Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Penn State
3/15/2024 12:40:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. Penn State
Big Ten Tournament – Second Round
March 14, 2024
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
OPENING STATEMENT: The only thing I got for you is both teams played extremely hard. Their team is well coached. They've kind of had our number the last few years. I thought our guys fought from the very beginning till the end.
It was just one of those type of games, an ugly game, but we made the plays we needed to make coming down the homestretch.
Q. On Xavier Johnson…
WOODSON: The fact that the game was such an ugly game, neither team could really make shots. I expect X and Anthony to lead. They're seniors. That's what seniors should do after going through a program or playing college basketball for a number of years.
X is not fully there because he just hasn't played a whole lot. Hell, we played him 37 minutes tonight, and I just think his presence on the floor changes our team.
But I thought tonight overall defensively what we set out to do was really, really good tonight for 40 minutes, I thought.
Q. On clicking at the right time…
WOODSON: Again, I keep mentioning Xavier, but getting him back gives us some stability a little bit in the backcourt, and defensively we've picked up. Offensively we've made shots. We didn't tonight, but in the previous four games, we've really been shooting the ball extremely well from the three-point line, and we've been making our free throws.
So when you defend and you do those two things, we're sharing the ball, I mean, I think in our last four games I charted, we were No. 1 in the Big Ten in assists. So everything is clicking.
In order to beat teams in the Big Ten, you've got to play at a high level every night, man.
Q. On the turning point of the season…
WOODSON: There's been a number of games. The Michigan State game, Izzo's team took us right to the end, and we didn't buckle. We made winning plays to secure the game. Defensively, we were very solid in that game as well.
We just -- it's taken us a while, man, to really put it together. Unfortunately, losing Gallo hurts, man, but we can't stop here and complain, man. We've got to just next man up. Whoever plays has got to give us something while he's out there to help us win.
Q. On the defensive assignments…
WOODSON: The first two times we played Penn State we dropped, and they just dissected everything that we did. The second time we played them, we tried to trap, and they made threes. They made nine threes in one game and 12 in the next game.
So we just tried to stay as close to Baldwin as we could. Our bigs were more up, where he actually saw bodies, and we tried to play in to get out. We guarded the three-point line extremely well. They shot it well last night, and tonight we were really good in guarding it.
Q. On Trey Galloway…
WOODSON: I don't know at this point. I really don't.
Q. On executing down the stretch…
WOODSON: We had a lot of early games where teams really pushed us to the limit, and we didn't buckle in those games. But, again, missing X during the stretch that we missed him, it just, we went into another tailspin. When we went on that four-game losing streak, man, we were all reaching and searching.
The last few games we've been able to flip it and turn it around, and that's pretty good for our ball club.
Q. On Anthony Leal…
WOODSON: Coming from the NBA, in the 34 years I spent there, we call that a pro, a true pro. He has hung in there with me because he hadn't played a whole lot, but in practice he comes to work every day, and he knows everything that we're doing on both sides of the ball.
So from a coaching standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing, if we throw him in there, he's not going to embarrass us, himself or our team.
He's come in and given us a helluva lift, and tonight he hits the biggest shot of his college career, the putback. So that's beautiful for him, I think, in terms of the hard work that he's put in. I couldn't be more proud of him.
KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER & ANTHONY LEAL | INDIANA GUARD
Q. On the play of the guards…
WARE: Even with one guy out, we've always got to come together as a team, just play together and lock in on defense, and just be able to execute the offense well to be able to come out with a W.
Q. On the final possession…
LEAL: I know with the shot clock running down and everything that we're going to get a chance to get a shot, but the odds of that shot going in aren't always high. The odds of losing on a tip-in or a rebound is something we talk about a lot on defense. If there's a buzzer beater, we've got to be boxing out.
So I knew that, if he did happen to miss a shot, to go in there and try to make something happen is a possibility. I'm blessed I was able to do that.
Q. On the defensive approach…
LEAL: Our first two games, he was really comfortable, operating on the floor, being able to penetrate and make plays for everyone on his team. But coming into this game, we challenged our bigs to guard the ball screens differently, and they did a great job of that. For wing guys like us, it made it much easier to keep a guy like Ace under corral and under control.
So big props to the bigs for being able to execute that game plan.
Q. On Xavier Johnson…
WARE: Well, I feel like X, he brings of course the speed. He's also, you could say, a veteran. He's been in college for a minute. So just with him being on the court and his experience and just being able to lead us every time we go to a huddle, telling us what we need to do, fixing us if we make a mistake.
Him just bringing it on the court, I feel like that helped us out today, even the last five games.
LEAL: He's ultra-competitive. I'll add to that. He continues to add to our team's competitiveness because he hates losing more than anything. I think that's a really great feature of him.
Q. On the confidence of this team…
LEAL: I think it's kind of a culmination of just the whole season, becoming more familiar with each other as players and learning how to win together. Sometimes it doesn't work out. For example, coming down the stretch at Illinois earlier in the season, we really felt like we could win that one, but we didn't make the right plays.
From that point forward, I feel like we've had the right mindset going into the final six, eight minutes of the game that it's winning time. And we're confident in each other to make plays and trust in each other to continue to execute the game plan.
Q. On the physicality of the game…
WARE: You've got to play smart. You just have to play smart and not try to foul the opponents. That's really it. Just play smart, I would say.
Q. On the play from the post…
LEAL: In my opinion, they're two all-conference bigs. Our game plan all season has been to play through them. They've become so comfortable with each other, similar to how Race and Trayce were last year to be able to play off each other.
I don't think there's many frontcourts in the league that can play with them when they do what they do. We embrace them and we know what they're capable of. So we'll keep playing through them.
Q. On the final huddle…
LEAL: Coach Woodson always talks the most during our huddles. It's a good thing, though. It's what he does.
But we're all kind of collectively words of encouragement, it's winning time, it's time to win this game. We're going to get this done. Talking about different coverages and what we're executing.
I think that we're -- as a team, we're leading together, and there's not just one person who's taking everything, but everyone kind of pushes off each other, and I think that's a great quality that we've started to develop.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Indiana vs. Penn State
Big Ten Tournament – Second Round
March 14, 2024
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
OPENING STATEMENT: The only thing I got for you is both teams played extremely hard. Their team is well coached. They've kind of had our number the last few years. I thought our guys fought from the very beginning till the end.
It was just one of those type of games, an ugly game, but we made the plays we needed to make coming down the homestretch.
Q. On Xavier Johnson…
WOODSON: The fact that the game was such an ugly game, neither team could really make shots. I expect X and Anthony to lead. They're seniors. That's what seniors should do after going through a program or playing college basketball for a number of years.
X is not fully there because he just hasn't played a whole lot. Hell, we played him 37 minutes tonight, and I just think his presence on the floor changes our team.
But I thought tonight overall defensively what we set out to do was really, really good tonight for 40 minutes, I thought.
Q. On clicking at the right time…
WOODSON: Again, I keep mentioning Xavier, but getting him back gives us some stability a little bit in the backcourt, and defensively we've picked up. Offensively we've made shots. We didn't tonight, but in the previous four games, we've really been shooting the ball extremely well from the three-point line, and we've been making our free throws.
So when you defend and you do those two things, we're sharing the ball, I mean, I think in our last four games I charted, we were No. 1 in the Big Ten in assists. So everything is clicking.
In order to beat teams in the Big Ten, you've got to play at a high level every night, man.
Q. On the turning point of the season…
WOODSON: There's been a number of games. The Michigan State game, Izzo's team took us right to the end, and we didn't buckle. We made winning plays to secure the game. Defensively, we were very solid in that game as well.
We just -- it's taken us a while, man, to really put it together. Unfortunately, losing Gallo hurts, man, but we can't stop here and complain, man. We've got to just next man up. Whoever plays has got to give us something while he's out there to help us win.
Q. On the defensive assignments…
WOODSON: The first two times we played Penn State we dropped, and they just dissected everything that we did. The second time we played them, we tried to trap, and they made threes. They made nine threes in one game and 12 in the next game.
So we just tried to stay as close to Baldwin as we could. Our bigs were more up, where he actually saw bodies, and we tried to play in to get out. We guarded the three-point line extremely well. They shot it well last night, and tonight we were really good in guarding it.
Q. On Trey Galloway…
WOODSON: I don't know at this point. I really don't.
Q. On executing down the stretch…
WOODSON: We had a lot of early games where teams really pushed us to the limit, and we didn't buckle in those games. But, again, missing X during the stretch that we missed him, it just, we went into another tailspin. When we went on that four-game losing streak, man, we were all reaching and searching.
The last few games we've been able to flip it and turn it around, and that's pretty good for our ball club.
Q. On Anthony Leal…
WOODSON: Coming from the NBA, in the 34 years I spent there, we call that a pro, a true pro. He has hung in there with me because he hadn't played a whole lot, but in practice he comes to work every day, and he knows everything that we're doing on both sides of the ball.
So from a coaching standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing, if we throw him in there, he's not going to embarrass us, himself or our team.
He's come in and given us a helluva lift, and tonight he hits the biggest shot of his college career, the putback. So that's beautiful for him, I think, in terms of the hard work that he's put in. I couldn't be more proud of him.
KEL'EL WARE | INDIANA CENTER & ANTHONY LEAL | INDIANA GUARD
Q. On the play of the guards…
WARE: Even with one guy out, we've always got to come together as a team, just play together and lock in on defense, and just be able to execute the offense well to be able to come out with a W.
Q. On the final possession…
LEAL: I know with the shot clock running down and everything that we're going to get a chance to get a shot, but the odds of that shot going in aren't always high. The odds of losing on a tip-in or a rebound is something we talk about a lot on defense. If there's a buzzer beater, we've got to be boxing out.
So I knew that, if he did happen to miss a shot, to go in there and try to make something happen is a possibility. I'm blessed I was able to do that.
Q. On the defensive approach…
LEAL: Our first two games, he was really comfortable, operating on the floor, being able to penetrate and make plays for everyone on his team. But coming into this game, we challenged our bigs to guard the ball screens differently, and they did a great job of that. For wing guys like us, it made it much easier to keep a guy like Ace under corral and under control.
So big props to the bigs for being able to execute that game plan.
Q. On Xavier Johnson…
WARE: Well, I feel like X, he brings of course the speed. He's also, you could say, a veteran. He's been in college for a minute. So just with him being on the court and his experience and just being able to lead us every time we go to a huddle, telling us what we need to do, fixing us if we make a mistake.
Him just bringing it on the court, I feel like that helped us out today, even the last five games.
LEAL: He's ultra-competitive. I'll add to that. He continues to add to our team's competitiveness because he hates losing more than anything. I think that's a really great feature of him.
Q. On the confidence of this team…
LEAL: I think it's kind of a culmination of just the whole season, becoming more familiar with each other as players and learning how to win together. Sometimes it doesn't work out. For example, coming down the stretch at Illinois earlier in the season, we really felt like we could win that one, but we didn't make the right plays.
From that point forward, I feel like we've had the right mindset going into the final six, eight minutes of the game that it's winning time. And we're confident in each other to make plays and trust in each other to continue to execute the game plan.
Q. On the physicality of the game…
WARE: You've got to play smart. You just have to play smart and not try to foul the opponents. That's really it. Just play smart, I would say.
Q. On the play from the post…
LEAL: In my opinion, they're two all-conference bigs. Our game plan all season has been to play through them. They've become so comfortable with each other, similar to how Race and Trayce were last year to be able to play off each other.
I don't think there's many frontcourts in the league that can play with them when they do what they do. We embrace them and we know what they're capable of. So we'll keep playing through them.
Q. On the final huddle…
LEAL: Coach Woodson always talks the most during our huddles. It's a good thing, though. It's what he does.
But we're all kind of collectively words of encouragement, it's winning time, it's time to win this game. We're going to get this done. Talking about different coverages and what we're executing.
I think that we're -- as a team, we're leading together, and there's not just one person who's taking everything, but everyone kind of pushes off each other, and I think that's a great quality that we've started to develop.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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