INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 7, 2023

Mike Woodson

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana 66, Rutgers 60

Q. Can you talk about the toughness you guys showed the whole way through?

MIKE WOODSON: I mean, tonight was another team effort. I thought everybody that played helped gut this game out. That team plays hard, man. You know, we couldn't really get nothing going down the stretch from an offensive standpoint in terms of moving. We became stagnant, and somehow I've got to help us when we get in that rut.

But our defense was solid, and we just kept grinding and grinding and we got stops when we needed. We could have done better on the boards because we were off on that area. We knew coming into the game, I mean, rebounding and not turning it over against their pressure will allow us to stay in the game or win the game and I thought we did a pretty good job in that area.

Q. It was a back-alley brawl of a game, as a compliment to Rutgers and the way they play. What does it say about your team that you were able to mostly survive but at times kind of play that style and do some things yourself?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, we had not beaten this team in some years, and they kind of have had our number over the years. You start looking over your shoulder a little bit when I think they cut the lead to three or even one I think, and we make two free throws to extend it and then we started to make plays.

But again, our team, I'm proud of this team, man, because there's no quitting. They grind. They try to do whatever it takes to win and tonight we did that.

Q. Miller had 18 tonight, had 21 against Rutgers in their first matchup. Any rhyme or reason he's played well against Rutgers? What did you see in his confidence?

MIKE WOODSON: Again he got good looks and they didn't get to him a lot of times in the zone, when the ball was swung around, he was getting good looks and he knocked them in and made them pay for it. Most teams that we play don't give him very many good looks like that.

But he was able to knock them down. But not just making -- scoring the 18 points, hell, he was pretty good defensively, too, tonight. He did a lot of good things defensively for us.

Q. Trayce Jackson-Davis, first player in IU history, 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Your thoughts on the significance of an accomplishment like that?

MIKE WOODSON: It's unbelievable. All I can say, it's unbelievable. This young man has done a lot since he's been here wearing this uniform. I couldn't be more prouder of a player. He's a phenomenal player, beautiful to watch but he does a lot of wonderful things on the floor, man, to be able to score 2000 points and 1,000 rebounds, that says a lot.

Q. On the topic of Trayce. He had a tougher game the first time he played Rutgers. Anything you can point to as the difference, Rutgers or him, how he was playing?

MIKE WOODSON: I just thought tonight, they doubled him at Rutgers. We just didn't make plays around him. We threw the ball all over the gym. We didn't rebound well with him. I mean, there was a lot of things you can point to. But tonight, I thought we were just slid and offensively, we made shots when we had to make them, and that was the difference in the ballgame.

Q. Is it hard on Miller when he goes game after game and everybody plays him tight and he doesn't get any looks, and what does it say about him that when he does get space he's ready to knock-down shots?

MIKE WOODSON: That's basketball. I wouldn't leave him either, you know what I mean. When he gets looks, pretty much this year he's knocked them down. Tonight he had his looks. Had a lot of good looks and he was able to make them.

Q. Miller has talked about basically how he knows that not everyone on the team needs to take a ton of shots, speaking about him, that he doesn't need to take a ton of shots to impact the game. How have you seen him embrace his role and kind of fit in like specifically to what you guys need?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, when you look at our roster and from a stats standpoint, you go down from a scoring standpoint, you know, we've got a lot of guys that are averaging about seven, eight, nine points a game. For me, I think that's good for our ballclub where, you know, you just can't load up on one guy. You know, we know Trayce is the guy, but we've got guys around him that are able to make shots and that was the whole thing coming into this season and the work that we put in this summer and shooting a lot.

You know, Miller, he doesn't get a lot of shots but he's efficient. He makes shots what he has to make them, and that's huge for a team when you are trying to win.

Q. Trey Galloway continues to make an impact at both ends of the court. How has he grown in his role since moving to the starting lineup in the past couple three weeks?

MIKE WOODSON: Again, Trey is a guy that I love him because he plays hard. You know, he accepts coaching. You want to challenge him, you know, there's lot of barking back. He just plays.

You know, I love everything about him because he plays hard. He does all the things that most people at that position or players at that position don't want to do. But we just got to continue to grow. He's got to grow and continue to grow with us, and continue to do the things that's helped us get to this point.

Q. You mentioned the offense getting a little stagnant. Other than that, a great, solid night, ten assists in the first half. They did limit you to five in the second half. What did you see offensively that the guys were doing differently? Obviously Rutgers gets some credit for the defense but what was Indiana not doing properly to respond to that?

MIKE WOODSON: Body movement, setting good screens, ball movement. We became very lethargic, man, and you know, against good teams that really defend, you can't do that because it's a struggle to score the basketball. I thought we free-flowed the first half but the second -- you know, we looked tired tonight, and I'm not using that as an excuse. We just didn't have any pop coming down the stretch, and I've got to get us over the hump what I see that happen. We've got to figure out something. I've got to help them do that.

Q. Considering the emotional win that you had against Purdue to grind it out against Rutgers is a difficult turn. The emotional maturity of this team, considering what you guys went through in January, where is it as you head towards March, do you think?

MIKE WOODSON: I think it's at its all-time high. We've done some things in this last eight games, I think we are 7-1 in our last eight where guys, they just believe now, and that's a big part of winning. When we lost those three in a row we were all searching. Me being the head of the snake as the coach, I'm searching and I know what the hell was going on, you know, what we weren't doing, and now we're back doing those things. That's what makes winning fun.