Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Thursday and talked about the Hoosiers' recent winning streak and preparing to play a tough Auburn team in Atlanta on Saturday. Here is the full video from his press conference.
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00:00 Thanks for the time. We appreciate it. I'm curious when you're preparing for a team like Auburn that you know is going to bring relentless pressure defensively and crash the offensive glass so hard.
00:09 How do you prepare your team in the days leading up to that and practice? Do you do anything different? Or how do you emphasize maybe the need in those two areas to be strong with the ball and then also on the defensive glass?
00:19 We just work my man. That's all we do. We do what we do. And that's just work.
00:29 You know, I mean, they're no different than some teams that we played that applies pressure. You just got to handle the basketball, not turn it over, get shots and what they do to you. You got to reverse it and do the same thing to them. That's kind of how I look at it.
00:46 Zach and Alec.
00:49 Mike, I guess just forgive the question that I imagine we were going to ask somebody was going to but just how Zach's doing. Has he been able to kind of get on the floor at all in terms of you know, anything in practice or anything like that? And do you think he might kind of be circling toward a return here in the next couple weeks?
01:05 Oh, no, yeah. He's just right now he's rehabbing and hopefully he'll be back here in the near future. That's all I can give you right now.
01:14 Thanks.
01:15 Alec and Mike Niz.
01:19 Hey, coach. Obviously, Auburn comes in as one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country, plays with a lot of versatility on the perimeter as well. Kind of what are the one or two areas of concern or priorities that you guys have when going into this matchup on the defense event?
01:34 I'm concerned about every team we play. Not just Auburn, you know, they're a good basketball team. They do a lot of good things. But any team in college basketball is beatable. So we just got to stick to our game plan, put a good game plan together and see where we go.
01:51 Mike Niz and Mike Schuman.
01:55 Yeah, Mike, he talks about Gabe the other night. But in terms of, you know, having him in the starting lineup, what kind of growth have you seen just so quickly? And how impressed are you that he's been able to handle kind of the moment?
02:08 Well, he's just been steady. I mean, he's been steady ever since we brought him on campus. And yes, he has a long way to go still, still trying to figure out the college game. But the fact that he competes, he loves to compete, he puts the work in. So he doesn't look lost, just put it that way. So I'm pleased where he is. But knowing that there's a lot of room for improvement.
02:31 Mike DeMason.
02:34 Yeah, good morning, coach. I know you spent a lot of time in Atlanta throughout your career. What does that city mean to you? And why was it important to schedule a game there this year?
02:43 It means a lot.
02:45 In that
02:55 that's where my head coaching
02:59 career began.
03:02 And I still have a home there a lot of friends, people that supported me when I first started my journey as a head coach in Atlanta.
03:13 It's just is it was important that I take a game back there because I think
03:22 for a lot of the people that supported me that were in my corner, they are still there.
03:30 And that means a lot to me. And I figured, you know, bringing a game back
03:35 will be something special, you know, for the people that have supported me all these years.
03:42 Mason, then Jack.
03:46 Coach kind of in that same vein, I wanted to ask about Caleb Banks. He's another guy that's from Georgia and one of those kind of sophomores that you had that you would need more out of this year.
03:54 Kind of going into this game. What have you seen from him this year as he's kind of evolved into that bench role in that second unit?
04:00 Well, again, he's he's played well. I mean, he's, you know, he's had his ups and downs as, you know, a number of guys on our team, but we've been able to hold things together based on
04:13 how we compete as a team. And I thought the other night he was brilliant man coming off the bench. He did a lot of good things for us.
04:23 You know, Louisville is probably his best game where he
04:28 logged a lot of minutes and and played tremendous for us to help us win that game. And I thought the bench the other night was they were wonderful man in terms of how they competed. They scored the basketball and they
04:43 got after, you know, the perimeter guys and Peyton being, you know, big, he banged around a little bit in there. Walker did what he needed to do. And, you know, as we continue this journey, they're going to have to continue to do that and grow together to help us win basketball games.
05:01 Jack, then Jim.
05:04 Hey, Mike, before the season you had mentioned that some people in the past, you know, said that Khalil Ware like doesn't work harder that he's lazy that I mean that hasn't seemed to be the case this season. Just how have you been able to get the most out of him so far this year?
05:19 You heard the same stories that I heard. I mean that, you know, that was the knock on him.
05:26 But again, I mean, that's behind him. I don't even know why we were rehearsing it because, you know, revisited and it is behind him. I mean, that's what was said about him when he played back there at Oregon.
05:43 But, you know, we didn't recruit him for those reasons. We recruited him because we thought he could he could help us win basketball games and that we can, as a staff, put him in the best position possible to be successful to help us.
05:58 And, you know, he's a young kid, too, that's trying to figure it out.
06:02 And and he's come in here and we pushed him and he's played some pretty damn good basketball for us.
06:10 But, you know, we got a long way to go.
06:12 He got to continue to grow as a player and get better and in doing that, I think he can help us continue to win basketball games.
06:20 Jim, then Zion.
06:23 Mike, this is the second marquee type of event you played with this team early on in a marquee venue after going to Madison Square Garden, now going on the road to Atlanta, a fertile recruiting area as well.
06:37 But what is taking your team on the road this early against this level of competition due for them for the rest of the season?
06:46 Competition is good, gentlemen.
06:48 It's always been that way in basketball, and I've never been a coach to shy away from competition.
06:56 It kind of puts our team and lets you know where you are and where you stand as a basketball team win or lose.
07:01 So, I mean, it's you know, we got a tough schedule.
07:06 I mean, we knew that coming in this season based on, you know, the players that we brought in.
07:11 So Auburn's next up.
07:14 You know, we got today and tomorrow to continue to prepare for them and we'll see where it leads us on Saturday.
07:21 Zion, then Seth.
07:23 Yeah, Mike, just going back to the topic of you going back to Atlanta, I guess, do you just have a favorite memory of a game that you coached in back there?
07:33 No, I mean, not really.
07:36 I mean, because when I started that journey, you know, I started out with 18, 19, 20 year old young man that didn't have a clue in what the NBA was about.
07:47 And I didn't have a clue as a coach because it was it was a struggle because we were so young.
07:55 But the beauty about that young team from my peers, everybody kept saying, boy, you guys play hard, boy, you competitive.
08:03 But we just weren't experienced enough to win games.
08:07 And we grew together as a group.
08:09 And we eventually broke the ice and got in the playoffs.
08:16 And then that's when it all took off.
08:18 You know, we took Boston that year to in the first round to seven games and they ended up winning the NBA title, which that was the biggest thing for those young kids to to experience.
08:33 Because they hadn't been in the playoffs.
08:35 And once they once they got there, the media and everybody had us being swept, wouldn't win a game.
08:40 And how we we forced a game seven, which could have won either way.
08:44 And they ended up winning and then going on to win an NBA title.
08:48 So, I mean, those were fond memories to be able to take a team of young men and build it and and have some success behind it.
08:57 Seth, last one.
08:59 Mike, I want to ask you about CJ.
09:02 I know he did a lot of good things for you on Saturday.
09:05 I know also for shooters, how important it can be just to kind of see one go down.
09:09 How important was it for him?
09:10 You know, that was his first three pointer that he made in nearly a full calendar year.
09:14 Just how important was it for him to see one go down and how much can that kind of get him going in the next several games?
09:19 Well, it's very important.
09:21 I mean, he had had his struggles, you know, he's made a lot in practice and it just didn't carry over in the game for him.
09:29 And, you know, the fact that he made a couple and, you know, that was fantastic for us.
09:36 But, you know, I look at the other parts of his game where he defended, he looked more under control and he did a lot of things that, you know, we expect him to do.
09:46 And I just hope it is a carry over as we continue to move on in the schedule.
09:52 All right, thanks, coach.
09:54 All right, guys, take care.