Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's Win Over Maryland
CHICAGO — Indiana came back from seven down in the second half to beat Maryland on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. It was sweet revenge for a double-digit loss at Maryland in late January.
The Hoosiers move on to the semifinals against No. 10-seed Penn State. They lost on the road at Penn State, too. The game starts at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Friday night. Here's the transcript from the press conference.
MIKE WOODSON: It's good to be back. I thought tonight, you've got to give them credit. They played hard. They beat us early in the season, but I thought the second half was the difference. We came out and established ourselves defensively, finally rebounded with them, and was able to come out of this with the win.
QUESTION: Mike, defensively in the second half, after Maryland took the seven-point lead, they only scored two shots at the rim for the rest of the game. Can you speak to the interior defense, but also the defense on the perimeter because it just didn't look like they had many options to even get it inside.
WOODSON: I thought our switching was right on par, and we were able to keep people in front of us. The pick-and-rolls didn't really hurt us because we were up on the picks. Then Trayce just dominated inside, in terms of things that were coming to the rim. He made some big-time blocks and altered some shots. And then we were able to rebound with this team. That was the big key, I thought.
Q: It's simplistic, but how much does it help, essentially, when you've got two guys in Jalen (Hood-Schifino) and Trayce (Jackson-Davis) that a team knows, if things are kind of going against them in a two, three-minute stretch, they can just feed that guy. He can get them established offensively. He can get you a bucket, maybe two, maybe three, and just kind of get you back on your feet again.
WOODSON: It's good to have that. I've never wanted a team where you just had to rely ... I think everybody that played tonight played a major role in us winning. Fortunately for us, we do have Trayce, and Jalen has been playing at a high level as well. I think it's nice if you can get a third or fourth guy in to release some of the pressure, it will help us in the long run.I thought Miller played extremely well, and Malik came off the bench and gave us something tonight. Tamar hit a couple of big shots. So I mean, it was a total team effort, and we're going to need that as we continue this journey.
Q: Especially with Race (Thompson) in foul trouble there, how important was what you were getting off the bench from Malik (Reneau) tonight?
WOODSON: It was very important. I tried (Jordan) Geronimo a little bit, but I thought Malik, being a freshman, he played up. I was proud of him. He did a lot of wonderful things. I've got to get him where he's finishing. He missed a lot of chippies around the bucket. Being that big and having the body he has, he's got to finish those.
Q: How have you seen Tamar (Bates) develop defensively since he got here at IU?
WOODSON: He's gotten better. There's no question he's gotten better from last season, and I thought tonight it was tough matchups because we switch. And (Jahmir) Young, everybody was playing Young. I thought we did a nice job of keeping him in front of us. I thought, when we played them out in Maryland, they had their way getting downhill against our ball club, and I thought we were a lot better in that department.
Q: On Malik, one point in time I think he had 8 points, 10 rebounds in 14 minutes. Why was he so impactful tonight for you guys?
WOODSON: He's big enough to do that. He should do that every time we put him in there.No, I thought he had a good game going. He wasn't in foul trouble where he has to sit over next to me. So they let him play a little bit tonight, and we reaped the benefits from it.
Q: I asked Trayce this question, but you guys have just won a lot of games in second halves this year where you've been behind. What's that say about the mentality of these guys and just getting used to what they're doing to play the full 40 minutes and close games out?
WOODSON: I didn't know we won a lot of games behind in the second. There are a lot of games we were up too. It's been back and forth.I just think these guys are committed, man. They have that no-quit mentality, and that's the kind of team that you want.It's easy to get down and then throw in the towel and say, hey, we'll get the next one, but this team hasn't been that way. We've just got to continue to take it a game at a time and see where it leads us.
Q: You guys only scored 55 points at Maryland when you played them out there. Their press seemed to take you out of your rhythm. How do you feel like you guys did against the press?
WOODSON: I thought with did extremely well. We've changed up some things in terms of our press offense. But defensively out there, I thought they scored 66 points, I believe, and that's where you want to be when you play on these teams, 60 to 62, 63 points. So I thought our defense was solid, but offensively we just didn't have nothing going, and we put them on the free-throw line a lot in that game in Maryland. But tonight I thought was solid. The second half, our defense was really, really good.
Q: Alongside Trayce's 24 points, he also had 7 assists. Can you talk about his ability to play make as a center of this team?
WOODSON: Again, we've put all of our bigs in that position to be able to be playmakers. It's something that I've done from the very beginning, I did in the pros as a coach, allow centers or power forwards to be playmakers. You see Trayce now, he rebounds the ball. He pushes it up the floor and initiates our break.I don't want robots. I want guys that feel good about what they do when they're out there on the floor, and Trayce is a prime example. He's having a wonderful season.
Q: Mike, what is it about Jalen's poise? You've been around the game a lot, but he's a freshman. What is it about his poise that allows you to trust him in those big games?
WOODSON: It's something I saw in high school, and high school is not college. Once he got here, you could see how he approached things on and off the floor, his demeanor. It's been a nice carryover from high school to college.He's still growing. He has still a ways to go, but the fact that nobody says anything. Us losing Xavier Johnson was huge, and it just threw him right to the wolves basically. He had to grow up awfully fast. And in doing that, he's been great for us, man. He's done a lot of great things for us to put us in this position. But make no mistake about it, it's been a total team effort in the guys that have played.
Q: You guys just beat a Maryland team that beat you back in January. You're facing Penn State tomorrow, who also beat you earlier in the season. Is there a sense, in your guys' mind, your guys' locker room, of getting that back at these teams now that you've got a chance to play them again?
WOODSON: The thing is it's playing out that way. Penn State has put themselves in position, just like we have. Now we've got to play tomorrow at 2:30. We'll go back and break down tape and start preparing for them tonight and get up in the morning and do some more work.Hopefully, when we step foot in here, we're ready to go.
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- GAME STORY: Indiana came roaring back in the second half once again, overwhelming Maryland on Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals and winning 70-60 at the United Center in Chicago. Trayce Jackson-Davis led the way with 24 points, but got plenty of help from freshmen Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau as well. CLICK HERE
- PHOTO GALLERY: Indiana defeated Maryland 70-60 behind 24 points from Trayce Jackson-Davis to advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Check out the best pictures from the Hoosiers' victory at the United Center. CLICK HERE
- WATCH TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS' BLOCK: Trayce Jackson-Davis rejected Donta Scott's layup attempt, which led to a strong finish from Jalen Hood-Schifino on the other end. CLICK HERE
- WATCH TRAYCE TO KOPP: Indiana star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis hung in the air to make a slick pass to Miller Kopp for an easy layup in transition. CLICK HERE
- HOW TO WATCH SATURDAY: The Indiana Hoosiers advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, where they'll play Penn State on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago, Ill. Here's how to watch, with game time and TV information, the latest on the point spread, the coaching matchup, series history, stats, rankings and more. CLICK HERE
