Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson and guard Trey Galloway addressed the media following Indiana's Friday night loss to Purdue in West Lafayette.
Below is the full Q&A, as well as a transcript for the conversation—once it's made available.
Q: On the effort Indiana put forth...
GALLOWAY: I thought the effort was there. We fought through a bunch of runs – obviously, they went on a bunch of runs – but I think just continuing to just keep competing was the main thing. Just a few plays that we got to clean up and that was the difference in the outcome.
Q: On the balance of calling timeout/letting Rice go to the rim...
WOODSON: Couldn’t get his attention by the time he got where he was going. I thought he got fouled on the play, but they didn’t make the call. And I don’t think that was the difference in the game – the difference in the game was the 20 turnovers that we had. I thought that was huge. And on the road, you can’t turn it over like that, and they made us pay for it – they had 26 points off our turnovers. But for the most part I thought our guys competed, did a hell of a job, but it’s about winning in this league.
Q: On what he wanted on Rice’s drive...
WOODSON: Well, once he took off I couldn’t get to him. It was too late. The official had went by. Again, that’s just – we gotta connect better. That’s just the bottom line. Because our high pick and roll stuff was going well for us with the ball in Gallo’s hand, and we just couldn't’ get back to it.
Q: On Rice’s limited minutes...
WOODSON: Well, I mean the group that was on the floor played well for us. You know, I mean, it’s no knock against Myles. He didn’t have it going early, and I elected to ride the guys that really finished the game. You know, Anthony Leal fouled out, but I elected to go that way.
Q: On not quitting but needing to learn how to finish when you fight hard...
WOODSON: Again, it’s just about making plays down the stretch, and securing the win. We didn’t do it in the Maryland game, and tonight we had our chances. I mean, we couldn’t get the key stops. Kaufman hits a 15-foot hook shot that was huge for them, and then we didn’t capitalize coming back the other way.
Q: On difference down the stretch the last two games...
GALLOWAY: The good thing is, we're in these games, but we got to finish. I think just making the right plays down the stretch is the difference.
Q: On Indiana's last possession with three seconds left...
WOODSON: No, we was trying to throw it to Malik and maybe drop it off for a three. But Gallo kind of overthrew it. But you can't leave it and that's one play. We had numerous plays that we could've made that we didn't make.
Q: On the frustration level in letting this game get away...
GALLOWAY: It's very frustrating, because we're right there. And we got to keep fighting. There's a lot of games left. But to know that we're right there and that close to being able to find ways to win those close games like this is definitely frustrating for all of us. Cause we want to win in the worst way possible. But the good thing is we have another great opportunity against Wisconsin. So we just got to look forward to that and learn from this. But it's always challenging to lose games like this.
Q: On Ballo showing frustration at end of game...
WOODSON: Everybody's heated in the heat of the moment, and he didn't think it was a good play, and he voiced his opinion on it, which is OK. You just hope that you can learn from it and build on it and move on.
Q: On what the less experienced players can learn from a game like that in an environment like Mackey…
WOODSON: Well a lot of these guys hadn’t play in this kind of atmosphere. [Leal and Galloway] have. We’ve had some pretty good games, we had a couple lopsided games with them, but for the most part the games against Purdue have been very competitive. The new guys that witnessed it tonight was a little set back a little bit. Like Myles, I kind of thought it got to him a little bit. I’ve got to help Myles because he’s a big piece to what we do and I believe in him and I’m going to keep pushing him to be better so that’s what that’s all about. I thought the guys that have been in this atmosphere before like Anthony and Mackenzie, you know Mackenzie stepped up and played, Goode had never won here. He even played extremely well. The key guys, the veteran guys that’s been around me, they know what it’s like to play in this building and it’s not easy.
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