Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana Beat Illinois

Indiana got a much-needed road win on Thursday night, beating Illinois 80-65 and snapping the Illini's four-game winning streak. Here's what Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson said when he met with the media after the game, with full video and transcript.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Indiana got a much-needed road win on Thursday night, beating Illinois 80-65 and snapping the Illini's four-game winning streak thanks to a tremendous 35-point effort from senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Woodson kept feeding Jackson-Davis because Illinois chose not to double-team. It added up to the Hoosiers' first Big Ten road win of the season. Here's what Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson said when he met with the media after the game, with full video and transcript.

QUESTION: "When you wrap your head around what Trayce did tonight, what impressed you the most?''

MIKE WOODSON: "I played him a lot of minutes (35), played him the whole first half and we rode him, They didn't double team him. In each timeout, I was like 'the double team might be coming,' so we've got to set our offense accordingly, and it never came. He made great plays around the rim.''

Q: ''Mike, that timeout a minute and a half into the game might have one of the most productive timeouts we'e seen. What needed to be said then, and how glad were you to see the response you got from it?''

WOODSON: ''Again, we hadn't won here in a long time, I was told. Any time you can win on the  road in the Big Ten, it's special because it's not easy winning out on the road in the Big Ten. We've just got to validate what we did tonight and get ready for Michigan State. They won tonight at home.''

Q: ''Tonight was a career high for Trayce, but he's had a few of these games where it's felt like on both ends of the floor he was really controlling play. How much do you let him sort of dictate where he goes, what he does, obviously in the structure of the scheme when he's playing well?''

WOODSON: "My thing is to put him into position to be successful. He's got to finish it. I thought tonight, we went to him. I rode him. I mean, 80-90 percent of the plays were geared to get him the ball. I would have been foolish not to do that, at least until they actually stopped him. They didn't do that tonight. He kind of had his way and we kind of played around him. That was kind of nice.''

Q: ''Your thoughts on Jordan Geronimo and the lift he gave you in the first half and Trey Galloway especially in the second half when he made some key plays when Illinois was trying to get back into it?''

WOODSON: ''They were both solid. I just thought from a defensive standpoint we set the tone right off the bat and we never really relinquished it. I know we had the big lead, but teams are going to make runs. The beauty about the run is that we didn't crumble. They started pressing at the end and I thought we turned it over a little more than I wanted coming into the game, but for the most part we did everything we needed to do to win this game.''

Q: ''And on Geronimo, what do you think led to his big first half?''

WOODSON: ''He's playing like he played at the end of last season. He's just moving around, he's cleaning up stuff. He's cutting when he needs to cut at the right time and Trayce is rewarding him with passes. He's offensive rebounding, he's rebounding, he's blocking shots, that's what he does. He flies around and he does some good things here and there. We've just got to keep him in a good space until we get everybody back, if we do get them back.''

Q: ''You talked about interior passing with Trayce and Geronimo and obviously that's good chemistry. How much more comfortable is your team feeling now with those two guys out that they were before?'' 

WOODSON: ''Any time you win games, everybody feels better  That three-game skid, man, was tough. We limped into the Wisconsin game basically, and had to play. We played, and then to come out on the road and beat a good well-coached game that just won four in a row, man that says a lot for the character of our ballclub.''

Q: ''Coach, I know you had talked about Trayce calling a players-only meeting before the Wisconsin game. Did he come to you before that meeting, and what was your reaction to him doing that?''

WOODSON: ''No. Listen, I try to control the locker room as much as I can, but when players want to get together, I have no problems with that. No, he didn't come to me; he didn't have to. But the bottom line was we were somewhat dead in the water going into that Wisconsin game the way we had been playing. It all started on the defensive end and now our defense has picked it back up and it's putting us in position to win.''

Q: ''Coach, you talked about limping in to the Wisconsin game and it kind of seems like your guys have had a backs-against-the-wall attitude in these last two. How do you keep them with that approach to the game when they start racking up these wins?''

WOODSON: ''You take it one game at a time and prepare one game at a time and you try to get them to buy in to what you want done from the defensive standpoint, because that's what is going to set the tone the rest of the way in the Big Ten. I think anybody can be beat in the Big Ten. You've just got to come ready to play and be committed to play 40 minutes and I thought we did that tonight.''

Q: ''Mike, it felt like especially in the first half that Jalen was really getting to his spots. What was the key for him tonight?''

WOODSON: ''Jalen's been solid, man. He played a lot of minutes early and I didn't give him a blow. I've got to watch that closely. He's running our ballclub and he's doing a lot of good things for our team. It's kind of nice to see him do that.''

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• GAME STORY FROM INDIANA'S WIN OVER ILLINOIS: Illinois chose not to double-team Trayce Jackson-Davis on Thursday night, and the senior made them pay. He scored 35 points and the Hoosiers got a huge road win with an 80-65 victory. Jackson-Davis made 15 of his 19 field-goal attempts and his 35 was a season-high. CLICK HERE
• UNDERWOOD 'NOT WORRIED' ABOUT JACKSON-DAVIS' 35: Indiana star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 35 points in a 80-65 win, but Illinois coach Brad Underwood was more concerned with the Illini's 14 missed free throws, 13 missed layups and plenty more. CLICK HERE
• LIVE BLOG: Welcome to Champaign, where Indiana is set to tangle with Illinois in a critical Big Ten game on Thursday night. Here's our live blog, with news and views straight from press row. CLICK HERE
• WATCH JACKSON-DAVIS' BLOCK: Illinois forward Dain Dainja drove to the left block, but Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis was there to reject the shot off the backboard. CLICK HERE
• WATCH HOOD-SCHIFINO'S DUNK: Indiana freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino split the Illinois defense and dunked over Coleman Hawkins in the first half. CLICK HERE
• WATCH JACKSON-DAVIS' DUNK: Indiana star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis spun past Dain Dainja for a massive slam dunk in the second half against Illinois. CLICK HERE