Indiana's Leading Scorers Xavier Johnson and Race Thompson Talk About the Hoosiers' Much-Needed Win Over Maryland

Indiana senior guard Xavier Johnson led the Hoosiers to victory putting up 24 points in the 74-64 win over Maryland. Redshirt senior forward Race Thompson was second in line with 19 points and nine rebounds. Read their full press conference transcript, or just watch the attached video.

Haley Jordan | Feb 25, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Senior guard Xavier Johnson led Indiana with 24 points in the 74-64 win over Maryland to snap the Hoosiers' 5-game losing streak.

Johnson was near perfect on the night going 7-for-7 from the field and 7-for-8 from the stripe.

Redshirt senior forward Race Thompson was next best with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Johnson and Thompson headed to the podium to address the media following the victory.

Q: On Johnson playing a good game...

XAVIER JOHNSON: I was just taking smart shots. I wasn't forcing. I wasn't just focused on shooting the three's a lot, and I was just focused on getting downhill and getting my teammates the ball, and that's what I did tonight.

Q. On going to Trayce Jackson-Davis and Thompson...

XAVIER JOHNSON: We know when Trayce or Race are going, we're going to go back to them. And as a point guard, that's on me for running the play for them. When they're going, we're going to give them the ball. And coach, he preaches that.

Q. On Johnson missing his last shot...

XAVIER JOHNSON: It hurt. I was tired, but it hurt.

Q. On Johnson slowing down his game...

XAVIER JOHNSON: I mean, like I said, when I got downhill, called the ball screens early, I mean, I saw it was opening up. And I got my teammates involved early. And they were actually hitting shots. Me and Parker will have a talk. But I know he'll be ready for next game. I'll be getting the ball to him.

Q. On Johnson being on...

RACE THOMPSON: We're definitely going to be hard to beat. When you get X going, that's the head of a snake, for real. You might say Trayce is the head of the snake, but it's really X.

We really go as he goes because he gets everybody involved. He gets everybody shots. And then when he goes 7-for-7 from the field, I mean, that's really tough to beat. Your point guard is getting whatever he got, 24 points or whatever, it's just going to be a hard team to beat.

Q. On the losing streak being over...

RACE THOMPSON: Definitely a little bit of weight off of our shoulders. We've got to play with a chip though. But we've got to keep building. We played well tonight. I think in the past we had been playing good basketball, but we just had to play 40 minutes, not 38 minutes, not 39 minutes.

We put a full 40 together tonight. But, I mean, definitely feels good to get off that streak. And hopefully we can put a couple more together.

Q. On Johnson drawing motivation from doubt...

XAVIER JOHNSON: I mean, as a person, as a kid, as it goes around social media, I see a lot of what a lot of people say. And I'm an emotional player. I see it a lot.

I know it really doesn't matter, you're not supposed to read it. But at the end of the day, I mean, I'm a person, and I'm going to read it. But it's a matter of how you use it. That's what I'm going to say.

Q. On the plan to pound the ball inside...

RACE THOMPSON: That's our game plan a lot of the time. Go to me and Trayce. And then once, hopefully, we can get going, one of us gets going, then once we get going, it opens up the court for everybody because then the defense starts crowding down on us.

We're unselfish players, so we're going to kick it out to our open teammates. They either knock down the shot or like X did not tonight, get downhill and find somebody else that's open and they get an open shot or he gets a lay-up even. So it definitely helps our team out a lot.

Q. On breaking the losing streak...

RACE THOMPSON: I mean, we want to play in the tournament. None of us have ever played in the tournament. And that's a goal we're all trying to reach as a unit.

But, I mean, yeah, we definitely knew we were on a little five-game skid. It was hard every single day coming to practice working, and we know we're right there, right there to win the game.

So I think that that just gave us motivation in practice yesterday. And we came in today and we showed up ready to play. And that's how we got the win.

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