What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana’s 89-73 Loss to Gonzaga in Battle 4 Atlantis

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PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – No. 14 Indiana suffered another big loss in the Battle 4 Atlantis, this time falling 89-73 Thursday against No. 3 Gonzaga.

Here’s what Indiana coach Mike Woodson said in his postgame press conference.

On how he fixes Indiana’s defensive struggles in a tight turnaround…

Woodson: “Well, we don’t have time to practice to try to get it fixed. We play tomorrow at 11, and we’ll get up early tomorrow and watch some film and prepare for whoever we’re gonna play. I mean, we’re not connected right now, defensively, and I thought the first half it showed again. The second half, we played a lot better from a defensive standpoint, and I thought defensively we connected a little bit better. But good teams like Gonzaga and Louisville, you can’t spot them like we did, and that’s hard to come back against good teams like that. But our guys didn’t quit. They competed the second half, and hopefully we can build on that and get ready for tomorrow at 11 o’clock.”

On what he’d say to fans who are concerned about the big picture of the program…

Woodson: “Well again, right now my focus is on our team and a new team that’s got seven new players that we’re still trying to work things out and work through it. I’m gonna keep dishing it ‘til I get this team where I think it should be.”

On what the last 24 hours were like in terms of his message to the team…

Woodson: “Well, the main message – we had to play harder than what we did yesterday. I thought we came out and competed early. Then we hit that dry spot right before the half that gave them the cushion. Second half, I thought we competed. But again, unfortunately, you gotta play two halves and we weren’t able to put two halves together tonight.”

On what has caused opponents to go on big runs the last two games…

Woodson: “Well again, I won’t call it conditioning. We were in foul – Malik didn’t play hardly any in the first half with the foul troubles. I don’t like to second guess, but maybe we gotta start thinking about playing Malik with two fouls early to see if he can … Read More