What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's 79-78 Loss To Maryland

Mike Woodson's comments in his postgame press conference after Indiana dropped a key Big Ten game at home to Maryland.

Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson questions a call against Malik Reneau (5) during the Indiana versus Maryland men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana men's basketball coach Mike Woodson spoke to the media after Indiana's 79-78 loss to Maryland at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday.

Here's what he had to say in his press conference.

On what Indiana was looking for on the last possession ...

Mike Woodson: They went to zone, and when we went underneath out of bounds, we had a play for Myles to come off because we knew they would switch to big, and he didn't. He never came off.

That being said, we had our opportunities. We had a foul to give, which we talked about in the timeout, and didn't give it. So that was huge.

You've got to make plays down the stretch, and I got to get them to understand that. We missed a big front end of a one-and-one that could have put us back up three or four. It was just the little things that we didn't execute coming down the homestretch.

On giving up 78 points at home ...

Woodson: Well, it was that type of game. They're a good offensive team, and I thought we did everything we were supposed to do to get back in the game, and we just didn't finish.

With the foul to give and not give it, it's unacceptable, but you can't go back and get it now.

On whether the nature of this defeat makes it tougher than another loss might have been ...

Woodson: No, any time you lose, it's tough to swallow. I don't like to lose at all. It's just my makeup.

I know those guys in the locker room, I love them to death, and they don't like losing. Again, I've just got to help them more. That's what I've got to do.

On having three seniors on the floor and surprise about execution errors ...

Woodson: I'm not going to say -- we executed to get back into the game. We're on the free-throw line with the one-and-one, up two with, I think, 20-something seconds on the clock.

Then we just didn't get a key stop with a foul to give. The ball scrambled out. The initial thrust of their offense, I thought we played it well. Then when the ball kind of spurted around, we just didn't get up and take the foul like we should have.

On whether any changes have been made to smooth out Indiana's problems with consistency ...

Woodson: Today getting Malik back was a plus. He missed six games, guys, and I'm not using that as an excuse. We went 4-2 in that stretch with three games on the road going 2-1. He's lost a lot of his conditioning.

Make no mistake about it, when you play on teams like Maryland and Purdue teams that got bigs, you've got to play big.

I thought with Goode coming in off the bench tonight, he played his butt off and made plays, but Derik Queen matching up with Goode is not a good match.

I thought Malik came on at the end and showed some fight, considering he hadn't played a whole lot here as of late. So we've got to get him back in better condition. He played 20-something minutes tonight. See if he can help us finish this ten-game run.

On swapping in Luke Goode and Mackenzie Mgbako for Oumar Ballo and Anthony Leal on the final inbounds, why that was, and why it wasn't done after the previous timeout ...

Woodson: Well, they went zone on our initial last timeout. Malik tried to make the play on the baseline, anything to get a foul. Derik (Queen) made a good play on the ball to knock it out of bounds.

But the play that we had coming underneath, we just didn't execute. Myles didn't come off, and he stayed there in the corner, and we didn't get much out of it.

On the second straight game where an opponent was hot from 3-point range in the second half ...

Woodson: Again, if guys are shooting -- a couple times we lost guys, but there were a few times that we were right there. Obviously you're not close enough if guys can just turn and shoot in your face and make them.

We've just got to get better in that area and guarding the 3 ball. Early on, we were pretty good in that area, and we had some slippage there as well.

On whether Indiana was trying to work the shot clock after Indiana took a 5-point lead late ...

Woodson: No, I wasn't really trying to work clock. I thought Malik rushed a little push shot that he had right there in the lane, kind of a little chippy the few that he had just made. I thought we executed okay and got some good shots, but you've still got to defend on the other end.

I thought we gave up an easy layup to Reese, and I know Malik didn't want to foul out and I get that. But we can't give up layups, especially in short clock situation. I mean, they got that early in the clock, so they didn't have to milk any of the time off the clock.

Hey, it's a tough game. We've just got to bounce back.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• ZRNO COMMITS: Harun Zrno, a 6-foot-7 wing from Bosnia and Herzegovina, picked the Hoosiers over Virginia, Creighton and Wisconsin. He's the second member of Indiana's 2025 recruiting class. CLICK HERE

• 3 THINGS IU NEEDS TO BEAT MARYLAND: Maryland comes in hot, Indiana does not. The Hoosiers hope for a bounce back effort against the Terrapins. CLICK HERE

• MEET THE OPPONENT: The Terrapins are coming off a 91-70 win at Illinois ahead of their trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE

• BRACKETOLOGY: Indiana is the definition of a bubble team as its inconsistent form both keeps it alive for the NCAA Tournament and holds it back. CLICK HERE

• HOOSIER ROUNDTABLE PODCAST: The Hoosiers On SI team discusses the Northwestern game, previews Maryland and a difficult road ahead for the Hoosiers. CLICK HERE.