Postgame Quotes: No. 19/20 Illinois

Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. No. 19/20 Illinois
Jan. 14, 2025

MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On what he said to the team in the locker room to keep the guys together…
WOODSON: Long season, man. I mean, you can't throw in the towel. You know, I mean, we didn't play well the first handful. We were awful.

I thought we came out the second half and we competed and played a lot better, but the damage was already done in the first half. Got to give Illinois a lot of credit, their coaching staff. They played great.

Q. On the need to be better against quad one opponents…
WOODSON: We've had some good games against big time opponents over the three years. The record doesn't indicate that.

It's tough. You know, I mean, when you prepare and you work, because we work in practice, we do all the things that you are supposed to do going into the game. Guys just didn't step up tonight and didn't step up in the Iowa game.

I can't go back to past years. I got to coach what's staring me in the face right now. We just got to continue to work. I mean, still a long season. Hopefully we'll get Malik back soon. He's a big piece to what we do and we can get guys back playing the way I expect us to play.

Q. On the fans being vocal and his message…
WOODSON: Again, I love our fans and I respect our fans, but it's up to me to get our players to play at a high level. That's my job and I'm going to continue to work in that area and hope that our fans will hang in there with us.

Q. On his approach to help young guys grow through tough games…
WOODSON: You got to continue to work. I got to make some changes. We haven't been getting off to a good start in terms of who we been starting. Sure, we do miss Malik (Reneau). He's a big piece to the puzzle. But I got to put guys in there that I think is going to get us off to a good start and see if we can maintain it over a 40-minute ballgame.

We can't two games, and these were embarrassing games for us, determine our season. We still got a long way to go, a lot of Big Ten games left. I just got to get us better prepared and ready to play.

Q. On giving up the 60 points in the first half…
WOODSON: I wish I knew. You know, I mean, I thought we played better the second half. They scored what, 34 points the second half. 60 points is just way too many.
I just thought our defense and our intensity just wasn't there and they exploited it.

Q. On the sequence at the end and the consequences…
WOODSON: There is not a whole lot I can do. You know being until I can back and review it. I'm sure the commissioner and everybody will take a look at what happens and make a decision on what they plan on doing.

I just hope (Oumar) Ballo is with us our next game as we travel over to Ohio.

Q. On the accountability of the players…
WOODSON: Well, they're taking up for each other. I get that. In the heat of the battle anything is liable to happen. I don't condone players pushing players or their player got into our player's face. It went back and forth, two guys pushing and shoving.

I don't condone that by any means. In the heat of the battle I'm not right there in the situation where I can stop it. Sometimes things get out of hand and they happen.

You know, (Oumar) Ballo and I will sit and talk, along with Myles (Rice), because he was assessed a technical, too, and see where we go from there.

Q. On the team's response after the Iowa loss…
WOODSON: Again, we can't let this be a snowball effect. Like I said, we got a long way to go in this Big Ten.

Do I think we're good enough to win? Yeah, I do. I just got to get us to believe that and keep pushing these guys in the right direction.

Q. On why this talented roster hasn't clicked…
WOODSON: Again, you're missing your leading scorer the last five, six games. I mean, that doesn't help.

I mean, again, I've always said we won games without Malik (Reneau). It's next man up. The last two games we haven't fared well without him. Hopefully get him back soon and I can get guys playing back at a high level so we can get back on the winning track.

ANTHONY LEAL | SENIOR GUARD & LUKE GOODE | SENIOR FORWARD

Q. On struggles against top opponents…
GOODE: We're not playing tough enough. We need to come out and be ready and stick to the game plan and the scouting report. That's been our biggest issue so far. We come out and let teams kind of punk us in a sense.

I think we need to be better and have a closer attention to detail on the scouting report.

Q. On the struggle to fix defensive errors…
LEAL: To be honest, there is a lot of defensive schemes we can run, and it really doesn't matter what we do if we're not going to do it hard, with effort and toughness. That's what it comes down to.

Obviously, they have some really talented players on their team. They're a good team. But we know we're talented and good team as well. We just aren't matching anybody's toughness or togetherness or effort right now. I think that's the problem.

Q. On the slow starts throughout the season…
GOODE: Offensive starts shouldn't really determine how we play the game. I think it all comes down to defense. If we score above 55, 65 points in a game then we need to be able to win games like that.

So regardless of if it's slow starts, fast starts, whatever it is, I don't even think we started out slow today; it was like 10-8 after the first four.

So, you know, at the end of the day it starts on the defensive end. Regardless of how we play offensively, how we shoot the ball, we need to have the pride and be able to sit down on defense and grind out games.

On back-to-back 25-plus-point losses…
LEAL: I don't think we carry on like normal. Obviously, things need to be addressed between players and themselves and players and each other. I think that's really the root of it. We just got to lock in, look in the mirror, and understand how embarrassing and unacceptable this is and understand that nobody gets where they want to go if the team doesn't win.

Just reassessing everything and setting our priorities straight man to man and man to himself and finding ways to win games.

Q. On the sequence at the end…
GOODE: Yeah, I think it got blown way out of proportion. I went and talked to the Illinois staff after and said I had no bad intentions. It was simply a box out. I got called for one in the first half, which was awful as well. That's what we're taught to do. Go hit your man and turn and box out. That's what I was taught to do and that's what I did.

I don't think (Oumar) Ballo reacted in the right way. He stood up for me and Myles (Rice) did, which I really appreciate that. That's what team looks like. But it was a little too much. I think (Oumar) Ballo should have controlled his emotions a little bit. Makes us look bad as a program, and that's not the kids that we have in the locker room.

Anyone that knows (Oumar) Ballo knows he's a great kid. We were all upset that we were losing the game by a margin we didn't expect or want to lose the game by. At the end of that day Coach (Mike Woodson) went and shook Coach Brad's (Underwood) hand, I went and shook Brad's hand, and basketball is basketball.

(Oumar) Ballo is a great kid who was sticking up for his teammate, and that is just not how we need to represent the Indiana program, and we'll continue to try and represent the right way in the future.

On being a veteran and leading the team in a new direction going forward…
LEAL: That's tough. Obviously, things aren't going the way they're supposed to go right now. That's a problem we all have to understand amongst ourselves first, and then just coming in with the right mindset every day. Sure, we just did lose two, but we're staring nine quad one games in a row in the face.

We have two different options, and I think as long as we can all get on the same page about the fact that we can win those nine games, turn the season around, we can make everybody's dreams come true, right?

So I think it's just approaching every day with a new, fresh mentality and understanding we do have a lot of work to do.

The work needs to be done.

Q. On how the team does not come out prepared to play at this point…
LEAL: Sure. Winning is obviously hard. Like Luke said at the first media timeout it was 10-8, so not like we weren't coming out ready to play. I think it's just understanding how hard winning is and what it requires and you have to be able to sustain punches, remain composed, and take the runs because it's a game of runs.

We have to get better in that department and just remaining composed, staying true to our scout and our offensive concepts and the things we have had success within the future. It can't be done in spurts. It's got to be able to be done when it gets tough.
That's really what it comes down to, and hopefully we'll be able to put that together.

Q. On the message to the fans who were restless in the game…
GOODE: I understand it. We got embarrassed. We have to wear this jersey with more pride as Indiana players. This program is too historical and too great to be represented like that.

But to all those fans that were booing and are so negative on social media, just don't switch sides. We will get this thing turned around. We all got the confidence in our teammates, got the confidence in our coaches, so stay on this side when we start being successful again.

LEAL: Agreed.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

BRAD UNDERWOOD | ILLINOIS HEAD COACH
Q. Opening Statement
UNDERWOOD: Well to state the obvious, I think we missed Kasparas (Jakuconis) for a couple of games. It was very nice to see him back. What a first half by him. I thought that Ben (Humrichous) set the tone for the game after diving on the floor for the loose ball the very first play and really challenged this team. We were so out of character in our last game, and we responded. So, I'm excited about that. I thought Kylan (Boswell) was very effective getting downhill. I thought he dominated both ends of the court in the second half, especially with his rebounding. Tommy (Tomislav Iviscic) with a double-double was nice to see. We did a good job playing through him tonight. The bench did a great job. This is a hard place to come in and win. We played well and did it against a team that has the same record as we do.

On Kylan Boswell's shooting...
UNDERWOOD: He's just different. I don't know how to describe him. He's one of the smartest people I know and he's very competitive beyond his years. He shot a few balls in shoot around today and went through his pregame stuff and he felt good. Obviously, he got off to a great start. It's hard to score 19 points in a ball game, let alone in a half.

On second chance points and what was different...
UNDERWOOD: That's a great question for them. I'm still trying to figure that out. Like I said, it was a one off. We were playing off energy, emotion, and attention to detail which was all off on our last game. We were just trying to get back to winning those 50/50 balls. You don't have to get every rebound, but you have to go and create opportunities. I don't want guys not to shoot threes, but when they do shoot them, I want to go and rebound. We got back into character with this game.

Indiana University Athletics

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