Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Sunday after the Hoosiers lost 77-57 to No. 5 Connecticut at Madison Square Garden. He was disappointed in their rebounding and foul trouble, but also said the experience will help them prepare for the Big Ten schedule.
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00:00 Which one are you gonna start with, but offensively, where,
00:03 I mean, I had 19 of your first 25 points that were most of your offense.
00:08 What needs to happen to get other guys involved?
00:12 >> I think better ball movement.
00:14 We go back to the Wright State game.
00:19 I thought we had better ball movement and body movement, set screens.
00:24 But you gotta give Connecticut, you got all the credit.
00:27 I mean, I thought they were the most physical team.
00:30 Both teams were battling early.
00:33 But to start the second half, they just,
00:35 they took us out of everything we wanted to do in terms of ball movement.
00:41 So I gotta do a better job in getting our team in better,
00:44 I can't make shots for them, but
00:46 I gotta get them in a better position to be better offensively.
00:50 >> Yeah.
00:51 >> Yes, I think only 13 free point, but guys were trying to find those windows and
00:55 maybe couldn't, does that kinda go into some of the same issues,
00:58 just not being able to get the court spaced in ways that gets guys those shots?
01:02 >> Well, again, I mean, their team is very good defensively.
01:07 And the looks that we did have, that we didn't make, so
01:12 it puts so much pressure on you to get stops defensively.
01:15 We just gotta get better offensively.
01:17 Defensively, we did some good things, but
01:20 we just didn't sustain it over the 40 minute ball game.
01:24 >> Yeah, Mike, in terms of the fall trouble, X was out of it, two minutes.
01:28 How much of that kind of play you guys wanted to do today?
01:31 >> Well, again, like I told X, he's gotta keep,
01:34 he had the two when I put him back in.
01:38 I mean, the third foul was a foul.
01:40 I mean, you take yourself right back out of the game after I put you in.
01:46 I gotta trust that you can get through the half with the two fouls.
01:51 And it was clearly a foul.
01:53 I mean, so that didn't help matters.
01:56 X is a big part of what we do.
01:58 And he's gotta become better at running our team and
02:03 be smart about not picking up fouls.
02:05 >> Following up on Xavier's foul trouble, what do you expect from the rest of
02:10 the guards when that situation happens and how do you evaluate it?
02:13 >> Well, I don't know if we expect the other players to come in and
02:17 pick us up and sustain what we're trying to do.
02:23 I mean, it was 43-50, I think we cut it to seven.
02:28 And we get a big rebound and X, instead of him clearing, letting the traffic go,
02:34 he tried to go through traffic, they tipped the ball, and ended up a three point play.
02:39 I thought that was the biggest play of the game.
02:40 >> Mike, what do you think,
02:44 Clell didn't get a two point bucket today, but
02:47 then he was also sometimes going one on three.
02:50 >> Well, again, I was a little disappointed.
02:52 I mean, you look at his start for us, a lot of his work has come into pain.
02:59 It's like he didn't want any parts of it tonight, and I told him that.
03:02 I mean, he's seven feet tall, he's gotta get in there and mix it up.
03:06 And he kind of floated around on the perimeter shooting threes.
03:10 And I mean, that's good when you're up 20.
03:15 But when you're down, you gotta get in there and mix it up.
03:20 >> Mike, how best do you explain getting beat on the board, it's 44-22.
03:23 >> Well, again, that's the difference.
03:25 I mean, that's been, if you go back to our stats the last three games,
03:31 that's been very glaring.
03:33 And all it is, is I mean, our guards are not rebounding.
03:36 We tried to leave it up to where and Malik to get all the rebounds.
03:40 I mean, between McKenzie, I think X and
03:46 Galloway, we had five rebounds.
03:50 X, granted he didn't play in significant minutes,
03:53 we gotta do a better job of rebounding.
03:56 I thought that was the difference in the game.
03:58 They were the much better team aggressively in terms of rebounding and
04:03 getting after us defensively.
04:04 So we gotta rebound and figure it out from here.
04:08 >> Mike, you played a team that won the national championship last year and
04:13 they could win it again this year.
04:15 What do you think you learned most about your team today?
04:19 >> We gotta get tougher.
04:20 We're not tough enough, not yet, not tough enough.
04:24 I mean, we put so much pressure on our defense to get stops.
04:30 And then come down and have terrible offensive execution and that's on me.
04:35 I take pride in trying to keep everything balanced.
04:39 So I gotta do a better job of getting them in a better position to score the ball.
04:44 >> Yeah, and Coach, Malik did have a really good game today.
04:47 How do you channel that not going forward against big opponents?
04:50 >> Well, again, I think that's promising.
04:54 He played great against a great team.
04:56 And he should be on that.
04:59 He did a lot of good things.
05:00 But again, keeping him out of foul trouble, that hurts.
05:07 When you don't have him on the floor,
05:11 I thought he played well enough to keep us in the game.
05:16 But foul trouble's plagued him too.
05:20 >> I just wanna follow up on the rebounding.
05:21 Do you feel like from the guards rebounding,
05:23 do you feel like that's an effort being, is it something schematic?
05:26 What do you see that's not- >> It's all effort.
05:28 That's all it is.
05:29 It takes a little more effort to stick your nose in there where toughness is.
05:35 And we just gotta get our guys in there to help rebound.
05:40 I mean, it was glaring tonight that we just got out toughed.
05:45 And I don't like that.
05:46 I gotta figure it out.
05:47 >> Yeah.
05:50 >> Excess foul trouble obviously put CJ in a more expanded role today.
05:53 Just what sort of progress have you seen from him the last few games and
05:56 what do you need to do to get him rolling from three point range a little more?
05:58 >> Again, it's not just CJ.
06:00 I mean, Caleb, Walker, all the guys that come off the bench game.
06:05 I mean, I trust when they come in that they can make plays and
06:10 get things done tonight.
06:11 But I mean, it wasn't working for anybody in terms of how we played.
06:17 I just, I gotta get that fixed.
06:20 >> Do you have a question?
06:23 >> Yeah.
06:24 >> Okay.
06:25 >> No, I do, yeah.
06:25 >> And then we'll finish right here, all right?
06:27 >> Okay, yeah, Mike, UConn's starting guards, yeah, Newton and
06:31 Spencer at 23 points, 18 points.
06:33 What do you need differently from your guards in terms of defense standpoint to
06:37 kinda limit that?
06:38 >> X on the floor, that might help.
06:40 I thought Galloway battled, he didn't play too bad.
06:45 But their guards outplayed our guards, and X only played 13 minutes.
06:50 So that's not gonna help matters for us.
06:52 That's not taking anything away from Gabe.
06:55 Because Gabe comes in and he competes.
06:56 But X is a senior, you expect him to finish the damn game on the floor,
07:01 not sit next to me.
07:03 >> Nice one.
07:04 >> Mike, are these the kind of games you guys need to play in November,
07:09 December to get ready for the big game?
07:10 >> Absolutely, that's why they're scheduled that way.
07:13 We knew this game would be tough, but I was so
07:18 anxious to get to the game just to see where we were at the ball club.
07:22 They kinda put us in our place, and we gotta go and regroup and
07:27 figure it out from there.
07:28 >> Okay, thanks coach.