2/11/2022 basketball Edit

Coach Q&A: Mike Woodson previews Michigan State

Alec Lasley • TheHoosier

Senior Writer

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IU head coach Mike Woodson previews Indiana's matchup with Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.

Above is the full Q&A.

Below is the full transcript.

Q. With this Michigan State team, they're top 10 in the country in three-point shooting. They're still good on the boards, but the shooting has been something that kind of jumps out. When you look at them, is there one area that concerns you more than the other? What stands out to you?

MIKE WOODSON: That they're pretty good defensively. They get up in you, and they really make you have to work to score the basketball. That's everybody, all five guys that are on the floor kind of on a string from a defensive standpoint.

Offensively they're pretty good. They have had their struggles here as of late, but some of the games that I've watched -- I know the Wisconsin game was kind of back and forth and Wisconsin kind of got out, but they made a run late.

I just think they're a solid team. Izzo has always had good teams on both ends of the floor. I don't see anything differently. They compete, man. They play hard. That's a big part of it.

Q. Prior to Tuesday night you guys hadn't lost back-to-back games all year. As you head into this game on Saturday, do you feel any more sense of urgency or is it still just a matter of one game at a time and just taking Saturday as it is?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, it's still one game at a time. I mean, I can't look ahead. We've got seven games left. We can basically control our own destiny. We've got to win out. That's kind of how I look at it, starting at Michigan State. Like I said, they've, I think, lost their last few games. They've had their struggles, as well.

But again, I think our team can beat any team in the Big Ten if we commit ourselves. The Big Ten has kind of shown that this season, that anybody can beat anybody.

We've just got to be committed for 40 minutes. Michigan State is going to force you to have to play them for 40 minutes in order to beat them.

Q. I'm curious if you're happy in general with the amount of three-point field goals you guys are attempting in each game and if there's anything you can maybe do schematically to get more threes. I know you've talked in the past about the importance of just the three-ball in general in basketball today and you guys have only made I think seven over the last two games?

MIKE WOODSON: I'd just like to make the threes that we're taking. It's not how many you take, it's how many you make. We had some good looks the other night against Northwestern. I thought Anthony had some good looks, Miller had some good -- we just didn't knock them down. We've got to make them.

Q. I'm curious about the return of the players. Do you sense that they got the message in practice in how they worked, and does what happened at Northwestern make you think about the starting lineup, as well, particularly how Trey played?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, I'll make a decision in terms of where I go with our starting lineup, but I thought yesterday's practice was a good practice considering what had happened at Northwestern because I just wasn't very pleased. Very disappointed. But I thought yesterday coming back guys were back on the floor working, and I thought we had a very productive practice.

Q. Generally speaking, how do you go about assigning game planning duties amongst your assistant coaches? Is it just a rotation? Is there strategy? Specifically for this one, is it Dane Fife, and what do you think he brings to the scout for Michigan State?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, in the past, even when I was in the NBA with all my coaches that worked around me, we would break the season down, and we've done the same thing here. Dane and Ya and Kenya both, they split games. For 30 games, each one of them will have 10 games apiece.

Yes, this is Dane's scout. I mean, it has to be his scout. He spent most of his time coaching at Michigan State, so what better person would know Izzo and his thinking and the players that he coached here in past years.

Yes, this is his scout, and we will rely on some of the things he tells us, but again, we all watch film and come to a conclusion on how we want to play on both ends of the floor, and we're still trying to work on finishing the game plan as we speak.

Q. When you look at Michigan State's backcourt, obviously some up-and-down play this season, but with those point guards, what is concerning for your defense about their ability to kind of create off the dribble and get in the paint?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, Tyson and Max, Max is a young freshman that's very lively that knows how to play. He's not your typical freshman. That's kind of how I look at it. He's long and rangy and athletic that can put it down and shoot it, as well.

The thing about their offense is they put so much heat on you when you score, they try to get it in as quick as possible, and then they push it back at you.

We've really got to focus in on getting back in transition and make sure we're matching to the point where they're not just running it up our backs.

That's going to be a big key, but they are talented out front, but again, we've played a lot of talented guards. We've just got to continue to -- the defense hasn't really been the problem for us. Offensively we've had our struggles in terms of making the long ball and just completing offensive plays over the course of a 40-minute game. We've had good halves, bad halves, we've put two good halves together. It's kind of been a roller coaster ride in that regard, but we're going to have to find some offense, and our defense has got to stay consistent if we're going to beat Michigan State.

Q. Sticking with that theme but on the flipside of that question, they've obviously got some big guys that can shoot, Gabe Brown, Joey Hauser. How does that add to the difficulty, that they've got big guys that can shoot and they generally put two, three guys out there that can make threes?

MIKE WOODSON: Well, we're going to have to -- even in our pick-and-roll coverages, we've got to be sharp in what we're doing. When that ball is thrown back, we've got to make sure that we're getting back to shooters, and our schemes when we're switching and things of that nature you're going to have to switch up and make sure we're not giving these guys their shots where they're comfortable in making threes.

We've done a pretty good job of defending the three-point line and knowing that we're going to have to do a hell of a job against this team because they do put up a lot of threes, and they make them.

Q. Just wanted to follow up, you mentioned starting lineup. With the way Trey Galloway played at Northwestern, is he pushing for a chance to start maybe moving forward, and what do you think of his play so far this season?

MIKE WOODSON: He's been fantastic. I mean, coming off the bench, he's been great. The other night I thought the first time he got a crack to start, he was phenomenal the whole game.

I mean, that's a thought. We'll have to make that decision after today's practice and see where we are. But he's definitely played well enough to be in the lineup.