Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. RV/RV Maryland
1/26/2025 2:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Indiana vs. RV/RV Maryland
Jan. 26, 2025
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On what he was looking for on the last pair of inbounds and what happened…
WOODSON: They went to zone, and when we went underneath out of bounds, we had a play for Myles to come off because we knew they would switch to big, and he didn't. He never came off.
That being said, we had our opportunities. We had a foul to give, which we talked about in the timeout, and didn't give it. So that was huge.
You've got to make plays down the stretch, and I got to get them to understand that. We missed a big front end of a one-and-one that could have put us back up three or four. It was just the little things that we didn't execute coming down the homestretch.
Q. On giving up 78 points at home…
WOODSON: Well, it was that type of game. They're a good offensive team, and I thought we did everything we were supposed to do to get back in the game, and we just didn't finish.
With the foul to give and not give it, it's unacceptable, but you can't go back and get it now.
Q. On if this game a is a tougher loss to deal with…
WOODSON: No, any time you lose, it's tough to swallow. I don't like to lose at all. It's just my makeup.
I know those guys in the locker room, I love them to death, and they don't like losing. Again, I've just got to help them more. That's what I've got to do.
Q. On the things that went wrong late…
WOODSON: I'm not going to say -- we executed to get back into the game. We're on the free-throw line with the one-and-one, up two with, I think, 20-something seconds on the clock.
Then we just didn't get a key stop with a foul to give. The ball scrambled out. The initial thrust of their offense, I thought we played it well. Then when the ball kind of spurted around, we just didn't get up and take the foul like we should have.
Q. On trying to capture more consistency from the team…
WOODSON: Today getting Malik (Reneau) back was a plus. He missed six games, guys, and I'm not using that as an excuse. We went 4-2 in that stretch with three games on the road going 2-1. He's lost a lot of his conditioning.
Make no mistake about it, when you play on teams like Maryland and Purdue teams that got bigs, you've got to play big.
I thought with Goode coming in off the bench tonight, he played his butt off and made plays, but Derik Queen matching up with (Luke) Goode is not a good match.
I thought Malik (Reneau) came on at the end and showed some fight, considering he hadn't played a whole lot here as of late. So, we've got to get him back in better condition. He played 20-something minutes tonight. See if he can help us finish this ten-game run.
Q. On the last inbounds and swapping Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode for Anthony Leal and Oumar Ballo…
WOODSON: Well, they went zone on our initial last timeout. Malik tried to make the play on the baseline, anything to get a foul. Derik (Queen) made a good play on the ball to knock it out of bounds.
But the play that we had coming underneath, we just didn't execute. Myles (Rice) didn't come off, and he stayed there in the corner, and we didn't get much out of it.
Q. On the second-half stretch where Maryland got hot from 3-point range…
WOODSON: Again, if guys are shooting -- a couple times we lost guys, but there were a few times that we were right there. Obviously you're not close enough if guys can just turn and shoot in your face and make them.
We've just got to get better in that area and guarding the 3 ball. Early on, we were pretty good in that area, and we had some slippage there as well.
Q. On being up late with three minutes to go and what went wrong…
WOODSON: No, I wasn't really trying to work clock. I thought Malik (Reneau) rushed a little push shot that he had right there in the lane, kind of a little chippy the few that he had just made. I thought we executed okay and got some good shots, but you've still got to defend on the other end.
I thought we gave up an easy layup to (Julian) Reese, and I know Malik (Reneau) didn't want to foul out and I get that. But we can't give up layups, especially in short clock situation. I mean, they got that early in the clock, so they didn't have to milk any of the time off the clock.
Hey, it's a tough game. We've just got to bounce back.
MYLES RICE | SOPHOMORE GUARD & ANTHONY LEAL | SENIOR GUARD
Q. On giving up double-digit threes for the fourth time in five games…
RICE: think during the little run they got two or three 3s in transition. I think it's just important for us to get back and get matched up no matter what the matchup is. Just find a man and be able to take that away.
They hit some tough shots tonight. Some of them were wide open looks as well. That's just how the game goes sometimes.
Q. On the last possession…
RICE: I think we were trying to run a play, but then the substitutions kind of got everybody confused a little bit, trying to put everybody in their right spots. Then we didn't have a timeout, so we were trying to fix everything on the fly a little bit in such a heated moment.
We've got to be better as players. No matter who's in the group and who's on the court, that we can get the play off no matter what. We've just got to be better.
Q. On giving the fans an idea of the mentality of the locker room and trying to fight uphill…
LEAL: Sure. We're sitting at 5-5 in the Big Ten. We've got ten games left. Our next four are against really, really good teams that, if we're able to string some wins together, it changes the whole trajectory of our season.
We get Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, those are golden opportunities for us to get over the hump a little bit, figure it out, and just continue learning how to win.
If we're able to string some of those wins together, it changes everything. We still have ten games to go, and we want to try to win all ten of them.
Q. On the emotional response from the crowd when the team came back on a 20-7 run…
LEAL: It's always exciting. It's what makes this place so special is just being able to go on runs like that. This place and these fans reward tough plays and hard plays, and they notice when we're out there playing as hard as we can. They reward us with energy, and it becomes contagious. That's what makes this game so special.
But it's a game of runs, and we were able to go on a run there. We've just got to find a way to finish.
Q. On the preparation to respond for the next game…
RICE: We just take it day by day. I think each and every day that we come into work, I think we have a positive mindset, we want to get better. Paying attention to the scouts and everything.
I think we did all that today. We just didn't get the win we wanted. It doesn't change what we have to do. We still show up each and every day working and trying to get better.
Q. On what's preventing finding the needed consistency to win…
LEAL: Can I ask you to specify consistency in what?
Q. On the ups and downs from the team…
LEAL: Like I said, it is a game of runs. We know that we're going to go on runs and they're going to go on runs. It's about who can handle those punches and keep fighting better than the other team.
Unfortunately, today, they responded in a way that they made a big shot at the end and whatnot. For us, it's just staying composed and not letting the highs get too high or the lows get too low and understanding that, okay, maybe they did go on a run, but now we can go on a run. Or maybe we did just go on a run, so let's continue to try to build on it.
Again, it's not getting hung up on whether it's really good or bad at the moment but just focus on the next play and try to win games.
Q. On the the heat of the moment with the last second substitutions before the final play…
RICE: I'll just start by saying this. I know they're not going to want me to say it, buy that's on me as the point guard. No matter what lineup we're in, we have to make sure we all know what we're doing, and I'll take some of the heat on that.
It's just a heated moment. You can't really put it into words sometimes. Everything happens so fast. It's not only just the team, but especially me, to be cool, calm, and collected and be in that head space to know, like I said, make sure everybody's in their spots and make sure we know what we're doing.
We've just got to be better, and I've got to be better as well.
Q. On the communication about fouling on Maryland's last possession…
LEAL: We had discussed it in the huddle, yes. It's on us as players to go out there and execute what's told us to do. We didn't do it right there, but that's not the reason we lost the game. There's plays and plays that add up and lead up to that.
Sure, yes, we were under the impression we were supposed to foul, and unfortunately, we didn't. But it's a long game, and there's a lot of things that add up to it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
KEVIN WILLARD| MARYLAND HEAD COACH
Q. On what it takes to come back after losing the lead…
WILLARD: We've been on a really good learning process this whole year. Whenever you have a new team and you play road games in this league (Big Ten), you're going to lose games. We have lost them by three at the buzzer. My message the last two weeks has been, let's just keep getting better and learn how to win on the road. I think the biggest thing is when we got down five (points), I was like, "everyone relax. We've been in this situation before. Let's run our play. Let's score and get back into it, get a stop," and that was the biggest thing. I think (the team has) learned that everything on the road is not going to smooth.
Q. On the guard play today…
WILLARD: You have to make shots against Indiana. The way they play defense si that they really collapse the paint, and they do it as good as anybody in college basketball. So you have to make shots. They dive under screens, and we told our guards, "you just have to shhot the ball. Stop going in (the paint) and trying to challenge (Oumar) Ballo. Just shoot threes." We do it at a high level. Just keep shooting them. We got some open ones and made them.
Q. On the shot by Rodney Rice to take the lead…
WILLARD: We were running a little hammer re-screen. (Trey) Galloway jumped it really well. I think (Ja'Kobi Gillespie) thought he had a layup. The biggest thing was that I had a senior center (Julian Reese) that didn't panic. He just took it, dribble hand off, and got Rod a wide open shot. It didn't work as designed, but it worked, so that's all that matters.
Indiana vs. RV/RV Maryland
Jan. 26, 2025
MIKE WOODSON | INDIANA HEAD COACH
Q. On what he was looking for on the last pair of inbounds and what happened…
WOODSON: They went to zone, and when we went underneath out of bounds, we had a play for Myles to come off because we knew they would switch to big, and he didn't. He never came off.
That being said, we had our opportunities. We had a foul to give, which we talked about in the timeout, and didn't give it. So that was huge.
You've got to make plays down the stretch, and I got to get them to understand that. We missed a big front end of a one-and-one that could have put us back up three or four. It was just the little things that we didn't execute coming down the homestretch.
Q. On giving up 78 points at home…
WOODSON: Well, it was that type of game. They're a good offensive team, and I thought we did everything we were supposed to do to get back in the game, and we just didn't finish.
With the foul to give and not give it, it's unacceptable, but you can't go back and get it now.
Q. On if this game a is a tougher loss to deal with…
WOODSON: No, any time you lose, it's tough to swallow. I don't like to lose at all. It's just my makeup.
I know those guys in the locker room, I love them to death, and they don't like losing. Again, I've just got to help them more. That's what I've got to do.
Q. On the things that went wrong late…
WOODSON: I'm not going to say -- we executed to get back into the game. We're on the free-throw line with the one-and-one, up two with, I think, 20-something seconds on the clock.
Then we just didn't get a key stop with a foul to give. The ball scrambled out. The initial thrust of their offense, I thought we played it well. Then when the ball kind of spurted around, we just didn't get up and take the foul like we should have.
Q. On trying to capture more consistency from the team…
WOODSON: Today getting Malik (Reneau) back was a plus. He missed six games, guys, and I'm not using that as an excuse. We went 4-2 in that stretch with three games on the road going 2-1. He's lost a lot of his conditioning.
Make no mistake about it, when you play on teams like Maryland and Purdue teams that got bigs, you've got to play big.
I thought with Goode coming in off the bench tonight, he played his butt off and made plays, but Derik Queen matching up with (Luke) Goode is not a good match.
I thought Malik (Reneau) came on at the end and showed some fight, considering he hadn't played a whole lot here as of late. So, we've got to get him back in better condition. He played 20-something minutes tonight. See if he can help us finish this ten-game run.
Q. On the last inbounds and swapping Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode for Anthony Leal and Oumar Ballo…
WOODSON: Well, they went zone on our initial last timeout. Malik tried to make the play on the baseline, anything to get a foul. Derik (Queen) made a good play on the ball to knock it out of bounds.
But the play that we had coming underneath, we just didn't execute. Myles (Rice) didn't come off, and he stayed there in the corner, and we didn't get much out of it.
Q. On the second-half stretch where Maryland got hot from 3-point range…
WOODSON: Again, if guys are shooting -- a couple times we lost guys, but there were a few times that we were right there. Obviously you're not close enough if guys can just turn and shoot in your face and make them.
We've just got to get better in that area and guarding the 3 ball. Early on, we were pretty good in that area, and we had some slippage there as well.
Q. On being up late with three minutes to go and what went wrong…
WOODSON: No, I wasn't really trying to work clock. I thought Malik (Reneau) rushed a little push shot that he had right there in the lane, kind of a little chippy the few that he had just made. I thought we executed okay and got some good shots, but you've still got to defend on the other end.
I thought we gave up an easy layup to (Julian) Reese, and I know Malik (Reneau) didn't want to foul out and I get that. But we can't give up layups, especially in short clock situation. I mean, they got that early in the clock, so they didn't have to milk any of the time off the clock.
Hey, it's a tough game. We've just got to bounce back.
MYLES RICE | SOPHOMORE GUARD & ANTHONY LEAL | SENIOR GUARD
Q. On giving up double-digit threes for the fourth time in five games…
RICE: think during the little run they got two or three 3s in transition. I think it's just important for us to get back and get matched up no matter what the matchup is. Just find a man and be able to take that away.
They hit some tough shots tonight. Some of them were wide open looks as well. That's just how the game goes sometimes.
Q. On the last possession…
RICE: I think we were trying to run a play, but then the substitutions kind of got everybody confused a little bit, trying to put everybody in their right spots. Then we didn't have a timeout, so we were trying to fix everything on the fly a little bit in such a heated moment.
We've got to be better as players. No matter who's in the group and who's on the court, that we can get the play off no matter what. We've just got to be better.
Q. On giving the fans an idea of the mentality of the locker room and trying to fight uphill…
LEAL: Sure. We're sitting at 5-5 in the Big Ten. We've got ten games left. Our next four are against really, really good teams that, if we're able to string some wins together, it changes the whole trajectory of our season.
We get Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, those are golden opportunities for us to get over the hump a little bit, figure it out, and just continue learning how to win.
If we're able to string some of those wins together, it changes everything. We still have ten games to go, and we want to try to win all ten of them.
Q. On the emotional response from the crowd when the team came back on a 20-7 run…
LEAL: It's always exciting. It's what makes this place so special is just being able to go on runs like that. This place and these fans reward tough plays and hard plays, and they notice when we're out there playing as hard as we can. They reward us with energy, and it becomes contagious. That's what makes this game so special.
But it's a game of runs, and we were able to go on a run there. We've just got to find a way to finish.
Q. On the preparation to respond for the next game…
RICE: We just take it day by day. I think each and every day that we come into work, I think we have a positive mindset, we want to get better. Paying attention to the scouts and everything.
I think we did all that today. We just didn't get the win we wanted. It doesn't change what we have to do. We still show up each and every day working and trying to get better.
Q. On what's preventing finding the needed consistency to win…
LEAL: Can I ask you to specify consistency in what?
Q. On the ups and downs from the team…
LEAL: Like I said, it is a game of runs. We know that we're going to go on runs and they're going to go on runs. It's about who can handle those punches and keep fighting better than the other team.
Unfortunately, today, they responded in a way that they made a big shot at the end and whatnot. For us, it's just staying composed and not letting the highs get too high or the lows get too low and understanding that, okay, maybe they did go on a run, but now we can go on a run. Or maybe we did just go on a run, so let's continue to try to build on it.
Again, it's not getting hung up on whether it's really good or bad at the moment but just focus on the next play and try to win games.
Q. On the the heat of the moment with the last second substitutions before the final play…
RICE: I'll just start by saying this. I know they're not going to want me to say it, buy that's on me as the point guard. No matter what lineup we're in, we have to make sure we all know what we're doing, and I'll take some of the heat on that.
It's just a heated moment. You can't really put it into words sometimes. Everything happens so fast. It's not only just the team, but especially me, to be cool, calm, and collected and be in that head space to know, like I said, make sure everybody's in their spots and make sure we know what we're doing.
We've just got to be better, and I've got to be better as well.
Q. On the communication about fouling on Maryland's last possession…
LEAL: We had discussed it in the huddle, yes. It's on us as players to go out there and execute what's told us to do. We didn't do it right there, but that's not the reason we lost the game. There's plays and plays that add up and lead up to that.
Sure, yes, we were under the impression we were supposed to foul, and unfortunately, we didn't. But it's a long game, and there's a lot of things that add up to it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
KEVIN WILLARD| MARYLAND HEAD COACH
Q. On what it takes to come back after losing the lead…
WILLARD: We've been on a really good learning process this whole year. Whenever you have a new team and you play road games in this league (Big Ten), you're going to lose games. We have lost them by three at the buzzer. My message the last two weeks has been, let's just keep getting better and learn how to win on the road. I think the biggest thing is when we got down five (points), I was like, "everyone relax. We've been in this situation before. Let's run our play. Let's score and get back into it, get a stop," and that was the biggest thing. I think (the team has) learned that everything on the road is not going to smooth.
Q. On the guard play today…
WILLARD: You have to make shots against Indiana. The way they play defense si that they really collapse the paint, and they do it as good as anybody in college basketball. So you have to make shots. They dive under screens, and we told our guards, "you just have to shhot the ball. Stop going in (the paint) and trying to challenge (Oumar) Ballo. Just shoot threes." We do it at a high level. Just keep shooting them. We got some open ones and made them.
Q. On the shot by Rodney Rice to take the lead…
WILLARD: We were running a little hammer re-screen. (Trey) Galloway jumped it really well. I think (Ja'Kobi Gillespie) thought he had a layup. The biggest thing was that I had a senior center (Julian Reese) that didn't panic. He just took it, dribble hand off, and got Rod a wide open shot. It didn't work as designed, but it worked, so that's all that matters.
Players Mentioned
Center
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
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