Mike Woodson Press Conference After Indiana Basketball's 85-70 Loss To Nebraska
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00:00 I guess, Mike, just to start with, from your perspective, what built that run in the first half?
00:10 I think it was like 25 points in about eight and a half minutes, and just where did you kind of see it maybe fizzle out?
00:15 Well, I mean, when you give up 51 points in the Big Ten in a half, you're not going to beat anybody.
00:22 And, yeah, we played great the second half to get back in it to cut it to three, but we had no defensive effort, I thought, the first half.
00:34 I mean, we just weren't up to touch.
00:36 You know, they made some tough threes, but you can't have two halves like that.
00:43 You've got to have a half like you did the second half, the first half, and then see what happens.
00:49 So I've got to keep working with them and see if I can get them playing two halves.
00:55 Yeah, Coach, just a big picture on the season.
00:57 Down 20 at home to Nebraska, two losses to Purdue by 20-plus, a number of other double-figure losses.
01:04 Why do you feel the season has kind of gone off the rails to the degree that it has?
01:08 We're young.
01:10 We're missing our senior point guard.
01:14 We're trying to play a freshman at point guard.
01:16 It's tough.
01:19 You know, and Gallo struggled tonight at trying to play the point with his six turnovers.
01:26 It's a lot that comes in play with that.
01:30 We've played well enough this year in spurts, but not well enough to complete ballgames, and that's what makes it frustrating.
01:38 You're right. Mike?
01:39 Mike, what are you seeing out of the -- in the eyes of the players, their reactions, not only to adversity, because they did respond,
01:45 but before the game, you know, and in terms of when they're going through adversity, I mean, what are you seeing out of them?
01:53 What are you hoping to see?
01:54 Well, they're down a little bit.
01:55 I mean, you expect to be down, and the only way you come out of a rut, come out of a situation that we're in,
02:04 you've got to work your way through it.
02:06 And, you know, nobody's going to feel sorry for Indiana basketball.
02:10 They're not.
02:12 And, you know, my locker room is down, and as a coach, I've got to keep pumping them up
02:18 and see if I can get them to overcome being down and get us back into winning ways.
02:25 Mike, on your left, Mason.
02:27 You mentioned them being down.
02:28 Is it something you sense now from outside of games, like during practice,
02:32 or are you having to try to lift them up or get leaders to kind of --
02:34 No, I mean, practice has been pretty good.
02:37 But, again, when you get smacked in the face like we did the first half, you're not going to beat anyone.
02:43 I mean, we didn't compete.
02:45 I thought the second half we competed, you know, and cut it to three, and then we stopped competing.
02:53 You know, we missed free throws.
02:55 We didn't shoot the three ball.
02:56 We were four for 21 from three-point line.
02:59 We missed ten free throws.
03:00 I mean, you cut the lead to three in a close game.
03:03 Those are plays you've got to complete.
03:07 And I thought we didn't, and they did during that 14-0 run that they made.
03:12 Mason, in front, in second.
03:14 Mike, you guys have lost three straight here at home in conference.
03:17 I know you said that you've been playing in spurts and that you need to defend home court.
03:20 But what's not clicking when you guys are playing here at home as a whole?
03:23 Well, I mean, again, we're not putting full games together.
03:26 That's what's frustrating.
03:27 I mean, you have to win at home in the Big Ten.
03:30 I said that when I first walked through this door.
03:32 It's always been that way.
03:34 You know, you figure the road out when you get out there, but you can't lose games at home.
03:39 And now we've lost more games at home this year than we've had in the last two years,
03:43 and that's kind of frustrating.
03:45 Zach, row two.
03:47 Mike, your team, you know, even as games have gotten a little lopsided,
03:50 your team seems to always still fight and keep pushing
03:53 and making second-half runs in some of these games.
03:55 But aside from Ohio State hasn't really been able to sustain it and get it over the line,
03:58 what's the missing piece to kind of sustain those efforts and get it over the line?
04:02 You've got to do everything right when you put yourself in that position.
04:05 Ohio State game, we did everything right coming down the stretch.
04:09 You know, it lets me know that they're still ticking because they didn't quit.
04:14 You know, they came out the second half, and they made a game out of it for a while.
04:20 And when we did cut it to three, I just thought we'd stop executing it.
04:24 We threw the ball away a few times, took some bad shots,
04:28 and defensively we didn't get the stops that we got prior to getting the lead to three.
04:33 So it's almost you've got to play a perfect game coming down the stretch,
04:37 especially after being down 20.