Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's Loss to Penn State
CHICAGO — Indiana got knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday, falling to Penn State 77-73 in the semifinals. Now it's on to the NCAA Tournament.
Here's what Indiana coach Mike Woodson said when he met with the media after the game:
MIKE WOODSON: First of all, I'd like to just congratulate (Penn State) coach (Micah) Shrewsberry and their team. They played extremely well. Well coached. I thought early on we got down and we had to fight to get back in, and at the end we made a mad rush at it but just didn't have enough to close it. So you've got to give them credit. They played their asses off tonight, Penn State did.
QUESTION: Trayce (Jackson-Davis) talked about, and you've talked about too, at times wanting guys to be less hesitant, to just trust the shot essentially and just put it up. As a coach, I recognize there's no magic bullet to this, but how do you get that, how do you get guys to just trust, to sort of let it fly when the window is there and not hesitate and maybe lose that shooting window?
WOODSON: I wish I had the answer for that. I think, when we're playing well and things are kind of going our way on both ends of the floor, guys kind of play freely. I thought tonight we started the game out well. We came out, and we touched them early. And when they started to make shots, we kind of backed off.It put so much pressure on us to make shots, which we had some good looks, but our perimeter play went 14-for-39, and that's not that good. So when we're winning, our perimeter play is making shots and our bigs are making plays inside. It's kind of lopsided a little bit today.
Q: Your New York Knicks teams usually were pretty productive from three. In the two games against Penn State, you guys were outscored 78-12 from three. Why do those margins happen? More importantly, what do you want your teams to look like from three-point range moving forward?
WOODSON: Again, when you've got good looks — last year we were in the top five in the country in getting wide open threes, and we didn't make them. We had some good looks tonight. We just didn't make them. It's a part of the game. I don't try to put a lot or read a lot into it when we go through a stretch like this. It's a big game today. I put all the heat on me as a coach. I've got to get them over the hump. Even though I don't take a shot or miss a defensive assignment, it's my job to get them over the hump. This is two years in a row now that we are a game from playing for the Big Ten title in this tournament. I take pride in what I do as a coach, and I've got to help them more. To see my seniors walk away, Trayce and Miller (Kopp) and Race (Thompson), and not be able to experience a Big Ten championship is kind of disappointing for me.
Q: Leading up to that final timeout, what did you tell Jalen (Hood-Schifino) on that final shot, and what did you see in your eyes in that final shot?
WOODSON: I didn't have a timeout. We didn't have any more timeouts. And I called him over, and we tried to get a high ball screen. I thought he had a good look. Hell, he hit the same shot the other night against Maryland. He had a good look at it. He just didn't make it.
Q: Trayce mentioned he thought there were some lapses of being lackadaisical and we kind of relaxed a little bit. On this stage in this place in the tournament, did that surprise you at all that you didn't get more of that for 40 minutes?
WOODSON: Again, guys, if we could get a 40-minute ballgame each and every time you step out, it makes life a lot easier for you as a coach and as players playing. I thought we stepped on the floor with great intentions early, and then we had some miscues. I just thought when they were making threes early, we were a step behind in terms of closing guys out and making them put the ball down on the floor. We did a better job the second half in that regard, but it was an uphill climb once we dug a hole early. I like the way we fought back, but you don't get a whole lot for second place.
Q: Trayce talked about the level of intensity that did pick up late but that he would hope to have more consistently throughout the game. You expressed the desire to want to help this team get to where they want to be. With no tomorrow after the next loss, what approach do you want to take with these guys?
WOODSON: We'll go back and watch this tape, break it down, and try to learn from it, like Trayce said. I never let a game ... we always watch our games. We'll learn something from this, and we'll have a few days to practice to get ready for tournament play. Somehow I've got to get them to understand that you're going to have to commit for 40 minutes because it can be one minute, two seconds, a second that can cost you a tournament victory. The fact that they tasted a little bit last season, I think they know what's in front of us, but we still got a long way to go.
Q: Mike, you just talked about going back and preparing this team to get through the difficulties they'd had here today. What can you do during the game when you see that that intensity has fallen off, that they've stepped back? What can you do as a staff to try to make that adjustment in game?
WOODSON: Guys, you can do all kinds of things. You can be positive. You can be negative. But at the end of the day, they still have to figure it out too once they're out there on the floor.There's no magical pill that you can give these guys when they're struggling. I wouldn't call our team really struggling.I thought we competed, but we just didn't compete for 40 minutes. We made a big rush at the end, which I'm proud because we could have just quit and threw in the towel, but we fell short.So now we've got to go regroup and get ready for NCAA.
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