Mike Woodson: Plans to Change Starting Lineup? 'Right Now, No'

Indiana has gotten off to some slow starts lately, and there's been a lot of clamoring among the fan base for some starters to get benched. But Indiana coach Mike Woodson said Monday night that he has no plans ''right now'' to make lineup changes.

USA Today

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana coach Mike Woodson had his weekly radio show on Monday night, sitting down with Don Fischer at the Southern Stone Restaurant. He talked about the starting lineup, beating Purdue, losing to Michigan and contending in the Big Ten.

Here are the highlights of his interview:

— on potentially making changes to the starting lineup: 

"Right now, no.  I'm not in any panic mode or anything like that. The bottom line, it's about who's finishing games, not starting the games." He also said his bench rotations will remain the same. "I'm sticking to my nine, maybe 10, guys. It depends on what the games are presenting.

— on beating Purdue Thursday night:

"I thought it was one of our best games of the year on both ends of the court.  Defensively we played at such a high level that it took them out of a lot of the things they do well offensively"

— on Rob Phinisee's huge night against his hometown team:  

"We sat and we spoke a little bit. I got some things off my chest, and he did the same.  When you have conversations with players like that, you're anxious to see how they respond, and he responded in a wonderful way. At the end of the day, we want them to understand that we want the best for them. I thought he responded after our conversation, and he hit the biggest shot of the night."

— on stopping Purdue's big men: 

 "I thought (Zach) Edey kind of bounced us around, but I thought we did a really good job against Williams. I thought for the most part we kept him (Williams) in check, and that was a plus for our ballclub because they just take turns tag-teaming. 

— on Michael Durr's big contribution off the bench:

 "I thought Mike (Durr) came in and gave us some positive minutes, so that helped.  We didn't go into the game thinking that Trayce (Jackson-Davis) would be sitting next to us. He picked up a few fouls early, and it was next man up.''

-- "I thought him and Rob were the key to helping us securing this win" ... "They scored the ball, something they hadn't done at a high level together this year. Both of them stepped up and really made it a point to get it done on both ends of the floor"

— on Xavier Johnson's improved play

"He's not picking up crazy fouls and things of that nature that's putting him in a bad place.  He's trying to take on more of a leadership role and showing more maturity,  and that's nice to see there. We haven't turned it over much, and our turnover rates are starting to drop, which is kind of good to see.''

— on the loss to Michigan on Sunday

"I thought we were flat. You would think after a big game against Purdue, and in front of your fans that you would come out, but we didn't. We got outrebounded and we weren't defending the three, and when you do that, you lose. We did the same thing against Penn State. Those are areas that we've got to stay away from. It was probably the first game of the year where we got punched in the month and they didn't respond.'

"Our rotations were a little short, and we were hoping that they would miss, and you've got to make them miss. Our bench has been there as of late, they've tried to carry us when our starters have been struggling. We just didn't have the bench nor did we have the starters, and it was just a bad combination all the way around. I tip my hat to Michigan"

— on goals for season: 

"I have one goal, and that's to win the Big Ten title. That's the only thing i'm concerned about. I'm not worried about winning the tournament, I'm worried about winning the Big Ten title. When you play in the Big Ten, you should be worrying about winning the title. You shouldn't be worrying about nothing else.

"We all watch the standings, but at the end of the day, in order to get to the top of the standings, we've got to win.  There's still a lot of work ahead of us. We can't lay down now, and we've still got to prepare like we've got a chance to move up in the Big Ten and win it. I think it's still wide open. We've just got to put a string of wins together and start to move up.''

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