Yasir Rosemond Discusses Indiana's Recent Surge, Previews Minnesota

Indiana assistant coach Yasir Rosemond headlined Monday's "Inside Indiana Basketball" radio show alongside play-by-play announcer Don Fischer. Here are the highlights from the show.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana assistant coach Yasir Rosemond filled in for Mike Woodson on Monday night's "Inside Indiana Basketball" radio show alongside play-by-play broadcaster Don Fischer. Woodson was out of town attending a wake for Chris Ford, a member of the Boston Celtics' 1981 championship team who is credited for scoring the league's first 3-point basket.

Rosemond talked about his upbringing in basketball, Indiana's recent wins over Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State and previewed the Minnesota game. Here are the highlights from the radio show. 

On his basketball background...

• Rosemond is from Atlanta, Ga., and he was inspired to play basketball by his father, who coached at Tennessee State for eight years.
• Rosemond grew up as a fan of Temple coach John Chaney, Georgetown coach John Thompson and Indiana coach Bob Knight. 
• “I needed the discipline. I was one of those guys that needed those coaches that can give you a little stiff kick in the butt."
• He was an all-state player at Douglass High School and went on to play at Okaloosa-Walton Junior College in Florida for one season, then Butler Community College in Kansas, where he was teammates with future NBA player Stephen Jackson. Rosemond finished his college career with two seasons at Oregon, followed by a four-year professional career in Brazil and Argentina.
• Rosemond joked that his friend Shareef Abdur-Rahim, an NBA All-Star, got him a workout with the Atlanta Hawks, but “I knew I wasn’t going to make it anyway."
• He always knew he wanted to be a coach when he playing career was over. Before Indiana he was an assistant coach at Redlands Community College in Oklahoma, Portland State, Oregon, Seattle, Samford, Georgia and Alabama. 
• Rosemond said he learned a lot of the offensive side of basketball from Ernie Kent at Oregon, but the rest of the head coaches he's worked for are more defensive-minded, like Mike Woodson. 
• “I’m tired of moving, so lets win some games.”

On what has changed during Indiana's three-game win streak...

• “We just kept pressing forward. We knew that we were a better team than thaw were were playing.” 
• Rosemond said there was an adjustment playing without Race Thompson and Xavier Johnson. “Being a starter and coming off the bench is different. Now you’re a guy that’s at the top of the scouting reports.” 
• In losses to Iowa, Northwestern and Penn State, “We weren’t defending at all” 
• “Northwestern was hot and Penn State was unbelievable ... We still thought we should have won."
• “They had a players-only meeting that I didn’t even know about."
• Rosemond said the Wisconsin win really helped the team's confidence. "They hear the noise and they want to do well, they’re not trying to lose.”
• “[Mike Woodson] gets after everybody, but he’s really calm when it comes to wins and losses because he knew we weren’t far off.” Rosemond said he and the coaching staff knew defense was the problem during Indiana's rough patch because the offense was good.
• “We weren’t guarding anybody ... We just got back to what we were doing last year and doing the dirty work.”
• “Young people, they need confidence and their confidence wavered a bit, but it’s a tribute to those guys sticking with each other.” 
• “We knew what we needed to do, we just had to get them to do it and that was defense.” 
• “The losses started to pile up and it was, 'We better start to listen.'” 

On Trayce Jackson-Davis...

• "Trayce is about to be all the way healthy." 
• "Trayce has been unbelievable ... I think Trayce’s leadership’s been better too.” 
• “Coach [Woodson] understands what it means to play at Indiana and he puts that on Trayce.” 
• “He’s been rebounding better and he’s been defending better.” 
• “He’s doing the bulk of the work and I’m proud of him.” 
• “Hopefully we can keep him healthy, and we can’t get too up or too down ... We’ve got to keep these guys level headed."
• “We still have the goal of winning the Big Ten championship, and we’re in the fight."

On Race Thompson...

• I think [Trayce] was more hurt with Race being out than Race because that’s probably his best friend on the team … He was like, 'I’m not going to let my friend down.'" 
• “[Race] better be ready because coach is gonna put him in there." 
• “He’s the anchor of our defense, and he’s probably the reason our defense suffered.” 
• “He’s our captain, he’s our other captain and he’s probably one of the smartest player on the team." Rosemond said Thompson always tells his teammates what they have to do on the defensive end. 

On Trey Galloway...

• "He’s a really, really good player ... He plays about as hard as he can play.” 
• “He’s a guy I had him on the second team [in practice] and I had him as the point guard on the second team, and I was like, 'Let's beat Trayce, let's beat coach today." 
• “He’s been injured off and on for two years, and he’s finally healthy.” 
• “I just left the office to come here, and he was in the gym working on his shot.” Rosemond said Trey knows that in Indiana's offense you have to be able to shoot the ball because Trayce Jackson-Davis demands so much attention in the paint.

On Tamar Bates...

• "Coach [Woodson] had a great conversation with him before the game, and he responded ... I can’t use that type of language on the radio.”
• “Coach let him know, and coach is not a guy that’s going to hold back.”

On Wednesday's game at Minnesota

• “We can’t go to Minnesota and lay an egg because we just beat three really good team, three tournament teams.” 
• “They’re not a bad team. It’s the Big Ten, anybody can beat anybody in the Big Ten.”
• “They’re a matchup problem because they’ve got big guys that can play on the perimeter.” Rosemond is referring to 6-foot-7 Jamison Battle, who averages 12.1 points, and 6-foot-11 Dawson Garcia, who averages 14.9 points. 
• “We gotta make sure our defensive coverages are sound ... Our smaller guys are going to have to be able to box out their big guys.” 
• “They’re better than their record.”
• “[Jamison Battle] is a guy that can really shoot and really score.” 
• Ta'Lon Cooper is Minnesota's point guard, and Rosemond said, "When he plays well, they win.” 
• Rosemond said Minnesota runs a five-out offense with a lot of dribble hand-offs. He said Indiana has to be ready for them to slow the game down and possibly play zone defense.  
• Wednesday's game has some extra meaning for Rosemond. “It’s my boy’s birthday, so we better win.”

On Indiana's season-long goals...

• “We still have the goal of winning a Big Ten title.” 
• “We need somebody to beat that other team [Purdue] that you were talking about ... We plan on beating them twice, so that will be two losses.” 
• “We want to get to the NCAA Tournament and have a chance to win the national title.” 
• “Those have been the goals since coach Woodson got there ... That’s going to be the goal every year."

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• BIG TEN POWER RANKINGS: After Purdue, our staple at the top, the next four teams all lost last week. But they've all done enough all season to keep their spots. Welcome to Volume 5 or our Big Ten power rankings, which was a really challenge to put together. CLICK HERE
• JACKSON-DAVIS COLLECTS AWARDS: Indiana senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week on Monday, and he also received several national awards after scoring 66 total points in wins over Illinois and Michigan State. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA RECEIVES VOTES IN AP POLL: Indiana basketball fell just short of the Associated Press Top-25 poll on Monday, receiving 61 votes behind Duke's 102. With losses from Houston and Kansas, Purdue returned to the top spot and is the only Big Ten team in this week's rankings. Here's the complete poll. CLICK HERE
• IU-MSU GAME STORY: Michigan State couldn't figure out a way to guard Indiana on Sunday, and it led to another convincing victory for the Hoosiers, this time 82-69 for their third straight win. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 31 points and 15 rebounds, and Tamar Bates and Trey Galloway each added 17. It's their longest Big Ten winning streak in four years. CLICK HERE
• FAMILY DAY FOR BATES: It was a big day for the Bates family, with sophomore guard Tamar scoring 17 points and his daughter Leilani winning the halftime baby race. CLICK HERE
• SPARTANS WORN DOWN: In its last three games, Michigan State has faced three of the Big Ten's most physical teams – Purdue, Rutgers and Indiana – and it caught up to the Spartans on Sunday at Assembly Hall in an 82-69 loss to the Hoosiers. CLICK HERE
• THOMPSON RETURNS AGAINST MICHIGAN STATE: Indiana sixth-year forward Race Thompson has been out since suffering a knee injury on Jan. 5 at Iowa, but he returned to action on Sunday against Michigan State. CLICK HERE