Here's What Guard Xavier Johnson Said After the Hoosiers' Overtime Loss to Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio. — Senior guard Xavier Johnson addressed the media on Monday night following Indiana's 80-69 overtime loss to the No. 22-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Johnson tallied the team-high 16 points and also snagged three rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Indiana's 34.4 field goal percentage couldn't compete with Ohio State's 48.1 percent as the Hoosiers dropped their fifth straight game of the season.

Read Johnson's full transcript, or just watch the attached video of the entire press conference.

Q: On Johnson's passing...

JOHNSON: I mean I just started to slow down. I was making bad passes, too strong of passes. I just got to control it and start playing to myself.

Q: On what needs to happen before the last four games...

JOHNSON: We got to be a greedy team again. You got to next think about the game on Thursday. We don't want to go in our final stretch and keep losing games so the last game we got to win the last four.

Q: On getting to the NCAA tournament...

JOHNSON: Yeah, we are taking the lead cause we all know what we want to do because nobody in our locker room has been to the tournament so we're still on a mission.

Q: On a play the referee didn't call...

JOHNSON: I'm not going to talk about it. The ref didn't call it so the ref didn't call it.

Q: On Johnson's grandfather...

JOHNSON: My grandfather, he's my family. It's my mom's dad, so he's always close. We always had a different bond. He always talked to me. I always had a conversation with him. I miss him, but I really don't want to talk about it that much.

Q: On if Johnson thought his team could win...

JOHNSON: Yeah, of course. We dug it out. At the 9-minute mark, we were down 10, and we got the stops that we wanted. We just couldn't complete the mission by getting the last stop of the game.

Q: On getting the ball to Jackson-Davis...

JOHNSON: I wasn't going to start a real play, but we were just trying to get the ball down to Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and make Liddell foul or make a play at the rim for Trayce, and we didn't get it down there, and we got a turnover.

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INDIANA'S LATE COLLAPSE COMMON THEME: A surprisingly common theme throughout Indiana's late failures this year is that standout forward Trayce Jackson-Davis has gone long stretches without scoring — or even shooting — late in tight games. Sure, he attracts a lot of attention, but Indiana needs much more out of the 6-foot-9 star in the final four games. CLICK HERE.
GAME STORY: Indiana erased an 11-point deficit in the second half, but then blew a late lead of their own in the final minute of the game and got boat-raced in overtime, losing 80-69 to No. 22 Ohio State for its fifth straight loss in February. CLICK HERE

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