Post-Game Quotes: Indiana
2/11/2025 11:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening Statement…
Disappointment would be an understatement. I give Indiana a lot of credit, everybody knows they've been through hell. I give Mike (Woodson) credit; he did a better job than I did. There were so many areas that I'm disappointed in. The three layups we missed in the first half, they get costly as you go, and the foul trouble we got in. We did a poor job, we couldn't double the post, but we could've dug down. I take full responsibility for that; they just killed us the second half. I told you in the press conference earlier I was worried about him (Reneau), but there wasn't a lot of tape on him because he hasn't played in a month. We didn't do a very good job on him, and we were in so much foul trouble, our bigs couldn't guard well. We also missed three or four layups and some incredible open threes. That's why you have to win games defensively, the threes don't always come. We did a decent job without turnovers, an okay job rebounding the ball against a good team, but a lot of people came a long way for it. I feel bad for them because we had an opportunity for a special night, and I don't think the players played very well and the coaches didn't coach very well. That's a bad combination against a team that was desperate. I don't want to take anything away from Indiana, they hardly took a shot in the second half. They just pounded the ball inside, and we were in so much foul trouble that we didn't guard it very well and we didn't adjust.Â
On whether he was happy with the shot selection…
It was a byproduct of them zoning us. They haven't zoned much all year. We haven't run against much zone, but when you run into it your shooters need to make shots. Some guys that have made shots didn't make shots. They did a pretty good job taking it away, but the film will tell me.
On how they should have attacked the zone and if he was okay with what MSU did offensively…
I was not okay with how we did it, but I'll give them some credit. They played it pretty well. We didn't attack well, but to attack it well, you need to make shots. We didn't make any. Then we have guys like Jaxon (Kohler) and Coop (Carson Cooper) in foul trouble, we just didn't attack it very well. I do think we missed some shots; I take it you think they were not good shots. I thought they were pretty good shots for the most part. At least a couple guys had some really good looks.
On whether he sensed any nerves from the team…
No. I told you all along. I tried to explain when we were 9-0 what was going on. I haven't changed one bit; I told you four or five losses would win the league and I haven't changed on that. We put ourselves in a hole now because we didn't win at home. You need to win your home games and try to split on the road. We did not play well enough to win. On my big night, I didn't coach well enough to win. I didn't detect anything. I thought the guys were great, they practiced well. Just didn't make shots or handle thing we needed to handle.
On what he would have liked to have seen differently…
I would've liked to see them, not double more, but dig down more and things like that. That's our fault, not the players' fault. We tried to make some adjustments at halftime, but we had so many strange lineups in there that we didn't do a good job of it.
On whether he thought Indiana had this performance in them…
Indiana was picked second to Purdue earlier in the year. They are a very good team. It is a very talented team. (Malik) Reneau missed four or five games then came back and played seven minutes, 13 minutes, 20 minutes. The last game against Michigan he played 30 minutes. That was the first time, and he played 30 tonight. He was their best player last year. If you get guys injured, you always want to say the next man up. I always say the next man up is as good as the guy that started. He could've been a starter. They lost a lot when they lost Reneau. Their fans don't want to hear that. That's their problem, but he is a very good player. He dominated tonight. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds. He led them in both areas. We didn't do a very good job because we got to a point where we couldn't guard very well with our bigs. Cooper getting his third one before the half, we just played musical chairs with who we could put in there. The other thing is that they had played two together hardly at all. They played them together a lot tonight, which made a big difference. Usually, we have enough bigs to handle that, but we didn't tonight."Â
On Jase Richardson in the starting lineup...
I thought it played out fine. I give Tre Hollman a lot of credit. He was fine with it. I mean,you change people because you think you're always doing the right thing for Jase's been playing very well. He's mad because he thinks he missed some good shots, which he missed some shots he made, but, you know, he still had a day where he had 13 points and six rebounds. Tre played well. It was harder to play Jeremy (Fears) because of the zone and the way they played it. So, he didn't play quite as much, but I thought that was fine. I have no problem with that. Don't look at that that we lost because he played. We just won a game because he played and he's doing fine. There's no problem with that at all.
On guarding (Macknezie) Mgbako tonight…
I'm not pleased at all. I mean, they guarded him. How many shots did he get? I'm not sure that was our guys. I just think that they had the game plan to go inside, and that's what they did, so no, I'm not pleased at all how we guarded them. I'm not pleased that we guarded anybody If you want the truth, but that was a self-check. Give him credit. He was told to pound the ball inside, and that's what he did. And I give him a lot of credit for that.
On seeing zone in the future…
I don't think we will see a lot more zone. I don't think people don't always play it. I mean, let's face it. They were a little desperate. And if they play zone, I mean, we could attack zones before, if they play zone, I'm not worried about it. We didn't do a good enough job against it, but if you get open shots and you don't make them, that's part of it. The second part of it is we didn't guard anybody down low, that was the difference in the game.
On fast break points tonight…
Yeah, we didn't feel we ran very good. I don't know, I might have to look at the film to see why, but if they're scoring baskets down there and then putting that little press on, it would be harder in some ways. We wanted to attack the press, but it's still hard to score. It's hard to run as much if they're scoring. And they shot 64 percent the second half. That means they made a lot of shots. And we didn't do as good a job. It all goes back to your defense, you know, it's most people don't want to hear. If you don't guard well, you normally don't play well. We we're the one or two defensive team of all the stats in the in the league. Tonight, we got eaten alive inside for a variety of reasons that, as I said, I'll figure it out and I'll let you know after I watch the film, but I'll take a lot of responsibility for that. Players played hard. I didn't have any problem with that. We out rebounded a team when we were small sometimes and they were big. Shot well from the free throw line. We missed the last on purpose or we would have shot 90 percent from the line. Can't complain about that. We missed some shots, and we didn't guard. That's what it comes down to.
On Jeremy Fears' performance tonight…
We didn't get to get him in the open court, and I know, he's maybe not as good against his zone yet. So, you know, he played 20 minutes, 19 minutes and didn't do a lot, but he was effective in the fact that he tried to guard. He got a couple of steals. He was the only guy that I thought was digging down and did a decent job. And like I said, that's not a player's fault. That's the game, that's our fault and the game plan. We got to do a better job of that.
On how to turn around the offensive woes…
Make some shots. You know, I don't have any magic potion. Make some shots would be one. Second one, get our break going a little bit better. That has been pretty lethal for us most of the year. Going through a stretch where we're trying to grind it, but we're not scoring the ball as well, that's for sure. And I'll just try to fix it you know, I don't have any miracle answers right now but can't go 4-of-23 from the line and you can't let them shoot 63 percent. I mean, that's pretty simple guys, and that's the way I'll do it. If there's anything else, I'll take it otherwise I'm getting the hell out of Dodge. Thanks.
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Indiana head coach Mike Woodson
On if the team knew of Tom Izzo's record-chasing night...Â
Never once did I mention it. I knew Tom Izzo is a hell of a coach, a great coach. He's done it for a lot of years, and he's won a lot of games. We mentioned Bob Knight's record in his arena. That means Tom Izzo is pretty goddamn special. Special. I mean, really special. I didn't think I needed to tell our guys that. We were just trying to get off this slide and get a win, and I thought we had a total team effort tonight from everybody. The zone helped us. That was the key factor tonight in winning this ballgame.
On playing zone defense...
We played it against Michigan in the second half and held them to 29 points. This team really gets up and down the floor, and when you take bad shots, they run it right. You can make shots, and they run it right back at you. So we just felt like the only way to slow them down was to play some zone. The zone was effective, and we were able to come out here with the win.
On junior forward Malik Reneau's performance...
Well, I can't say enough about Malik. I went to him the other day and told him we weren't going to start him, and it probably didn't sit well with him, but he said, 'Coach, whatever you need me to do.' And he came in, and he played his ass off, and that's all you can ask for. It's about the team.
On the team's perseverance...
We have enough talent on this team, and I just gotta do a better job these last six, seven games, I think it is, left. I gotta get these guys to believe in one another because that's what it's all about. They've had a tough go at it. I can't let them quit. We just gotta keep working and keep pushing each other and see where it leads us.
On the message to the players... Â
It's tough. They know that I won't be back. That's been tough on these guys. It's been tough on me. But we still got a lot of season left, and I just want these guys to believe. I want them to get in the tournament and experience it, get in the Big Ten tournament and see if they can win it. That's what it's all about. It's not just getting there. You wanna get there and try to win a Big Ten tournament and then see where that leads you. I just gotta keep pushing them, keep them positive, keep them up.
Michigan State freshman guard Jase Richardson
On playing the zone...
I think offensively we were a little stagnant, we weren't moving, our shots aren't falling. I mean, they're not going to get out of the zone, so we had to hit shots. And I think if we would've hit shots early it probably would've got them out the zone, but then defensively, we weren't doing our jobs so we couldn't get out of transition and it wasn't an overall good game for usÂ
On any extra motivation when going for Izzo's record...
I think what was on the floor was on the floor. I think we're definitely just frustrated, especially with just the moment we could have had for coach after this game if we would've won it. And we just didn't capitalize and we didn't get him that record, so we've gotta get back to work. Â
On transition offense...
Yeah, I definitely think teams are looking at that, you know, transition offense is one of the biggest pieces of our game, so I feel like a lot of teams are going to try to, and especially today. They sent three or four people back to get ready back for that zone. So it's definitely tough for us to get transition going. We got four guys sitting in the back. Â
On putting pressure on himself after his career-high performance against Oregon...
No, I mean, for me, it's basketball. You've got play the game at the end of the day. And I don't know, today just wasn't our day honestly. That's all I can say. Â
On the record...
He's done so much for us and we want him to get that. He deserves it and he's been working hard for 30 years, so we feel like he deserves something special and we didn't give him that tonight. It was a bit frustrating around the locker room. Â
On shaking off a tough night of shooting...
Tomorrow, just get a whole bunch of shots up. I feel like that's the biggest thing for us. Getting back in the gym and trying to get as many shots up as we can because I feel like a lot of teams are going to start doing this, and we've got to be ready for those moments and we've got be ready to hit shots. Â
On Indiana's defense...
Oh, I think it was just clogging the paint. I feel like we're really good when we get inside, score points in the paint and then that zone they were taking away the middle. I feel like that was one thing we were kind of looking at, trying to get to the middle, trying to get open shots in the midrange, and they were kind of taking that away from us. Â
On trailing at halftime in the last four games...
It's super critical. When you get out good in the first half, it kind of builds momentum on ourselves and the past couple games we've been down at half. It kind of has a different demeanor when you're going into the halftime talk. So I feel like we've just gotta be better in the first half.
Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins
On what he would pin the loss on...
The team's going to lose if we're not making shots, I'm not making shots, so I feel like that was definitely the case when you got open looks and they played well.
On the team's foul trouble...
Yeah, it hurt us a little bit. They were getting deep position on the posts and then the foul trouble was hard to contain, so we just have to do a better job at that.
On extra pressure when going for Izzo's Big Ten record...
We definitely knew about it, but we just didn't play well enough tonight.Â
