Here's What Coach Yasir Rosemond Said After Indiana's Win over Minnesota

For the first time in his college coaching career, Indiana assistant Yasir Rosemond had to call all the shots on Wednesday night at Minnesota after head coach Mike Woodson couldn't go because of COVID. He helped guide the Hoosiers to a 61-57 victory. Here is the transcript and video from his postgame press conference.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Indiana coach Mike Woodson missed Wednesday night's game at Minnesota because of COVID, so assistant coach Yasir Rosemond had to take the controls. The Hoosiers pulled out a 61-57 victory, its fourth in a row.

Rosemond met with the media after the game. Here is the full transcript from his interview:

QUESTION: "First of all, a tough game, guards are struggling, you guys really having to fight. How do you feel like you guys were able to figure it out at the end and get the win?''

YASIR ROSEMOND: "I think it's our seniors. Our seniors played well tonight. Trayce Jackson-Davis had another great game. Miller (Kopp) contributed and that loose ball was a really big loose ball. And Race, he gave us minutes after coming off of injury. He came in, did some things in the middle, was tough, made some tough rebounds and he had a tough defensive assignment guarding (Jamison) Battle.''

Q: "Yasir, we've been spending the last two weeks comparing what Trayce has done in each game to something that happened 15 years ago and not since 20 years ago. Can you kind of wrap your hands around what these last couple of weeks have been like, and how big was that offensive rebound on that missed free throw at the end?''

Indiana assistant coach Yasir Rosemond took over for Mike Woodson on Wednesday night at Minnesota. (USA TODAY Sports)

ROSEMOND: "Trayce has been big-time. I think his leadership has really been good, his leadership really been excellent. Some of the things he's been doing this three or four games, the last week or so, is amazing. I think it's because he's finally healthy. He's had some little nagging injuries at the beginning of the year, but I think he's finally rounding into shape and his health is coming back and he's really been playing tremendous. For a guy who's always at the top of the scouting report to do what he's doing, it's just amazing. I tell people all the time, I haven't been coaching that long, maybe 21 years, and I've coached some NBA guys and he's been unbelievable. He's probably been the best that I've coached.''

Q: "When did you know that Mike wouldn't be here tonight and how did that impact preparations for tonight? And in reality, how did that affect things on the bench and in the locker room, and for you, how did you get that team through the last stretch of the game?''

ROSEMOND: "One thing I can tell you about Coach. Coach always says next man up. He always tells us as assistants, if something ever happens in the game, whoever scouted it, you'll be the head coach. If I get two techs, you guys will be the head coach. We're always prepared. He treats us like head coaches, he doesn't treat us like assistant coaches and he gives us a lot of say in what's going on. Obviously, he has the final say, but he asks for our input a lot and it's just a tribute to him and his confidence in us.''

Q: "If I could follow up, and the end of the game, what were you telling the guys to get locked in defensively through the end of the game?''

ROSEMOND: "That's what we're built on. We work on defense every day. We weren't going to change anything that Coach Woodson has already been saying. So it's just me reiterating, He told me I could run a couple of my ATOs (After timeouts), so I tried one or two of those.  Again, it's just want we're built on. Coach put in a system and we live and die by it. He's our leader, and he always tells us what we need to do and that's what our guys did tonight and we came out with a tough win on the road.''

Q: "As much as you're willing to share, you talked about digging in on defense late. What was being said in the huddles and what was being conveyed between the players? What basically led to you guys tightening up when you needed it at the end?

ROSEMOND: "The guys came into the huddle and they were very engaged. You always like that as a coach for the guys to be engaged to what's going on on the floor. We started switching at the end, and we kept saying we've got to guard the driver because they were just going to milk the clock and get the matchups they wanted and get one of our bigs on a switch and try to get contact to get to the foul line. In the huddle, we kept saying we've go to get stops, got to put stops together. All the guys were engaged, the bench guys, the manager's everybody. It was a total team effort.''

 Q: "They came out in the zone early on. What about that zone that gave you guys trouble, especially in the first half?''

ROSEMOND: "Coming into the game we knew they would do something, because they had some guys out. I know Ben (Johnson) pretty well, and we knew it would be either a 1-3-1 or a 2-3 zone. Going into the game we were thinking about it and we were prepared for the zone. But as you know, if you're not making shots, it's just tough. It really wasn't anything that was troubling us, I would say. At the end of the day, if you're not making shots, it just seems like the zone keeps shrinking and shrinking. But our guys came up big, and our guys made some big plays at the end, and that's what it's about on the road. Sometimes shots won't fall, but defense travels and that's what we're built on.''

Q: "Malik (Reneau) had 10 points in the first half but didn't play in the second half. Was he injured?''

ROSEMOND: "No, he wasn't injured. It was just a matchup deal. We put him in in the second half, and they were playing small, so it was a tough matchup for him. They just kept driving us and driving us and wee were giving them easy baskets. It was nothing against him and there was nothing that he did wrong. He contributed in the first half and his contributions were great.''

Q: "How did you feel about your comfort level with substitutions and patterns and timeouts and such? It's a new thing when it's on your plate like that. How did you feel like you handled all of that?

ROSEMOND: "Coach Walsh and Coach Kenya, they handled the substitutions. I was just trying to coach. We kind of game-planned, and stuck to the game plan. In timeouts, I just tried to stay calm. I was just trying to keep the guys calm in the huddle and I just kept telling them that if we were going to pull it out, we were going to do it defensively because our shots weren't falling.''

Q: "Along those lines being the first time you've done this. Did you have nerves going into this game and who did you talk to to get your mind right?''

ROSEMOND: "I called everybody. I called my mentor, Kenny Payne. I forgot to call my head coach, Ernie Kent, but I know he's going to call me and probably curse me out. And then I called Coach Woodson. He gives me a whole lot of confidence.  He's a guy I think who leans on me for a lot of things . He gave me all the confidence. He told me to go have fun and ake sure you keep the guys together and do what we do.''

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