Indiana basketball was back in action as it tipped off the Mike Woodson Era in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers took down BC Mega 79-66 in the first of two exhibition games down in the Bahamas.
The two teams will play again at 1:00 pm ET on Sunday.
Here are all of the postgame notes as well as quotes from Mike Woodson and forwards Trayce Jackson-Davis and Miller Kopp.
Postgame Notes:
• Indiana head coach Mike Woodson went with the starting lineup of senior guard Xavier Johnson, redshirt senior guard Parker Stewart, senior forward Miller Kopp, junior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and redshirt senior forward Race Thompson.
• Jackson-Davis, the first Hoosier All-American to return to school since Calbert Cheaney in 1993, led the way for IU with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor. He added eight rebounds, two blocks and an assist in 32 minutes of run.
• Kopp, a transfer from Northwestern, knocked down 3-of-4 shots from behind the 3-point line and scored 14 points to go along with five rebounds. He posted a team-best +/- of plus-17 in 24 minutes.
• Freshman guard Tamar Bates led all bench scorers with 14 points to give Indiana three players in double figures. He hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor and 3-of-4 attempts from the free throw line in 18 minutes.
• Thompson netted eight points on 3-of-7 shooting from the floor and pulled down five rebounds for the Hoosiers in 23 minutes in a starting role.
• Sophomore forward Jordan Geronimo ripped down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points in 19 minutes off the bench. Five of his nine rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor.
• Johnson, a transfer from Pitt, was limited to just 21 minutes on the floor due to foul trouble. He tallied four points and handed out three assists in the victory.
• Stewart saw 24 minutes of run and scored three points. He added a team-high five steals.
• Senior guard Rob Phinisee dished out a club-best four helpers and added four points in 12 minutes of the IU bench.
• Sophomore guard Khristian Lander saw seven minutes of run and tallied four points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.
• Sophomore guard Trey Galloway delivered three points and three assists in 17 minutes off the bench.
• Junior forward Nathan Childress secured one steal in three minutes of playing time.
• The Hoosier defense cranked up the pressure and forced BC Mega into 27 turnovers. IU cashed the extra possessions into 33 points. BC Mega was only able to turn Indiana over 12 times for 12 points.
• Led by Bates, Indiana outscored the Serbian pros by a tally of 29-17 in bench points.
• IU held advantages in total rebounds (39-38), points in the paint (36-26), and second chance points (18-6) despite being the much smaller team.
• The defense was able to hold 2022 NBA Draft prospect Nikola Jovic to one point on 0-of-1 shooting from the floor in nearly 25 minutes of playing time. He also committed five turnovers for BC Mega.
Postgame Quotes:
Mike Woodson
When you have been at it for two months with your ball club, I was so anxious, and I know the staff was, too, just to see how much they had retained over the two months that we have been out there working. That is where my drive was today. I was trying to push them to see if they were doing the things that were asked of them these last two months on both ends of the floor. I thought they responded really well.
Q. On Tamar Bates…
WOODSON: He is a freshman that is what we thought he would be when we recruited him. He is not scared of the moment. He has a lot of room for growth. He is long and rangy. He has picked up probably about 10-12 pounds since we have had him. He has to get a little bit stronger, and figure out the college game. That is what it is all about.
Q. On forcing 27 turnovers…
WOODSON: I have always believed this, and I learned this a long time ago from Coach Bob Knight, defense wins games. If we can put ourselves in position to defend every night, I know that we will be in every game. That gives us hope and a chance to win. I thought that we had some breakdowns defensively tonight, but that was a good team that we played. I thought that our energy and our effort was amazing in terms of how we defended. When you talk about our turnovers, our goal is to be 12 or less. Anything over that and everyone has to run, so they saved some sprints today.
Trayce Jackson-Davis
Q. On the capabilities of this team…
JACKSON-DAVIS: I do not think we played our best basketball tonight, nowhere near it. It was the first game and we were knocking the rust off a little bit. The excitement, the joy of playing basketball was at a whole different level. I know it was the first game, so we were a little amped up, but we had a lot of fun out there tonight.
Q. On the team defense…
JACKSON-DAVIS: Coach Woodson is big on defense. We work hard on defense and then the offense is the fun part. That is what he always tells us. In the rebounding, Jordan Geronimo was huge on the glass tonight. He was really doing his thing. Me, Miller and the guards all blocked out really well. I thought they got a few second chance points in the first half, but then we muddied it up a little bit and did a lot better. The adjustments at halftime were really good.
Miller Kopp
Q. On the team's improved shooting performance…
KOPP: I think that shooting comes in two parts, it is mental and it is repetition. The biggest thing for everyone is to be confident in their shot and in their abilities. The biggest thing the coaches talk about is giving us the confidence to shoot and I think that is something that is only going to grow throughout the season.
Q. On what went into his shooting night…
KOPP: Repetition. I work my butt off to make shots. Sometimes they are not going to go in, but even when I miss and the ball hits off the back of the rim, I think that it went in. At the end of the day, some are going to go in and some are not. I will still do the same thing.
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