INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 26, 2025

Mike Woodson

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana - 83, Penn State - 78

Q. Another night when it seems like you're comfortable riding experienced guards -- Myles, Trey, Anthony -- for big minutes in the second half. How much are those guys kind of providing a platform for this team right now?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, these guys are seniors. They don't get another shot at this. So they know what it's about. Anthony and Ballo have been with me the longest. Goode has had a good run at Illinois; now he's with us. Ballo is a senior. Gotta ride them, see where it leads us.

Q. After Wisconsin, you said it was a team that wasn't strong enough up top. Just kind of lacked that real true mental strength. The last however many weeks you guys have really come together, gelled, really fought. What's sparked this late toughness you guys have found?

MIKE WOODSON: I've never said that my team wasn't mentally tough or physically tough. I think at the end of the day -- we've lost some games that, I mean, we were right there. A bounce of the ball here or there, we're probably not even having this conversation.

But these guys are playing for something. We're trying to get in the tournament. And we've got three games left. Gotta go out west now tomorrow and we've got a few days to prepare and get ready for Washington.

Q. Trey had an up and down season. Lost the starting job. When he went into the shooting slump you went back to him. What gave you the confidence that he'd step back up for you? How have you seen him handle the adversity he's faced from the injuries, losing the job to getting it back this season?

MIKE WOODSON: He's had a tough go at it. You guys gave him a hard time at one time. There's a lot of things. But I never stopped believing in Trey. Trey's been with me the longest. He's put up with a lot of shit from me.

And I trust him. He does a lot of good things on the floor. Yeah, he makes mistakes. They all do. I make mistakes.

But at the end of the day I know he's going to play hard and give 100 percent when he's out there, and that's all you can ask for.

Q. Penn State had a lot of success in the first meeting going to the basket and then in the first half. Second half you guys seem to shut them down a lot more. Was that a defensive change at halftime or more execution? What led to that?

MIKE WOODSON: When we played them up at their place, the first seven minutes they got like 12 points just on backdoor cuts. And that was something -- we gave up two tonight -- that was something that we really focused in on.

And we tried to keep their side pick-and-rolls where they weren't rejecting us and sending it back over the top where all the help was. They still had success there.

But for the most part I thought our defense was pretty solid coming down the stretch. Both teams were scoring at will. And like I told them at halftime, the team that is going to defend and rebound this half is going to end up winning the game. I thought coming down the stretch we made the defensive stops we needed.

Q. Could you just real quick, Malik situation? And then secondly, a lot of times people talk about down the stretch of the baskets, but can you talk too just how well your defense has been in closing out games here this last week?

MIKE WOODSON: Our defense has been solid. Malik, right now, I'm just -- I've got to get an update. I know we took him to the hospital, the emergency. He was fine in shoot-around. Then he came down with something.

So I don't know where we are with Malik right now. But the sooner he can get back, the better. But it's next man up. Everybody's got to just stay ready.

Q. Got some productive minutes out of Kanaan Carlyle tonight. What's been your conversation with him to try to keep him going in a positive direction?

MIKE WOODSON: Stay ready. I mean, stay ready and focused because you just never know, man. This game is a funny game. And somebody goes down and you are mad at the coach because he hasn't played you. Now you're not mentally and physically ready to play.

I just tell guys, stay ready and what minutes you do get, make it the best minutes for our team in terms of helping us win basketball games. If you do that, then I'll come back your way again.

Q. Five double digit scores even without Malik, 24 assists. Your first time with more than 20 assists since the beginning of December. How important is it for this team to be able to move the ball to have all these options? And how different does it make your team with that many different options?

MIKE WOODSON: It's something we've been searching for all season. I thought the second half of the Purdue game is the best we played all season, defensively. And we scored 48 points. So that meant the ball was moving and guys were sharing the basketball.

And tonight, you know, we shared it again. We scored 46 points and the ball was humping. And that's the way it's got to be.

We just can't rely on one guy. We've had four, five guys in double figures in two straight games. And we're going to need that going forward.

Q. In the final six minutes, Trey hit a couple of 3s, Myles Rice hit a 3. I think we're always asking you, why aren't the 3s falling? How did it feel to see clutch ones in a moment like that?

MIKE WOODSON: I've been saying that shit for three years. Guys have been getting good looks but hadn't knocked them down, and tonight we made them. It was nice to see. I hope that's a good sign moving forward.