What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's 74-66 Win Over Louisville
NEW YORK — Indiana defeated Louisville 74-66 on Monday night in the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Here's everything coach Mike Woodson said after the Hoosiers' win.
Opening statement
MIKE WOODSON: I want to send a shout out to Jim Dolan who came by to see me, owner of the New York Knicks. Which means a great deal to me. Because he was gracious enough to come see me and let me out of my contract and come home and coach this team and I have nothing but love and respect for the man. Because he’s special, special to me. Alright, I’ll open it up for questions.
QUESTION: The zone you went to, obviously kind of decided the game. What led to it and why did you think it was so impactful?
WOODSON: We couldn’t stop their step-up pick and roll. And had we continued down that path, Ware and Malik probably would have fouled out of the ballgame. It was the right thing to do and probably maybe caught them a little off guard because I don’t normally play zone and we hadn’t really worked on it a whole lot. But we were aggressive enough and we rebounded out of the zone and that it helped. It does you no good to play zone and they still get offensive put-backs.
Q: You mentioned Jim Dolan saying hello, did he offer any comments on your team? Kenny (Payne) just said he offered encouraging words on Louisville.
WOODSON: Well, he was just wishing me well and I wouldn’t expect anything less than that. He was great for me, he really was.
Q: About the zone, number one, how long have you at least had the bones with that in with your guys - how long have you been working on that?
WOODSON: We put it in early, where we go 2-2-1 back to a 2-3 zone. So its always been in our back pocket, I just never felt the urge to pull it out because I’m still trying to get our man-to-man defense where I need it to be. But it helped us tonight, and some of the zone guys in there are really happy tonight.
Q: Was it just rebounding out of it, when you are able to put those big bodies around the rim does that mitigate some of the normal concerns you would have rebounding against the zone?
WOODSON: Sure, because a lot of the fours and maybe some fives that are playing out on the floor in college basketball so when the shot goes up a lot of times you aren’t in a position to rebound. I’m not using that as an excuse. I just think our guards have got to pick up more rebounds. Kaleb Banks, our bench was phenomenal tonight. Kaleb Banks I thought played extremely well. He had eight rebounds and three assists, a couple of steals. We're going to need that.
Q: Over the next month before you get into the guts of Big Ten play, what do you need to see in terms of Mackenzie’s evolution so that he is a regular contributor for you guys during that?
WOODSON: Again, he is a young player. All of you guys expect him to be this great player right now because he has this five-star tag on him. I think that is bullshit. Bottom line is he is still young and he is trying to learn the college game. I thought he played well. He got two early fouls so I took him out and brought someone else in. Kaleb and CJ came in. It’s a team sport. He will be fine.
Q: An up and down weekend for you, what's your biggest takeaway? I know yesterday was toughness but as you look at this whole body of work, what is your takeaway as you head back to Bloomington?
WOODSON: I told our guys before the game, UConn, that you should really look and pay attention to UConn and how they played last night. There is a reason they were national champs. So I tip my hat off to them, but I also tip my hat off to our team because we bounced back. We got beaten by 20 last night and you could easily go the other way. We led in this game and they came back and Kenny did a hell of a job getting them back in it. The zone saved us, basically. We made the plays coming down the stretch.
Q: Malik had adversity yesterday and was pretty emotional in the press conference about letting his team down. Then had four fouls today and made some huge plays. How important was it for him to get through that adversity?
WOODSON: Well again, he was in foul trouble tonight again. Their guards put so much pressure on you at the rim and getting downhill, man. Its tough to keep them in front. I tried trapping a couple of times and then big fella Ware picked up his fourth foul. So we had no choice but to go to a zone to try to keep big fella Ware and Malik in the ballgame.
Q: There were a lot of runs tonight from both sides. Where did that momentum come from especially offensively to make that final push at the end?
WOODSON: Well, the zone helped us and we were able to give them one shot and then rebound the ball. We came down and Malik made a bucket and the rest were fouls. We were trying to get the ball in because we were in the penalty.
Q: Getting those contributions from Kaleb Banks and Anthony Walker, what does that do for your team going forward?
WOODSON: Well again, I like to think we will learn from this game and continue to grow. Big Payton was great for us. CJ was great. Gabe and everybody that played tonight contributed and that’s how we have to play.
Q: To follow up on Kaleb specifically, what does it mean when he can impact the team without scoring the way he did tonight?
WOODSON: Well again, verybody can’t score the ball. If it was that easy to score, we would be running away with games possiblly. But it’s not that easy. He’s still learning, but the fact that he rebounded and defended and he got a couple steals and had three or four assists, that’s making an impact when you come into the ballgame. So, I tip my hat off to him because he’s been patiently waiting to play more minutes and he probably played more minutes tonight than he's played since he has been here.
Q: Yesterday, 3-for-13 from three, tonight just 1-of-11. What do you have to do to get that better?
WOODSON: Keep working. That’s all you can do. Keep working and hopefully something triggers that they make threes. The bottom line that I look at is, we won. So that’s what I look at.
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- GAME STORY: Indiana doesn't play zone defense under Mike Woodson, but they broke it out late in the second half on Monday night, and it worked to perfection in a 74-66 win over Louisville in New York. A 23-6 run spurred by the defensive switch flipped the script, helping the Hoosiers get to 4-1. CLICK HERE
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- WATCH PAYTON SPARKS DUNK: Indiana center Payton Sparks has had to play more on Monday against Louisville due to foul trouble from Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware, and he's making the most of his expanded role. CLICK HERE
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