to the table in the matchup after not playing in the first game between the two teams…
WARE: Just my presence on the floor. You could say that. Especially with me sitting on the bench the first game, watching them. I was able to get film and see how they played in the game. I feel like even with me and the whole team, we were able to come as one and just come out with the win.
Q. On how he put up the numbers he did tonight…
WARE: Just got to play. That's really it.
Q. On what was opening up offensively to allow him and others to be effective…
WARE: The coaches always say, go yeah, hit the guy, and the roll and that pocket pass is always going to be open. My job is to go up and set that screen and hit them and that is how I get my points.
Q. On how he got back in the flow in the second half to be successful…
WARE: What got me back in it was just wanting to win. I guess you could say that. I realize that even though I wasn't scoring on offense, I still had to do stuff offer defense to make sure we got the win.
Q. On the chemistry between him and Trey Galloway…
WARE: Yeah, we're always on the same team in practice, so that helps when it comes to the game, just building that chemistry and learning each other and where to pass it and how to pass it and getting the ball to the right spot.
Q. On what it was like having Xavier Johnson back on the floor…
WARE: It's always great to have all our teammates back, and tonight was the first game we had everybody. I feel like X brings speed, and just being able to get the ball, especially going downhill off the pick and rolls. So that helped us a lot tonight.
GREG GARD | WISCONSIN HEAD COACH
Q: On what his players need to do get off to a better start?
GARD: Defensively, Kel'el Ware had an All-American type of night: 20 pts in the first half, he was terrific. We gave him some easy buckets early where he got his confidence going. He's a really good player, and he did whatever he wanted to in the first half. We had a hard time getting a stop, especially with Ware and Reneau. When we did do a good job of stopping those guys, Mgbako got away from us. To have them go 23/33 from 2, even though they shot the three better than they have been, that's the disappointing part from us defensively and interiorly.
Q: On the plan to stop Ware after he didn't play in the first matchup...
GARD: Ware and Reneau are a handful and extremely difficult to stop. The thing for them, is they haven't been able to consistently make threes, and they've struggled from the free throw line. Ware and Reneau have been really good. This is the best I think Ware has played. If not, it has to be ranked near the top. Those two draw a lot of attention and we didn't do a good enough job on both of those guys. After we were able to get Reneau in foul trouble, Ware picked up the slack and then some with him on the bench.
FastScript Transcript by ASAP Sports
Indiana vs. Wisconsin
Feb. 27, 2024
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On dealing with the unexpected break and how they adapted…
WOODSON: First of all, I want to thank our fan base, the crowd for going through what we all went through and still came back into the game and gave us the support we needed to get over the hump and win the game.
I truly thank the fans.
It's the first time I've ever been a part of something like that as a player and coach. When you go in the locker room, you're trying to clean up things going on during the course the game, especially the second half when we got going, and then try to get offensive plays in quickly so they know what we're doing when we come out to start play again.
It's a tie game. I thought we played well early. Wisconsin, they're well-coached. They're not going to ever quit. They pushed us to the end. I just thought we held in there after even going down. I think we went down three and Mack hit a big three to tie it.
From that point on we never looked back.
Q. On Kel'el Ware's performance…
WOODSON: It was unbelievable. He had a man's game. He really did. You get 27, 11 fly blocks, one turnover, you know, maybe we didn't go to him enough, but he was fantastic tonight. We needed every bit of it in order to win this game.
Q. On the key to closing out the game…
WOODSON: Again, this team, we been down a little bit. You know, losing four games like we've lost, you're searching as a coach. Players are searching trying to figure each other out.
And Mack stepped up after going down three, hitting the big three. Malik hit the big two leaning inside that put us back up two, which was a huge bucket. Then we came down and got a big stop defensively.
I mean, it's not like I haven't seen that out of our team. We just haven't done it consistently.
Tonight was Indiana basketball at its best I think.
Q. On Ware being consistent all season…
WOODSON: Again, I think when we brought him on board we didn't know what we were going to get. Really didn't. We knew he was very skilled and the word was that he didn't work hard. I thought after the first month of us getting after him a little bit that kind of picked up and it was nice carryover into the season.
He and Malik and Mack have had really wonderful seasons for us. For guys who really haven't played a lot in college basketball, it says a lot for my staff and the work these guys have put in, along with myself, to get these guys playing at high level.
It's great to have X back. I mean, every day I go to bed thinking about what this team could have been like if we had X earlier. To have him back tonight, you can see the game changes a little bit when he's on the floor. He didn't play particularly, well but I thought he did some good things when he was in there.
Good to have him back, man. Just got to keep patting him and keep him safe and see if we can get where we need to go.
Q. On Galloway's 12 assists and ball movement…
WOODSON: We got a lot of trust in Galloway. No doubt about that. He's played probably some of the most minutes of anybody on our team this year.
So we trust when the ball is in his hands he can make basketball plays. I thought tonight he delivered for us; made a lot of great plays. But he defended. I mean, his matchup was a tough matchup. He had a solid game. That's what I expect from him. I told him I was very pleased with his play tonight.
Q. On having Xavier Johnson back in the lineup…
WOODSON: Again, he gives us defensive pressure out front. He gives us speed in terms of he's the only guy that can really change directions and make plays off the bounce.
And then when we're pushing the basketball, that's when we're at our best. When he's got the ball and pushing and we can get ahead of the ball, we can play a little faster with X on the floor. We just got to get him in a little better shape and get him playing the right way.
I thought he was trying to do a little too much tonight. But what the hell, he hadn't played in so long. Just happy to see him back out on the floor.
Q. On being resilient throughout all the adversity and coming out on top…
WOODSON: That locker room is very happy right now. When you go through a stretch like that, I don't wish that on anyone. Nobody likes to lose. Me being who I am, I hate losing.
But there is a lot that comes with that, man. You got to stay patient. You can't just bury the guys. You can't do that. You got to pat them. We all forget these are 18- and 19-year-old young men, man. Sometimes their feelings are crushed too.
But that locker room is happy. It's like we got that monkey off our back, so I'm happy for them.
Q. On winning the rebounding battle…
WOODSON: Well, we have to validate it, man. You know, it's -- I'm happy as hell we're off this slide, but now we got to go to Maryland who has played well at home, is playing well, and see if we can validate what we did this evening and see if we can have a carryover into the Maryland game.
KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER
Q. On the bigger picture to the win…
WARE: This win means a lot. It's not even just about me. That whole team has just been, as y'all seen, on a little downhill. I feel like tonight we finally got over the hump everybody has been talking about.
Q. On what it was like dealing with the stoppage…
WARE: Actually I didn't even know. We was walking to the bench and the ref was saying we have to go inside, and I looked over to my right and seen the little flash going off. That's all I knew about that.
Q. On the challenge to finish with the win…
WARE: Even at the beginning of the season we were put in so many situations where we had to fight for the win, and tonight we came out fought for that win.
Q. On what he brought to the table in the matchup after not playing in the first game between the two teams…
WARE: Just my presence on the floor. You could say that. Especially with me sitting on the bench the first game, watching them. I was able to get film and see how they played in the game. I feel like even with me and the whole team, we were able to come as one and just come out with the win.
Q. On how he put up the numbers he did tonight…
WARE: Just got to play. That's really it.
Q. On what was opening up offensively to allow him and others to be effective…
WARE: The coaches always say, go yeah, hit the guy, and the roll and that pocket pass is always going to be open. My job is to go up and set that screen and hit them and that is how I get my points.
Q. On how he got back in the flow in the second half to be successful…
WARE: What got me back in it was just wanting to win. I guess you could say that. I realize that even though I wasn't scoring on offense, I still had to do stuff offer defense to make sure we got the win.
Q. On the chemistry between him and Trey Galloway…
WARE: Yeah, we're always on the same team in practice, so that helps when it comes to the game, just building that chemistry and learning each other and where to pass it and how to pass it and getting the ball to the right spot.
Q. On what it was like having Xavier Johnson back on the floor…
WARE: It's always great to have all our teammates back, and tonight was the first game we had everybody. I feel like X brings speed, and just being able to get the ball, especially going downhill off the pick and rolls. So that helped us a lot tonight.
GREG GARD | WISCONSIN HEAD COACH
Q: On what his players need to do get off to a better start?
GARD: Defensively, Kel'el Ware had an All-American type of night: 20 pts in the first half, he was terrific. We gave him some easy buckets early where he got his confidence going. He's a really good player, and he did whatever he wanted to in the first half. We had a hard time getting a stop, especially with Ware and Reneau. When we did do a good job of stopping those guys, Mgbako got away from us. To have them go 23/33 from 2, even though they shot the three better than they have been, that's the disappointing part from us defensively and interiorly.
Q: On the plan to stop Ware after he didn't play in the first matchup...
GARD: Ware and Reneau are a handful and extremely difficult to stop. The thing for them, is they haven't been able to consistently make threes, and they've struggled from the free throw line. Ware and Reneau have been really good. This is the best I think Ware has played. If not, it has to be ranked near the top. Those two draw a lot of attention and we didn't do a good enough job on both of those guys. After we were able to get Reneau in foul trouble, Ware picked up the slack and then some with him on the bench.
FastScript Transcript by ASAP Sports
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