Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's Win Over No. 13 Ohio State
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana got the win they needed tonight defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 67-51 at home with more than 14,000 fans in attendance to witness it.
Coach Mike Woodson was pleased with his team's performance and thought everyone played well. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached press conference.
Q: On bouncing back after Penn State
WOODSON: It was a total team effort, man. We left Penn State. We that was a game that was a very winnable game, man, and I couldn't get them over the hump, and we came back and had a couple of days to prepare for Ohio State, and they were a little down when we first got back.
It was kind of grabbing and fighting, pushing to get them to erase that loss and get ready for Ohio State, but we were able to rebound from it man, and I thought that this is probably the best game we've played all season in terms of how we defended and how the ball moved offensively. We did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball tonight, which was really nice to see.
Q: On the return of Trey Galloway
WOODSON: Before he got hurt, he was in the rotation, guys. He's been in the rotations since the Bahamas, so we knew that was a piece that was missing, but again, my theme has always been next man up.
We patiently waited for him to rehab and get back, and he responded tonight, which was kind of nice to see.
Q: On Trayce Jackson Davis's performance
WOODSON: I expect him to play like that. I mean he's shown that this season, he can produce numbers like that, and so you know I was kind of harsh on him more than anybody coming out of the Penn State game, because he had five rebounds, and that can't happen being a 6'9", 6'10" kid like himself.
He's very athletic, and he needs to rebound the ball. You know, we know he can score. We give him enough touches, so I'm not concerned in that area, but he defended the rim tonight with five, six blocks. I mean that's who he's got to be.
Q: On the importance of protecting home court
WOODSON: The crowd is fabulous. The crowd is who they are, man. Hoosier Nation has always been great here in Assembly Hall, and they travel well on the road.
Guys, when I look at games like this, you got to beat good teams, and you got to beat them at home if you're even going to give yourself a shot at the Big Ten.
Michigan State's sitting at the top. There's a lot of good teams at the top right now, but we just got to take it one game at a time. Minnesota's next. We got to go back and start preparing for them after we break this tape down tonight.
Q: On Galloway's fight to heal
WOODSON: He did all the endurance things that we would do. He just did it with his left hand basically. You never know, he played 18 or 19 minutes. It was like he played 40 minutes the way he played.
You never know how a guy when he's injured, how he's going to respond coming back because practice is not the same as game speeds, but I thought he was right in tune with what we were doing, and he made a lot of great plays on both ends of the floor.
Q: On being tough on Jackson-Davis
WOODSON: Listen, when you consider one of the best players in the country, you got to accept challenge. I've always believed man, all players want to be coached. You just got to push the right buttons to coach them, and that might not even work sometimes, but he's a good young man.
He's coachable. When I have to go at him, I go at him, and he responds. Tonight is a prime example of that.
Q: On Galloway setting a good example for the younger guys
WOODSON: I'm going to play guys that play hard. That's how you build a winning team. If I see that you're not getting me that, you have to come sit next to me. It's just that simple.
You would think some of the young guys after watching Galloway being out that long man and coming back to producing like he did, that's got to be encouraging for these guys to pick it up too.
It was a total team effort. I thought Race was great tonight. We were good across the board, everybody that played.
Q: On setting up Parker Stewart and Miller Kopp plays
WOODSON: They got good looks. We didn't shoot the three ball again tonight. We got to go back to the gym and start shooting more, which we've been doing that, but maybe we've got to shoot a lot more.
I don't know. I ran some plays for them tonight to see if they could respond, and they just missed some shots, but I'm going to keep pushing them. I'm going to keep going at them, and they'll eventually make them.
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