Indiana University Athletics
#IUBB Media Availability – March 8
3/8/2024 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Below is a full transcript of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head coach Mike Woodson on Friday, March 8, 2024.
Mike Woodson
Q. On those participating in Senior Night…
WOODSON: I don't know. I haven't had a chance to sit down and see what they going to do in terms of Senior Night, so I'll know more today when I sit down with them about that.
I know Xavier Johnson is going to go through Senior Night. He doesn't have a choice. But Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal, they do have choices. They could come back another year. So, I don't know what they are going to do. We'll have to sit down and discuss that and see what they're going to do.
Q. On the offense over the last three games…
WOODSON: We could just continue to work. Guys are starting to feel good about themselves. Having X back helps a lot. Speeds us up a little bit. Getting a lot more transition buckets getting the ball up the floor. Guys are bit offing from it on the backside of the passes.
So, I mean, that's what normally happens when you make shots. Offense looks good and not hurting that we are playing pretty good defense and rebounding the ball with our opponents. That helps a lot as well.
Q. On the benefits of having multiple veteran ball handlers…
WOODSON: Well, I've been screaming all along about having Xavier back. You know, I think we're like 40 and 22 with Xavier playing basketball for us in an Indiana uniform, which is a not bad record. He's missed a lot of basketball since he's been here, and we didn't bring him in here to be on the sideline.
Unfortunately for him he's had the injuries and we've suffered somewhat from it because he is a veteran point guard.
Gallo is just starting to come into his own. I mean, it's what you expect because he's a senior. He's not a freshman or sophomore. He's a senior. I've been harping I expect that from him, I want him to do that. He's been playing extremely well here as of late.
But it helps a lot when you're making shots on the back end of passes. That's what offense is. You don't pass the ball to somebody for them to miss shots or miss layups or free throws. It all goes hand in hand in being a good offensive team.
Q. On recruiting…
WOODSON: I'm not going to talk about recruiting with you guys. I'm just not. It's something we got to do, and this is going to be a big summer for us. We got to go out and get real players. You can lose players. You just never know. That's what the portal presents.
That's just how I feel about it at this point.
Q. On the status of Anthony Walker…
WOODSON: Well, his MRI checked out pretty clean. I don't know the status of him being able to practice today. Yesterday he was pretty sore coming out of the MRI, so I'll know more today when I get down on the practice floor to see where he is in terms of being able to play.
Q. On the keys to closing out the season…
WOODSON: Just got to keep working, man, and believing in what we're doing. You know, in this three-game stretch when you look at the stat line across the board it's kind of scary. It's nice. We have gone through stretches since I've been here where we played like that.
But it's kind of nice to see because guys, they haven't quit. They continue to work and practice and trying to get better as a group. That's kind of nice to see from a coaching standpoint.
We just got to keep doing what we're doing and doing it at high level and doing it for 40 minutes. I mean, that's the key. We just been outplaying our opponents the last three games, we been playing harder than those guys and that's why we have won the last three I think.
Q. On scoring against a tough Michigan State defense…
WOODSON: Again, we just got to keep executing doing what we did not doing as of late. We got to let our defense create offense for us. That's something we've done too here of late. Michigan State is a good basketball team. They're well-coached. They play hard.
You know, we got to go out and commit ourselves for 40 minutes knowing we got to play just as hard as they play and see what happens.
Q. On Xavier Johnson getting a Senior Night…
WOODSON: It's special. Should be special for him. When you put four years -- he's been what, five, six years in college, a long time playing this sport, and now you wind down and come to the end of your college career. Man, it's a special night for him.
I couldn't be more proud and more happy for X because X has gone through a lot, man. From the time I got him, I coached him hard. I was tough on X, man. X wanted to give you all he could give you and the injuries just set in and he just wasn't able to be on the floor a lot.
So this should be a special night for him and his family, man. Now he's got to figure out once our he leaves here, what's next. I mean, that's the beauty of playing sports and getting an education. You still got to go out in the workplace and figure out the rest of your life.
I'm going to always be there for him if he needs me. I'm going to do whatever I can to help him do whatever he wants to do in the next phase of his life. For me that's what coaching is all about.
But it should be a special night for he and his family, man.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sport
Mike Woodson
Q. On those participating in Senior Night…
WOODSON: I don't know. I haven't had a chance to sit down and see what they going to do in terms of Senior Night, so I'll know more today when I sit down with them about that.
I know Xavier Johnson is going to go through Senior Night. He doesn't have a choice. But Trey Galloway and Anthony Leal, they do have choices. They could come back another year. So, I don't know what they are going to do. We'll have to sit down and discuss that and see what they're going to do.
Q. On the offense over the last three games…
WOODSON: We could just continue to work. Guys are starting to feel good about themselves. Having X back helps a lot. Speeds us up a little bit. Getting a lot more transition buckets getting the ball up the floor. Guys are bit offing from it on the backside of the passes.
So, I mean, that's what normally happens when you make shots. Offense looks good and not hurting that we are playing pretty good defense and rebounding the ball with our opponents. That helps a lot as well.
Q. On the benefits of having multiple veteran ball handlers…
WOODSON: Well, I've been screaming all along about having Xavier back. You know, I think we're like 40 and 22 with Xavier playing basketball for us in an Indiana uniform, which is a not bad record. He's missed a lot of basketball since he's been here, and we didn't bring him in here to be on the sideline.
Unfortunately for him he's had the injuries and we've suffered somewhat from it because he is a veteran point guard.
Gallo is just starting to come into his own. I mean, it's what you expect because he's a senior. He's not a freshman or sophomore. He's a senior. I've been harping I expect that from him, I want him to do that. He's been playing extremely well here as of late.
But it helps a lot when you're making shots on the back end of passes. That's what offense is. You don't pass the ball to somebody for them to miss shots or miss layups or free throws. It all goes hand in hand in being a good offensive team.
Q. On recruiting…
WOODSON: I'm not going to talk about recruiting with you guys. I'm just not. It's something we got to do, and this is going to be a big summer for us. We got to go out and get real players. You can lose players. You just never know. That's what the portal presents.
That's just how I feel about it at this point.
Q. On the status of Anthony Walker…
WOODSON: Well, his MRI checked out pretty clean. I don't know the status of him being able to practice today. Yesterday he was pretty sore coming out of the MRI, so I'll know more today when I get down on the practice floor to see where he is in terms of being able to play.
Q. On the keys to closing out the season…
WOODSON: Just got to keep working, man, and believing in what we're doing. You know, in this three-game stretch when you look at the stat line across the board it's kind of scary. It's nice. We have gone through stretches since I've been here where we played like that.
But it's kind of nice to see because guys, they haven't quit. They continue to work and practice and trying to get better as a group. That's kind of nice to see from a coaching standpoint.
We just got to keep doing what we're doing and doing it at high level and doing it for 40 minutes. I mean, that's the key. We just been outplaying our opponents the last three games, we been playing harder than those guys and that's why we have won the last three I think.
Q. On scoring against a tough Michigan State defense…
WOODSON: Again, we just got to keep executing doing what we did not doing as of late. We got to let our defense create offense for us. That's something we've done too here of late. Michigan State is a good basketball team. They're well-coached. They play hard.
You know, we got to go out and commit ourselves for 40 minutes knowing we got to play just as hard as they play and see what happens.
Q. On Xavier Johnson getting a Senior Night…
WOODSON: It's special. Should be special for him. When you put four years -- he's been what, five, six years in college, a long time playing this sport, and now you wind down and come to the end of your college career. Man, it's a special night for him.
I couldn't be more proud and more happy for X because X has gone through a lot, man. From the time I got him, I coached him hard. I was tough on X, man. X wanted to give you all he could give you and the injuries just set in and he just wasn't able to be on the floor a lot.
So this should be a special night for him and his family, man. Now he's got to figure out once our he leaves here, what's next. I mean, that's the beauty of playing sports and getting an education. You still got to go out in the workplace and figure out the rest of your life.
I'm going to always be there for him if he needs me. I'm going to do whatever I can to help him do whatever he wants to do in the next phase of his life. For me that's what coaching is all about.
But it should be a special night for he and his family, man.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sport
Players Mentioned
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Forward
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Wednesday, August 19
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