Highlights From Mike Woodson On 'Inside Indiana Basketball' Radio Show

Coach Mike Woodson and play-by-play announcer Don Fischer broke down all of the recent news surrounding Indiana basketball on Monday night on the "Inside Indiana Basketball" radio show.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson joined play-by-play announcer Don Fischer on the weekly radio show 'Inside Indiana Basketball' from Southern Stone restaurant.

Woodson discussed Indiana's 6-0 start, injury updates, the Hoosiers' important win at Xavier, the upcoming matchup with North Carolina, Tamar Bates' breakout game against Little Rock and even Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are some of the most notable comments from Woodson on Monday night.

On Indiana's 6-0 start:

• "I thought everybody contributed, our bench has really been good." 
• Woodson mentioned the bench giving Indiana a lift after slow start against Little Rock. 
• “I couldn’t be more pleased with our players in terms of the effort they’re giving on both ends of the floor.”

On Indiana's win over Xavier:

• "The Xavier game was a major test.” 
• Woodson said Xavier's size matched Indiana's size, and the Musketeers' perimeter play was just as good as their's.
• "Last year we lost a lot of games like that where we were right there.” 
• Woodson was frustrated by the missed free throws – Indiana went 17-for-26 as a team – but he thought they secured key rebounds and defensive stops down the stretch to win the game.

On Indiana's win over Little Rock:

• Trayce Jackson-Davis sat out against Little Rock for precautionary reasons, but Woodson said it was next man up.
• "That’s how you develop a basketball team.”
• “I’d love to have Trayce every time we jump it up, but someone else came in and picked up the slack and we never really lost a beat.”
• Without Jackson-Davis against Little Rock, Race Thompson scored 20 points. Woodson said Thompson has been solid from day one on and off the floor.
• “[Race] does a lot of things that go unnoticed," Woodson metioned Thompson's defense, rebounds and dirty work. “That plays a major role in winning basketball games.”

Injury updates:

• “Everybody is going to play. [Trey] Galloway I think will be back. He practiced [Monday], so we’ll get a chance to evaluate tomorrow."
• Woodson said if Galloway can practice tomorrow, he'll play against North Carolina on Wednesday.
• Logan Duncomb was "under the weather" and didn't practice on Monday, but Woodson said he still has a chance to play against North Carolina. 

On Indiana's offensive improvements:

• Woodson mentioned they have emphasized ball handling in practice and players are putting it to use in games. He thinks it has helped limit turnovers.
• Last year, Woodson said, "We were throwing the ball all over the place ... I feel good about every player handling the basketball now.” 
• Woodson highlighted Jordan Geronimo's offensive improvements, and says he's, "Handling the ball like a champ” 
• Woodson set a goal of 12 or less turnovers per game, and Indiana has accomplished that in five out of six games. Indiana narrowly missed that benchmark when turned the ball over a season-high 13 times against Little Rock.  
• "Our offense is efficient, and everyone is moving the ball around.”
• Woodson believes the team is more comfortable with his offense in year two, and he wants everyone to feel good about making basketball plays.
• "I don’t want robots on our team.” 
• “If I box players in and say Race [Thompson] gets caught with the ball and we need a crucial bucket and he freezes because he’s not used to handling the ball, that’s a problem.” 
• Woodson said he first looks at ball handling and passing while recruiting players to Indiana. 
• “[The offense] is freelance. This year we’re playing with more pick and rolls because last year we didn’t have the players to do it.” 
• “Make no mistake, our strength is playing inside and out.” 
• “I try to give these cats the freedom to play, and I think its more fun that way."

On the team's 3-point shooting:

• “Shooting comes and goes. It’s what it is.” 
• “Your defense puts in position to win basketball games.” 
• “If you add good offense on top of that then you’re really hard to beat.”
• Woodson said guys have put in a lot of work in shooting the ball this past summer. 
• Indiana is shooting 38.3 percent from 3 as a team this year after shooting 33.3 percent last season. 
• “The 3 ball is a big part of college basketball, but I don’t want to live and die by shooting 3s, and I’ve come from a league that’s 3-driven.
• Woodson said one of his New York Knicks teams led the NBA in 3-pointers made and 3-pointers attempted, but he still emphasized defense. “Our defense was also solid, so we won 54 games.” 
• “Even with great shooting, it comes and goes.”
• “I just got to pay tribute to the players putting in work."

On Tamar Bates:

• Bates scored a career-high 22 points during Indiana's 90-51 win over Jackson State. He made 8-of-11 shots, including a 4-for-6 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 on free throws.
• "I couldn’t be more happy for a player based on a where he started and where he’s come from and the things he’s had to go through to get to this point." 
• "That game is kind of what I saw in high school, and I hope he can build off that because it was beautiful to watch” 
• Woodson said Bates is also playing defense better this year.

On the North Carolina game:

• “It’s a team we can’t sleep on.” Woodson pointed out that 
• "They got size. They got great guard play in RJ [Davis] and [Caleb] Love. They picked up [Pete] Nance from Northwestern, and they got Leaky Black. And [Armando] Bacot is as good as it gets, so their starting five is legit.
• “They’re going to be hung but we got to be more hungry.” 
• “I’m excited and can’t wait to get to it.”
• “There’s always concerns. When you’re playing a top-10 team, there’s talent.” 
• “They’ve tasted some success at a higher level than our ball club has.”
• Woodson said Indiana cannot take North Carolina lightly because they've lost two games in a row and just played a four-overtime game on Sunday. 
• “This team will force you to play 40 minutes.”
• Sean May is an assistant coach at North Carolina and the son of 1976 National Player of the Year Scott May, who led Indiana to a 32-0 season and the 1976 National Championship
• “Sean is like my son. I watched him as a baby grow up and become a great high school player, great college player from UNC, so it’s going to be different watching him on the other side.
• Sean May scored 48 points in two games en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2005 NCAA Final Four when North Carolina defeated Illinois in the championship game. 
• “Let’s get all the fans out and be dressed in white, and it’s going to be okay. We’re going to commit ourselves for 40 minutes, and we’ll be alright.”

On Thanksgiving dinner:

• Indiana hosted Thanksgiving dinner with Little Rock basketball program on Thursday.
• “Darrell [Walker] their coach and I are very close. We worked together in New York, and he was one of my assistants.” 
• “We had a big feast together, and boy, it was a lot of good eating and a lot of good food.” 
• Woodson said they had over 50 pies at the Thanksgiving dinner, and his sister sent eight sweet potato pies to Bloomington.
• “I shared a few of them with everyone, and I kept a few of them.” 

On balancing basketball with school:

• “Academics is first and foremost for them ... If a player is late to practice because of academics, I’ve got to live with that."
• Woodson said he has to factor in rest and make sure he’s not overworking his players.
• "That’s going to be important on this journey.”

Indiana basketball operations analyst Nick Virden also joined the radio show on Monday night to share his experience and perspective with the team. Virden graduated from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Ind. where he was a manager on the basketball team for four seasons. 

He went to Murray State for his freshman year of college, but transferred to Indiana and became a manager for three seasons. As a manager, Virden spearheaded video organization, which helped coaches build the scouting reports.

In his new role as operations analyst, Virden is in charge of behind the scenes aspects of the program, including helping to schedule recruiting visits and other logistics. Virden said he is thankful for being able to learn from Woodson and the rest of the Indiana coaching staff every day, and he hopes to one day become a head coach, himself. 

Throughout Woodson's coaching career, he said he often told NBA owners and general managers that people in the video room and medical room are the to most important people in order to have a successful season.

"They start to think like me and that’s important when you’re building a basketball team," Woodson said. "They’re smart young men ... They’re like coaches for me.” 

Woodson said the film aspect of basketball and coaching is much more sophisticated now, but people like Virden help make his job easier. 

“I'm not high tech like my video guys are," Woodson said. "I have a flip phone along with an iPhone ... Hell, the flip phone got me to Indiana, so i’m not going to get rid of it."

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