INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 9, 2024

Mike Woodson

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana 82, Minnesota 67

Q. Yeah, coach. Just wanted to start with you guys get Kanaan Carlyle back, just how has he looked the last couple of days in practice? What have you liked? And sort of is he 100% ready to go right now or is he still sort of, okay, we're working him back in?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, he practiced yesterday for the first time, full practice, and said he felt good coming into today's game, so we played him.

Q. Mike, I know at times you guys go smaller, but you can still written those two big line-ups. Where do you feel like you are in terms of marrying that to a faster pace? It seems like you're playing fast but with multiple bigs really worked for you tonight.

MIKE WOODSON: Well, I mean, it's going to be bigs throughout the Big Ten games that we play, you know, when we got a chance to go small, we try to do that, too. I mean, we've done that every game that we've had this season so far. But, again, it's -- you gauge it based on how the game is going, you know, and who's in the game and if our small team is rolling, we just roll with them until we have to go sub because we feel like they might be a little tired and move to the big line-up. So, I mean, it's been good for us both ways, but, you know, I haven't weighed it out. I base it on match-ups and when we do have the small guys in, how they're playing as a unit.

Q. Yeah, Mike, on the speed and urgency and I want to say just the overall number of scores you had, is this kind of a glimpse of the offensive vision, I guess, you had for this team?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, I thought we played great the first half. The ball moved. Then in the second half, we started really well, I thought, but we got to get some things fixed, too, because I thought we had some lapses where we just didn't play good offense. I thought there was some selfish play here and there and we threw the ball away. We didn't make some free throws. We got to build on this game but those are areas that we can fix and when you get a team down 15, 20 points, you got to remember how you got them down and continue to do the same things that got you the lead and I don't think we did that coming down the stretch.

Q. Yeah, with Carlyle and Galloway, you start Galloway tonight. You said things are match-up dependant. Did you imagine rotating those guys based on match-ups or is it more just the minutes, how they balance out, because they balanced out, the minutes tonight, so it's not as important as who gets the start.

MIKE WOODSON: No, I went with Gallo because we'd been starting him and K-9 just came back and he didn't take it personal. He just came in and did his job and somebody's got to come off the bench. I can't start everybody and I don't know if that line-up will stay the same, but the bottom line is he did his job coming in to help us win our first Big Ten game, so we're going to need everybody, regardless of who starts to play at a high level when they play.

Q. Mike, Minnesota made 11 of their first 15 shots. Then you held them to 3 out of their next 18 and then another stretch where they went, I think, 6 of 9. When you watch film, obviously you have stretch where is you play good defense. What have you seen that you can kind of accentuate to the team? And then what are you seeing on film when the defense lapses that needs to be improved on.

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, when we're playing good defense, it's nice to watch film (chuckling), but when things kind of go sour, there are miscues in terms of switching and somebody might get beat backdoor and shot goes up, you don't put a body on a guy and he gets an offensive rebound or he keeps the ball alive and then they score, things like that we have to clean up because, again, when you're playing in the Big Ten, going through this grind, man, those type of plays can beat you.

Q. Mike, Bryson Tucker had eight points in that 16-1 run you had in the late in the first half you get rolling there. He made his four shots. How important is it for a freshman like that just to get off to a good start and to just kind of keep that positive mind frame through a game?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, it's very important. When we recruited him, we thought he would be a big piece to the puzzle, and he is, and we just got to keep steering him in the right direction and pushing him to play at a high level, play harder and smarter and do the things that we need him to do on the floor and I thought tonight he came in and played a solid ball game and hopefully that will be a nice carryover into our next game against Nebraska.

Q. Coach, I was going to ask about Tucker as well and your answered part of it, but he seems to have more of an affinity for the midrange than most modern day players do. Do defenses sometimes forget about guys shooting jumpers from inside the key who aren't trying three-pointers because they're so fixated on it?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, I don't know. Again, the way the game is played, you know, I -- if you got guys that can make threes, I'm open for them taking them and we do have guys that can make 'em and we're probably not taking a lot more than most teams, but he is good in midrange and those count, too. Lay-ups and 15, 16-foot jump shots, they count as well if you make them, so the key the making them. So tonight he was pretty good in that area, so I'll take it.

Q. Mike, on Bryson as well, but he's become one of the more consistent scorers for you and tonight he comes off the bench with those 16 big points. Do you prefer having him come off of the bench? You've said everyone can't start, but is that something you prefer to have kind of in your back pocket?

MIKE WOODSON: Yeah, I mean, that's where -- he's not starting for us, he's coming off the bench and I thought he came off the bench and played extremely well and, you know, guys, somebody's got to come off the bench, so it's not who starts and who comes off the bench. It's the minutes that you got, it's what you do with the minutes that you get to help your team win and I've always believed that and if there's two minutes, then dammit, you better make it the best two minutes to help our ball club when. That's what it's all about. That's what team is about.

Q. Coach, Minnesota was blitzing ball screens. I know that was something that gave you guys a little bit of trouble in the Bahamas. Do you like the progress your team's making in those situations?

MIKE WOODSON: Yeah, I mean, we've seen a little bit of everything in pick and roll this early season and some games we're pretty good at it. I thought tonight it didn't affect us a whole lot. I got to go back and look at the film, but I think there were times that we could have gotten rid of the ball earlier or quicker than we did and then that pass might lead to something good. I didn't think once we got it out of there we were slow in terms of moving the ball once it came out two on the ball. That's just something we got to get better at and continue to learn.