What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana Lost 72-68 To UCLA

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana coach Mike Woodson had his postgame press conference on Friday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall after the Hoosiers lost 72-68 to UCLA in a Big Ten Conference men's basketball game.

Indiana fell to 15-11 and 6-9 in Big Ten play. Woodson was the only Indiana representative to speak to the media. No players were made available.

Here are Woodson's comments from the game.

How do you pull a team through when it creates opportunities to win, but can't get the job done ...

Mike Woodson: It's a tough loss. We executed, but we just didn't finish. I thought, after they missed the one and one, we came back and got a good look, Mack got an offensive rebound, point blank layup, and we don't get it. Then we get a wide open three.

We got exactly what we were looking for on the play, and that's a shot that he normally makes. He just didn't make it.

On Myles Rice ...

Woodson: Again, the play wasn't -- we didn't execute that particular play because that's not the play I drew up in timeout. So that was a botched play, but the ball ended up in his hands. You tell guys, you're in the penalty, you've got to take advantage of your speed or whatever in terms of getting downhill, and he settled.

But that didn't beat us. I look at the five points that we gave up within two possessions, an out of bounds play and then a point blank straight drive where the guy got hit and he made the bucket. Those were two critical defensive stops that we couldn't come up with and still had a chance to win the game.

Why the team hasn't been able to finish ...

Woodson: I wish I had the answer. I go back to the Northwestern game, the Maryland game, Purdue game, Michigan game -- all winnable games. If you win one or two of them, you're feeling good about yourself when you're in close games. Nine out of ten times, you make the plays that you need to make. The fact that we've lost them, it's been guys are searching.

I'm searching as the coach in terms of trying to get them over the finish line. I'll never put it on the player. I'll take the responsibility. Even though I don't make the shots or miss the defensive assignments, it's still my job to get them over the hump.

Shot selection and UCLA's defense ...

Woodson: They are a good defensive team. They're one of the top defensive teams in the Big Ten, and they get after you. With all of that being said, I still thought we made the plays from a defensive standpoint. We just played so poorly the first half and spotted them 10 points, and they had a lot to do with that.

But I thought we played Indiana basketball the second half and made plays coming down the homestretch, made free throws. They miss two front ends of a one and one that kept us right where we needed to be. Then we get a great look from Mack based on a good executed play on underneath out of bounds, and he just didn't make it.

How Indiana's zone defense did and whether the team will stick with it ...

Woodson: Again, I thought there were times it didn't help -- we just didn't play it right, and they exposed us some early on, and we got away from it. I thought our rotations tonight were off based on how we played at Michigan State.

Two, they have big time shooters around the horn, so you've got to pick and choose when you're playing teams that can shoot the ball from the perimeter when you're zoning up.

On whether these losses sting more than others ...

Woodson: Any loss stings. Any time you lose, it hurts. After coming off the Michigan State game, which was a great game for our young team and the ball club, and then to come in and not finish tonight, it hurts.

We've got a week to put this behind us and get ready for Purdue.

On what gets worked on with nine days to the Purdue game and how important that game is ...

Woodson: Again, we battled our butts off at West Lafayette, and they're sitting at the top of the Big Ten for a reason. We've got a week to work and get ready for them because they're playing well.

We've had our ups and downs, but we've got a week to see where we are and get ready to toss it up next weekend.

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