Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's Win Over Harvard
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana raised its record to 5-1 on Sunday thanks to an impressive second half, running away from Harvard for an 89-76 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson met with the media after the game. Here is the full transcript from his press conference, with full video as well.
QUESTION: "Whether it's been, you know, some of the stuff off the court before the season or maybe just some of his quieter nights offensively, I imagine it's been frustrating for Mackenzie (Mgbako) at times the last few weeks. What gets him going in a game like this and how important is a game like this just to kind of give him that feeling of 18 points and eight rebounds seeing some of that success translate in a game?''
MIKE WOODSON: "He's a freshman, and he's been working. Hopefully this will be a nice carryover to the next game."
Q: "With Xavier (Johnson) going down, how did that kind of alter things for you and you got quality minutes from Anthony (Leal) off the bench, what did you see from the guards when Xavier went down? ''
WOODSON: "It's a big loss because Xavier is a big piece to the puzzle. My theme has always been next man up, guys got to stay ready to play. Whoever's called upon, you've got to step up and play. I thought Anthony came in and gave us some positive minutes, Gabe brought it home down the stretch. Hey, it is what it is. Hopefully I'll see once I go in that we'll see where we're at with Xavier because I have no idea at this point. We're going to need Xavier to be healthy to help us win basketball games."
Q: "What did you like most about what Mackenzie did in the different ways that he scored tonight?''
WOODSON: "Mackenzie just did what he was doing when he first got here. He had a game where he figured it out. He's just got to continue to grow, continue to work and and then just let it happen.''
Q: "Mike, you saw quite a bit more zone today than you have seen. Obviously you fed the post successfully, but how did you feel you were against the zone?''
WOODSON: "Well, we scored 50 points in the paint and a lot of that came out of the zone. Our bigs have worked pretty well together when teams have played some zone against us. But we've just got to continue to grow. Teams are going to play zone some, teams are going to press us some, teams are going to double the post some. All those things, you've got to combat it and execute and put the ball in the hole. That will help."
Q: "Mike, with Mackenzie having the day he had today, how much does it open it up for guys like Kel'el to have an even bigger day like he did as well in opening up the whole game plan for you guys?''
WOODSON: "We were 4-for-16 from three, so I don't know how much opening up things that was. We didn't shoot the 3-ball that well again tonight and we still put 89 points on the board. I mean, we shoot them every day, and they've just got to feel comfortable when they're letting it go that it's going to go in. They can't hope it's going to go in. They have to make it go in.''
Q: "Mike, what did you see differently defensively in the second half. It seemed like Harvard hit a lot of three in the first half and that dropped off in the second half. ''
WOODSON: "A couple of threes were scrambling balls that we didn't come up with. I was disappointed because we never got on the floor for loose balls. I thought we did a better job in the second half in getting up to touch. I think. they made one probably in the second half. BWe were better in the second half from a defensive standpoint in guarding the 3-point line."
Q: ''Coach, continuing on the defense, do you feel like Mackenzie is starting to figure it out on that end and where have you seen him grow in that area over the first month.?
WOODSON: "He was better tonight Again guys, he's a freshman. You guys expect so much from these young kids. It's a learning process when you come out of high school and you go to college and you play college basketball. He's got a ways to go, but tonight was progress and he's just got to continue to work, and if he does that, good things will
Q: "Mike, you talked about how well Kel'el and Malik played against the zone and a few weeks ago you mentioned the 'buddy-ball.' that they play with each other. How much does it do for your team in the high-low game?''
WOODSON: "It's great. Malik saw a lot of that last year with Race (Thompson) and Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and he hasn't forgotten it. The few minutes he played last year, he was on the tail end of some of that buddy ball with Trayce or Race. He and the big fella, they've kind of connected a little bit, which is kind of nice to see when people play zone. "
Q: "Kel'el 28 points, 12 of 13, found a few different ways to score tonight. What did you see out of him out there?''
WOODSON: "He made some shots that were straight from Malik. He fed him a few times, he hit a few offensive put-backs, hit a couple of turnaround jump shots, made some free throws. He's capable of doing that. We've just got to keep him in a good place and playing hard. I thought in New York in the UConn game, he didn't play hard enough. I'm not saying that the reason why we lost, but he just didn't play hard enough to me. I thought the Louisville game he came back and played a little harder. Tonight he played really hard and it was kind of nice to see him respond. "
