Rob Phinisee Said 'I Feel Like I'll be at Full Strength Pretty Soon'

Indiana guard Rob Phinisee made his return in the Indiana versus Minnesota victory on Sunday after nursing a foot injury for seven games. Here's what Phinisee said about going into Indiana's last home matchup of the season versus Rutgers. Read his full transcript, or just watch the video.

Haley Jordan | Mar 1, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana senior guard Rob Phinisee knows every game counts in the Hoosiers' last stretch of regular season play.

After suffering a foot injury and sitting out for seven games, Phinisee made his return in the Indiana versus Minnesota matchup on Sunday where the Hoosiers won 84-79.

Phinisee played nine minutes, scored eight points and got one board.

Indiana will face Rutgers for its last home game of the season on March 2 for the Hoosiers' Senior Night.

Q: On if Phinisee will do Senior Night...

PHINISEE: I mean, I've just really been talking to my family about it. I'm not doing Senior Night tomorrow, so I'm still leaving that last COVID year on the table, so yeah I'm not doing it tomorrow.

Q: On making the decision to play another year or not...

PHINISEE: Honestly, I'm not really focused on that right now. Obviously, I know after this season I'm going to have to talk with my family about it and then obviously talk with the team too about it so we'll see what happens, but really I'm just focused on winning basketball games right now.

Q: On Phinisee's rehab and the keys to beating Rutgers...

PHINISEE: The rehab, I mean a lot of it was rest. I mean it's a foot injury so I couldn't really do a lot on it, so the big thing is rest and icing, doing a lot of different stretches and things to strengthen it.

Yeah, Rutgers. I know we're about to have practice, so we already went over scout, so I feel like we'll be ready. They did beat us three times last year, so obviously we want to get them back for that.

We're really looking forward to that and trying to get the win for Senior Night tomorrow.

Q: On the stakes of the Rutgers game...

PHINISEE: It's huge. Just being back from injury, I know I've never been in an NCAA tournament. No one on the team's been there so, we're really just locked in and trying to carry this 2-game winning streak and keep winning.

Q: On how Phinisee's foot felt and if it gave him optimism for future games...

PHINISEE: I see a really big confidence booster for me just because I literally didn't do any practices, live action or anything, so I was just kind of thrown in the fire. I thought I did a pretty good job and felt better than expected out there.

I'm just really working my way back but I feel like I'll be at full strength pretty soon.

Q: On the COVID years/seasons...

PHINISEE: Pretty crazy, honestly. I was just talking to one of my friends about this. This happened — my one normal college year was my freshman year. Then, everything was affected by COVID.

I wouldn't say it's hard, but it's just something that happens in life. You never know what's going to come, so you just have to react and talk to your friends and family about it and just trust God that you'll do the right thing at the end of the day cause He has the right thing on your path, just continue to believe and have faith in it and try not to worry about it too much.

Q: On Phinisee's stamina...

PHINISEE: I honestly can't tell if my stamina's going to be back or not just because I didn't play that long. The nine minutes I wasn't tired when I was out there, so I feel like if the time comes, if that happens in the Rutgers game, I'll be ready for it, and we're just going to have to see tomorrow in the game, but I feel like I'll be ready for it.

Q: On Rutgers' guards...

PHINISEE: For sure. Mulcahy and McConnell, those guys are bigger and stronger than the average size guards usually in the Big Ten.

We know they play a really tough game. I know it's going to be a really physical game too tomorrow, so I know we're prepared for them, and we'll be ready for them tomorrow.

Q: On Xavier Johnson...

PHINISEE: I would say just the way he's been controlling the game has been, just playing with his own pace and not being sped up. I feel like sometimes in the past, he was sped up and made plays that I would say were too quick in the shot clock or just plays where he's trying to make a home run play, so I feel like Coach has just been on him, on all the point guards really.

I feel like he's really — the way he's been playing is the reason we're winning, so I feel like he's going to continue that, and that's just going to lead us into the tournament.

Q: On Race Thompson...

PHINISEE: He's grown a lot. I feel like he's had one of the biggest improvements. Just him being injured in his first couple of years and not being able to showcase how good he really was. I feel like these last two years he's really shown that.

He's really the glue to our team. He keeps everyone together. He's level- headed. He's a leader. He's been here — this is his fifth year. He's been through it all, and he's just a huge part of our team.

Q: On how Thompson's leadership role has changed...

PHINISEE: I would just say the vocal part. He's more of a lead-by-example type of guy so him being more vocal in practice, I feel like that's a big thing that's changed with him from a leadership standpoint.

Q: On the NCAA Tournament...

PHINISEE: We definitely see it. I mean we send things in the group message just to, just like a motivation type of thing that we have to lock in if we really want to make the tournament for everything.

Yeah for sure, we just have to take it game by game at this point, so every game really matters, and we just have to focus in on the scout and make sure we're locked in on what the coaches tell us to do.

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