Indiana_Mike_Woodson_Friday_Jan5
Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Friday and discussed the problems in the loss to Nebraska, especially with turnovers and three-point defense. He also talked about Malik Reneau's maturation and more playing time for Anthony Leal.
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00:00 - Yeah, thanks Mike.
00:02 Any other kind of thoughts after re-watching the tape
00:05 from Nebraska, kind of about just the game
00:10 and kind of what went wrong?
00:11 - Well, you watched the same game I did,
00:15 the turnovers was the biggest problem.
00:17 I mean, we had 27 points off of turnovers
00:22 and it's gonna be hard to beat anybody doing that.
00:25 We hadn't done that a lot since I've been here,
00:26 but that was quite a few.
00:29 And we was kind of out of sync.
00:31 I think, X coming back,
00:33 trying to fit him back in there.
00:35 He was kind of out of rhythm
00:41 in terms of throwing the ball all over the gym.
00:44 He had about four himself.
00:46 So these are things that's gotta be corrected.
00:50 We can't play anybody in the Big 10
00:52 and give up 27 points on turnovers.
00:55 That's tough to overcome.
00:58 - Alex and Tom Brewer.
00:59 - Thanks for the time, appreciate it.
01:02 Just curious on the three point defense.
01:04 I know some of it obviously is guys making tough shots,
01:07 but is there anything you can do differently
01:10 to make teams more uncomfortable maybe
01:11 from getting shots in the perimeter and defensively?
01:14 Or is that just kind of something you live with,
01:18 giving up some threes?
01:19 - Well, we ain't trying to give up anything.
01:22 I mean, the threes that they've made,
01:25 I thought half of them were some tough ones.
01:28 The little guard, he made about three of them
01:33 that were really deep, deep threes.
01:38 I recall the one where Malik switched out
01:40 and then Malik left him and he just pulled up and made it.
01:45 I mean, we're playing teams that are making threes.
01:50 And we gotta do a better job.
01:54 And when we up and touching
01:56 and making players feel us a little bit,
02:00 we're pretty good in guarding the three point line.
02:03 But when we're late on switches
02:05 and not really communicating,
02:08 because that's been a big problem
02:09 with this team this season,
02:11 we're getting burnt on threes.
02:14 So we just gotta keep working through it
02:16 and being a lot tougher than our opponent
02:21 in terms of trying to take threes away,
02:24 because it has been a problem for us this season.
02:26 - Mike, just to kind of follow up
02:31 with that a little bit further,
02:32 one of the things in kind of rewatching the last four games,
02:34 so 48 threes given up in the last four games,
02:38 it seems like there's a lot like the weak side guys
02:41 that kind of like drift into the lane
02:44 when the ball gets reversed
02:45 or having a hard time getting back to the corner,
02:47 back to the wings.
02:48 Is that just a execution thing
02:51 or is it more philosophical
02:52 where they're just maybe just drifting too far away
02:54 from their shooters
02:55 or do they need to stay more engaged
02:57 with those shooters on the weak side?
02:59 - Well, it's the number of guys that are doing this,
03:02 mainly our younger guys
03:04 in terms of being in to get out.
03:07 And the last two years here,
03:11 we had some veteran guys
03:12 that were pretty good at doing that.
03:15 And we just gotta keep working with them.
03:18 I mean, we know it works.
03:22 And it has been a struggle this year
03:25 because guys are not catching on quickly
03:29 as I thought they would,
03:30 but hey, the only way you get through it
03:33 is you gotta keep working
03:34 and hopefully something clicks.
03:36 And then we're back to defending the three
03:40 and we defend the two pretty well,
03:43 but the three has kind of been out of whack.
03:46 It's not been the same as it's been the last two years.
03:48 So we gotta just keep working at it.
03:51 - Seth and Mason.
03:52 - Mike, getting X back the other night,
03:55 just how difficult was the last month plus
03:59 of rehab for him?
04:00 Obviously he went through that whole injury last year
04:02 and I'm sure there was kind of some extra frustration.
04:05 Could that maybe have helped him at all
04:06 to just kind of know,
04:07 this is what rehab is gonna look like
04:09 and this is what I need to do.
04:10 Just what's the last month been like for him
04:12 getting back to the court?
04:13 - Well, it's been tough.
04:16 I mean, Xavier hadn't really played much basketball.
04:21 You know, when you go back to last season
04:23 and missing the seven games,
04:25 I think he missed this season so far.
04:27 It's mentally has been tough on him.
04:30 And, you know, we sit and watch him play a few days.
04:34 He got a chance to practice and, you know,
04:38 the speed is still there,
04:39 but the conditioning and just the game,
04:44 gameplay, you know, that you would play every day
04:48 when you're in practice,
04:50 it's just not there.
04:51 So, you know, I went into the game the other night
04:55 knowing that he wasn't gonna play a lot of minutes
04:57 'cause we couldn't play him a lot of minutes,
04:59 hadn't played much in practice.
05:01 And he wasn't real happy about that.
05:03 Hell, he played 14, I think, minutes,
05:06 but it was an awful 14 minutes.
05:09 And, you know, I kind of shared that with him yesterday.
05:12 I mean, because, hey, he was trying to do too much
05:16 in the short period of time that he played
05:19 and he's just gotta let it come to him and relax and play.
05:22 - Mason, then Todd.
05:24 - Coach, thanks for your time.
05:27 I'm curious, I know a lot of different coaches
05:29 have different philosophies about this kind of stuff,
05:31 but when you have a game
05:32 and kind of a quick turnaround like this,
05:34 how much of your time during practice
05:36 is spent on self-scout and correcting mistakes
05:38 from the previous game
05:39 versus trying to prepare for another opponent?
05:42 - That game won't ever go unnoticed.
05:45 Every game we play, win or lose,
05:49 you learn from it.
05:50 And, you know, we spend a lot of time
05:53 watching the Nebraska game
05:56 'cause that's how it should be.
05:58 You just can't overlook it.
06:00 Hell, it was a good ass-whooping.
06:02 And you try to correct the things that you can correct,
06:07 and then you go out on floor and you go to work
06:12 and get ready for the next opponent
06:15 and try to clean up the things that happen in the game
06:17 that you didn't play to particularly well.
06:21 - Todd and Jack.
06:24 - Hey, Mike.
06:24 Malik Renu, no matter what measure you use to measure it,
06:28 has been vastly improved as a passer this year
06:32 as his assist totals are way up.
06:34 He's always probably had that in him.
06:36 What did you guys do to develop that part of his game
06:39 to play at this, to be effective at this level?
06:41 And also, how does he kind of calibrate,
06:45 you know, pass first, score first?
06:47 I know the defense probably dictates a lot of that,
06:49 but how does that kind of work for Malik?
06:51 - Well, I think you watched him last season,
06:55 being a freshman, you could see signs of it.
06:58 He just couldn't stay on the floor
07:01 because defensively, you know, wasn't moving his feet
07:05 or he'd grab someone and on a cut or, you know,
07:08 he'd pick up senseless fouls and wouldn't allow him to play.
07:15 And I thought this summer,
07:17 he spent a lot of time in Bloomington, you know,
07:20 working on his body and his game.
07:22 And because all the fundamental tools are there for Malik.
07:27 I mean, we knew that when we were,
07:32 was lucky to get him, you know,
07:35 on the back end of his recruiting trail.
07:39 And he's grown, man.
07:42 I mean, you starting to see some of that now.
07:45 A lot of it is because he's mentally a little more mature
07:50 than he was a year ago.
07:52 And he's trying to,
07:53 he's figured out how to stay on the floor
07:55 somewhat this year versus sitting next to us
07:58 over there on the bench.
07:59 And in doing that, you know,
08:03 he's doing a lot of good things for us
08:07 on the basketball floor, which is kind of nice to see.
08:09 - Jack, then Daniel.
08:12 - Yeah, Mike, with the turnovers from the Nebraska game
08:15 and even some of the previous games,
08:17 what's kind of been your message to the team
08:19 and maybe the focus and practice
08:20 to try to eliminate some of those?
08:23 - Well, we've never really been a big turnover team
08:25 since I've been here.
08:27 And, you know, when you have games like that,
08:31 you know, your antennas has got to go up
08:34 because you're not going to beat anybody in the Big 10
08:38 turning it over like that.
08:40 And, you know, guys don't go out to just turn it over.
08:44 I just thought, you know,
08:45 I thought the game early on was back and forth,
08:48 but we had no defensive presence
08:50 because they were scored pretty easily, I thought.
08:54 And we were too.
08:55 And then, you know, our aggressiveness to try to score
09:01 put us in a lot of bad positions.
09:04 I mean, it ain't like we hadn't played teams
09:07 that put two on the ball.
09:10 No, I mean, we've been pretty good in that area
09:12 in terms of getting the ball out of there
09:14 and that next guy making the play.
09:16 But, hell, we were throwing the ball all over the gym.
09:19 We didn't give ourselves a chance.
09:21 - All right, Daniel, then we'll wrap with Mike Schumann.
09:25 - Yeah, Coach, on the topic of rotations,
09:28 it seemed like Leo was kind of ahead of CJ,
09:31 at least in Lincoln.
09:33 Is that something that was more the way that Nebraska plays
09:36 or is that something that you feel like
09:38 may continue moving forward?
09:40 - Don't know.
09:40 That could change.
09:41 Anything can change with our ball club.
09:44 I just thought the last week and a half,
09:47 Anthony had really been playing well
09:49 and it showed on the floor
09:50 in our last few ball games.
09:55 And, you know,
09:58 I base a lot of things on practice.
10:03 You know, if I feel like you're not giving it to me,
10:05 and I've tried guys,
10:08 everybody's had an opportunity to play.
10:10 But I just think now coming down the stretch,
10:13 you know, I might shorten the rotation.
10:16 You know, it's all about feeling based on who's doing what.
10:21 But it starts in practice.
10:23 If I feel like you're not, you know,
10:25 practicing and working hard to deserve playing time,
10:30 then you won't play.
10:31 - Mike, last one.
10:35 - Yeah, hey, Coach.
10:36 When you first took this job,
10:38 you talked a lot about kind of on the ball defense
10:40 being kind of the foundation
10:42 and, you know, really being important to your program.
10:46 How do you assess what you're getting on the ball this year
10:49 and how is that impacting maybe
10:52 that the three-point shooting that you're seeing
10:54 against you?
10:54 - We've struggled in that area.
10:57 You know, Gabe has really been the only one
10:59 on ball defense that's been really good for us, I think.
11:03 You know, not having X out there
11:05 because we considered him, you know, the last two years
11:09 kind of the head of the snake
11:11 in terms of initiating our defense up front.
11:16 But I'm not getting it in the wing area right now.
11:19 And, you know, and that's pivotal in college basketball.
11:23 You know, the twos and the threes
11:24 are guys that make basketball plays
11:27 and we haven't been really good in that area.
11:30 And that's something that we really try to work on.
11:35 But we got to get better.
11:36 You know, I mean, you know, it was obvious, you know,
11:40 in the game the other night,
11:42 their guard play was much better than our guard play
11:45 and that can't be.
11:47 And, you know, we haven't had very many games like that
11:52 but the big games, we've got outplayed out front
11:55 in the guard spot and that's something that's got to change.
11:58 We've got to keep working, try to not let that happen.
12:01 - All right, thanks, Coach.