Here's What Mike Woodson Said Following Indiana's Season-Ending Loss to Saint Mary's

The Hoosiers will return home following their 82-53 loss to Saint Mary's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. Here's what Indiana head coach Mike Woodson had to say following the defeat. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached video.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Indiana head coach Mike Woodson addressed the media for one final time this season following Indiana's 82-53 loss to Saint Mary's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

Read his full transcript, or just watch that attached video of the press conference.

MIKE WOODSON: You've got to give Saint Mary's credit. I have nothing but love and respect for Coach Bennett. I thought his team competed at a much higher level than we did tonight. It just means we've got to go back and get busy this summer and get better.

But it was a great run for our ball club this season getting back into the Big Dance, and now we've got to build on it for future. That's what it's all about at this point.

Q. On how proud Woodson is of his team given the situation...

MIKE WOODSON: Again, I've never been a coach — you guys don't know me that well. I've never been a coach that makes excuses. I had to do better tonight to get these guys, and I give Saint Mary's all the credit, man, but I thought tonight we just didn't have it. And I know we're a much better team than we showed tonight, and that's on me.

But traveling had nothing to do with it. I mean, it's what it is, man. We're happy to be in the Big Dance and getting this opportunity, so I can't point the finger at that. I just thought that they were the better team tonight, man, because we were a step slow on everything we wanted to do from a defensive standpoint.

Q. On Woodson's reflections after his first full season at Indiana...

MIKE WOODSON: It was great to come back, man. My AD, Scott Dolson, giving me an opportunity to take this job on meant a great deal to me and my family and all the people that have supported me all these years at Indiana and just around the country, man. It was great.

But it was all about these players. They made a commitment to let me coach them, and that meant more to me than anything because going in blindly like I did, that wasn't the case. It was a lot of damage control that had to be done to get these guys on board, to give me an opportunity. So I have nothing but love for the 17 players that I coached this season because they put this program back in the fold in terms of being in the Big Dance.

That's what it's about. You've got to give yourself an opportunity. You've got to get there and give yourself a chance, and I thought they did that for us this season.

Q. On how helpful it is to have a good Big Ten Tournament run and Big Dance appearance for recruiting... 

MIKE WOODSON: Well, it's huge. Moving forward it's big time because it gives them an opportunity to taste it and feel what it's really like. I mean, if you never get an opportunity to taste March Madness, man, it's not a good feeling, I'll tell you that.

I went a few years where I didn't make the Big Dance, and it's a long summer. It's like relating to the NBA playoff basketball. If you never give your team an opportunity to get in the playoffs, they'll never know what it feels like.

Now these guys, they have a feel. They got this summer to go and work on things that can make them better as ballplayer and make us better as a team when they come back.

So it's a lot of positives making the Big Dance this year for our program.

Q. On things Indiana can build on in the off-season...

MIKE WOODSON: Again, a lot of it is they're going to have to take the off-season, and I'm going to make every player watch every game that was played this year by the Hoosiers. That's one way you go back and you reflect and you learn. I'll sit down, and I'll have a program in place, along with my trainer, Cliff, our strength coach, in terms of things I think that they need to work on to get better.

I mean, that's how it's normally done. That's how I've always done it in the past with teams that I've coached in the past.

So these guys are young, man, and they've got a lot to learn in terms of basketball and how I want to play and the style of play that I want. So it's going to be a work in progress, but that's what we all signed up for. We just got to get through that process and get better for next season.

Q. On things to improve on...

MIKE WOODSON: Well, shooting is a big part of it. I thought our defense carried us guys, and we didn't shoot the ball extremely well this season. You guys know that. You watched us play, and we got to get better in that area. I'd be foolish to say we don't because we do.

We got to be better on the wings from a defensive standpoint. But, again, these are things that I've got to go evaluate once I get back and sit with my coaching staff and just see where we are as a ball club and just start trying to piece it all back together for next season.

Q. On what the team can learn from the last stretch of games...

MIKE WOODSON: It's just the level of play. I mean, I thought, excluding tonight's game, the Michigan game, the Iowa game, the Illinois game — they really forced us to really, really play at a high level, and that's how it should be.

I flip that, teams shouldn't have to force you because you should develop a team that way that want to play at a high level. I thought we were kind of in desperate mode coming into the tournament because we knew, if we didn't win a game and it took us two games to get in, I think, if we had just won the Michigan game, I don't think we would have got in. I truly believe that.

So, I mean, the pressure was really on this young team, and these guys stepped up, and they did what they had to do to get us to this day. So it's something to build on, man. It's all positive, I think, moving forward for our program, but we do have to get better.

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