VIDEO: Here's What Indiana Coach Mike Woodson Said Friday Ahead of Tennessee Game

Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Friday and talked about what he hopes to accomplish in Sunday's charity exhibition game against the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. Here is the full transcript and video of the press conference.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Friday ahead of Sunday's exhibition game at Tennessee. / IU Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — After months of practices and in-house scrimmages, Indiana's men's basketball team finally gets to play someone else on Sunday when they travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to take on Tennessee in a charity exhibition game.

The game starts at 3 p.m. and is available on the SEC Network-Plus streaming service. To see how to watch, CLICK HERE.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media for 15 minutes on Friday. Before he started, he wished the Bob Knight family a happy birthday — this would have been Coach Knight's 84th birthday — and sent out condolenses to the family of University of South Florida coach Amir Abdul-Rahim, who died suddenly at age 43 on Thursday. He also gave a shoutout to Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti ahead of their big weekend with Washington and ESPN College Gameday on campus.

Here is the full transcript of his press conference:

QUESTION: " I'm curious with this matchup with Tennessee. How did it come about and what makes you excited this early in the season to get a chance to go up against a team that won the SEC last year and went to the Elite 8. It's going to be a tough test.''

MIKE WOODSON: "Well, when we put our team together and we were trying to schedule and put our schedule in place.,Tennessee had approached us. I liked the idea, it's kind of a tune-up game but it's not your ordinary game because they are a pretty good basketball team, well coached, but it gives their team an opportunity to play against our program. We've kind of revamped our team and they revamped their team. They had some guys they lost as well but brought guys in. It will give both teams an opportunity at this early stage to gauge a little bit on where their team is."

QUESTION: " Is it fair to say that you're more concerned on Sunday about finding out things about your team rather than a win or loss, and what are those things that you're most concerned with in finding out on Sunday?

WOODSON: "Well, I'm just anxious, first of all, to play someone different. These guys have been beating up on each other since summer play, and we've had some heated battled and some heated exchanges. But for the most part, these guys have been working and doing what's been asked of them on and off the floor, so I'm just anxious to see how we fare against someone different. Tennessee is not a pushover team. They are going to be ranked, they're well coached and I am anxious to see how we play offensively and I'm anxious to see how we defend. All those things play a role in building a basketball team and seeing where you need to improve and continue to grow as a basketball team.''

QUESTION: "Mike, with so many new faces on this roster, what's your comfort level been like so far through the summer and the first few weeks of practice with everybody getting on the same page and playing well with each other and learning however much new stuff you're putting in?''

WOODSON: "Well, the big thing when you put so many new guys on a team is how quickly they pick up things. I can't sit here and say we've had major struggles in those areas because those guys have picked up things and we've thrown so much at them. There are days they forget things, so you've got to go back and rehearse it over and over and over. A lot of film watching. A lot of individual film watching, team film watching. It's just a lot that you have to do when you have seven new faces. The guys that stayed with us, they know me and they know what we're about, so that part helps. They've been helpful with trying to speed the process up with the new guys. They haven't fought them or anything like that, know that a lot of these guys we brought in are going to play significant minutes and that's not taking anything away from the guys that were here, because they're going to play as well. I got so much around us now that it's kind of to see now that when you take someone out at practice and put someone else in that guys continue to do as asked of them. That's what's been nice to this whole approach in coaching.''

QUESTION: "Mike, on Langdon Hatton, obviously he had such a strong showing at (Hoosier) Hysteria (last Friday). I'm curious what attracted you all to him this summer and what you've made of him so far?''

WOODSON: "Well, we needed bigs, needed another big, and we were looking at all kind of bigs. He wanted to be here, and that to me, when players want to be here when you're recruiting them, that says a lot. He wanted to be here and we kind of liked some of the things he did on both sides of the ball. I think since he's been here, he's been able to, surprisingly, do some things we didn't think he could do. He's been able to improve athletically a little bit in terms of his ability to get up and down the floor. He's just got to continue to work and grow. I don't know how many minutes he's going to be able to play, but when I do put him in, he can help us and give us positive minutes.''

QUESTION: "Hey coach, what aspects of Malik Reneau's perimeter game have improved the most this offseason to allow him to share the floor with Oumar Ballo?''

WOODSON: "Well, again, we've scrimmaged a few times and we had a big scrimmage the other night and he made a couple threes. If he can continue to do that, it kind of opens it up for everybody, because we are taking more threes and getting up and down the floor. If he can pop or the ball is swung to him and he's got that , I'm going to expect him to take it and feel good about him taking it. Same thing in transition when we're pushing the ball. If he falls into a situation where he can shoot a three, he's got to take those and we'll live with it. The other day, he made two out of the three that he took, and that's going to be useful going forward.''

QUESTION: "Your new backcourt with Myles (Rice) and Kanaan (Carlyle), what are the three or four things you'd like to see from them in this first exhibition game?''

WOODSON: "Just growth. Taking what we've taught them and given them over the last four months since summer play and see how it translates into a real game. And that's not just those two, it's everybody that's new and the guys that are with me. I'm just anxious to see where we are. We've given them a lot and they have been working their asses off. I just want to see if some of this pays off for us.''

QUESTION: "Hey Mike, when it comes to this Tennessee team, they've had a great defense for years now and you've talked about re-implementing a new offense into your team. What things are you looking for on Sunday against this Tennessee team?

WOODSON: "Until you play them, you just don't know where you are offensively. We're doing some things a little differently and we're getting up and down the floor a little quicker and we are shooting more threes. At the end of the day, you can shoot all the threes you want but you still have to put the ball in the hole. The fact that they are a good defensive team, it will give us an indication of these guys here who hadn't played in the Big Ten, because in the Big Ten they all play defense and they all get after you. It will give us an indication from a team that's known for defending and rebounding the basketball and getting after you, to see if you can respond and defend and rebound the ball and get after that. That's kind of how it's got to be. It can't be one way. If they go after you, you have to go after them and see how it plays out in the end.''

QUESTION: "Hey Mike, do you anticipate Trey Galloway and Jakai (Newton) playing on Sunday or being available, and how do you feel about their status for the season opener (on Nov. 6 at home against SIU-Edwardsville)?"

WOODSON: "Don't know. I know a day ago they scrimmaged and they both played a little bit. Their minutes were limited, and I though they both played well. We have been kind of slow-walking them back because it is a long season and they have not fully recovered. They might tell you guys that (they have recovered), but that's the whole reason why we are being very cautious in terms of how we're approaching their practices and not trying to kill them because they're just not ready yet. But I thought in the scrimmage they both played well for the minutes they got. I think we played them between 15 and 18 minutes a piece and that was promising moving forward. I don't know (about the opener). We were off (Thursday) and I'll have to gauge it today to see where they are. I can't answer that question if they are going to play on Sunday. Tim (Garl) and our medical staff will kind of lead me in that direction. We're in communication with both of these guys with how they're feeling every day, and they're not going every day. That's the thing, so it's kind of hard to just throw them in a game and say let's go play 25-30 minutes. I don't know. We see what happens the next couple of days and take it from there.''

QUESTION: "Hey Mike, a two-parter. Since you've coached a lot of NBA preseason games, A, does this kind of have the feel of that and B, how much does actually winning or losing this game actually matter?''

WOODSON: "Well, you want to win. I don't think any player or coach goes into a game not wanting to win. It is a game where it gives me an opportunity to evaluate the things that we've done over the summer and up until this point. You want to see some of those things come to light. That's why I'm anxious to see where we are against a well-coached good basketball. team. It's not going to make or break us if we win or lose. At the end of the day, you're trying to get guys ready to play basketball to start the season and play at a high level. I want to see how we come out and respond right off the bat when we step on the floor. That's going to be huge moving forward. There's a lot of things you look at, and, of course, when you've been beating up on each other, these guys want to win just like those Tennessee guys want to win. They aren't just going out there to mess around. We want to win and I'm sure they want to win as well but also at coaches we also want to evaluate our team and see what we need to improve on.

Watch the full video here

Here is the full video of Mike Woodson's press conference from Friday, Oct. 25. You can watch it on our YouTube channel. Just click the play button below.

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