What Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the 66-62 exhibition win at Tennessee

Everything Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said after his 17th-ranked Hoosiers beat No. 12 Tennessee 66-62 Sunday afternoon in a charity exhibition game at Food City Center in Knoxville:

Opening Statement

“Ugly game. I thought defensively, we did a lot of good things. To hold this (Tennessee) team to, I think they shot (30.5 percent from the field) and (22.9%) from the threes, that was huge. But offensively, they physically took us out of a lot of things that we tried to do. And that’s something I’ve got to help us, help this team, get better offensively. 

“But for the most part, it’s tough winning in this building out here. And we came in and we fought and they fought. And I thought down the stretch we made some plays. Malik (Reneau’s) three was huge, to kind of give us the little cushion that we needed. And then Myles (Rice) was good coming down the stretch as well, making basketball plays for us offensively.”

Myles Rice getting in the paint, reading ball screens, how much that changes this Indiana team

“It has changed it a lot, but he’s not the only one. (Trey) Galloway can do it. (Bryson) Tucker is capable of doing it. Kanaan (Carlyle). I just got to get us more comfortable offensively. Because we had been playing better than that, I thought, in practice. But again, when you get in stiff competition against a well-coached team, man, that really gets after you, you really got to execute, move with pace, set screens and things of that nature. And I don’t think we did a great job in that area.” 

Indiana shooting 4-for-19 from the 3-point line, 0-11 in the first half 

“I mean, we got some good looks. Our guys are just going to have to relax because we’re going shoot them, there’s no doubt about it. We got 19 up but we have been averaging about 27, 28 in all of our scrimmages. So that’s far from where we’ve been the last three years. But again, I don’t care how many threes you shoot, you got to make them. I mean that’s the name of the game. And I think we got guys that can make them. I just got to get them comfortable and get them loose to shoot it.”

If holding out Bryson Tucker was a cautionary move

“No, he got hurt our last practice. He got got kneed in the thigh. So we just couldn’t get his stride together yesterday and today. So we just held him out.” 

If what Indiana did offensively in the second half against Tennessee is closer to what he wanted

“Right now, man, I’m just trying to get us to make shots. I mean we scored 41 points (in the second half), that’s more than enough points. You add 40 to that, you’re scoring 80 points a game. We were better offensively at making shots in the second half. Mack (Mackenzie Mgbako) kinda opened up. He didn’t have much the first half going. And he got us going and I think he scored all 12 of his in the second half. We’re capable of scoring the ball. We’re a lot better than what we showed tonight. We just have to keep working at it.”

If he liked what he got out of Malik Reneau in the second half

“He made some plays. When you post guys and they know they’re getting doubled, and he experienced that last year, they’re not going to just let him play on the block. So he’s got to sacrifice the ball. We got a lot of good looks last year from post plays where guys had wide open threes. And we didn’t capitalize on that that much tonight.”

Being in a tight game down the stretch at Tennessee, how much that can help Indiana moving forward

“It’s huge because we’re up six, they hit a big three and then we come back and I think we get fouled or something and and make one free throw. But it was back and forth. But it is huge. I mean, when you’re on the road, I don’t care how you win. You got to figure it out. And I thought tonight we did coming down the stretch.” 

If this Indiana offense can average 80 points per game 

“I think so. I mean if you add four or five more threes to that 19 attempts, then you’re sitting there at about 80 points. So we just got to relax and shoot the ball. (Luke) Goode didn’t have a good night shooting it. No one did from the 3-point line. So I mean we going to keep shooting them until we make them.” 

How much he trusts Myles Rice late in games with the ball in his hands

“I trust him a lot. You saw tonight. He makes basketball plays. Winning plays.  And he can score the ball. And he can make free throws. So that’s a bonus.”

His impressions of Indiana center Oumar Ballo

“Ballo was fine. He played 30 minutes, got 11 rebounds. He missed some chippies around the rim. But as we go along, Ballo is going to be more effective for us, I can promise you that.

If he has seen more consistency from Mackenzie Mgbako in Indiana practices

“He’s had some good scrimmages, big-time scrimmages. And he’s just going to have to, again this team, they’re not going allow you (to do stuff). This Tennessee team is going to play a lot of teams and a lot of teams are going to struggle to score against this team because defensively they get after you. And that’s how it should be.”

If he liked the idea of taking Indiana on the road in an exhibition game in that kind of atmosphere

“Well, I hope it pays off big time for us. You can learn a lot from a game like this. I told Coach (Rick Barnes), I’ll return the favor if you want to come up to our place next year. I like competition like that, man. These guys have been beating up on each other, but not like this. This (Tennessee) team physically got after us tonight.”