Here's What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's 79-71 Win At Purdue

Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media after the Hoosiers' 79-71 win over Purdue at Mackey Arena. He discussed Indiana's defense, Jalen Hood-Schifino's 35 points, winning without a big game from Trayce Jackson-Davis and more. Here's the full transcript, with video attached.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Mike Woodson secured his first win, as a coach or player, at Mackey Arena on Saturday night when Indiana defeated Purdue 79-71. 

With this win, the Hoosiers move to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in Big Ten play and complete the series sweep against Purdue. 

Here's what Woodson said after the game. 

QUESTION: Obviously Jalen Hood-Schifino had a fantastic game. Your thoughts on a freshman getting 35 points on the road in a rivalry game against the No. 5 team when you really needed it?

WOODSON: It was an unbelievable display of basketball for him. I thought he played 40 minutes, get the ball where it's got to go offensively, had to defend and then put the ball in the hole. Man, he had a tremendous game for us and we needed it. Trayce, they just weren't going to let him play. He got in foul trouble a little bit and gave us some positive minutes in the second half, but we didn't get a whole lot out of him in the first half just because they just weren't letting him play. But everybody filled in around him. I thought coming in the half, the shot that they made before the half, we got off to such a slow half, man, and our defense got us back in it and we just were hanging around. Then in the second half, man, it was just an unbelievable combination of defense and putting the ball in the bucket.

Q: How much better have you seen Jalen get at basically just being able to get to the spots on the floor where he's most comfortable scoring, whether it's mid-range or around the rim, just getting the ball where it needs to go for his offensive game?

WOODSON: Well again, I mean when we recruited him, we knew he could get to those spots and make shots. So I tried to put my offense around him. Tonight, we ran a lot of pick and rolls with the ball in his hand, and he made a lot of good offensive plays. He got the ball out to Miller and to areas where guys could make shots. We didn't get a whole lot behind the defense where we got rolls for Race and Trayce and our bigs to make plays, but didn't really need to because he was making shots coming over the screen, which was huge for our team tonight.

Q: Mike, with all the congestion around those screen and rolls, too, they were able to find Miller and Trey. They both hit three 3-pointers and you also only had eight turnovers. How critical was that just to play a clean game?

WOODSON: Well, it's huge on the road, man. I tell these guys every time we step foot out on the road, if you defend and rebound and not turn it over, you'll be in every game and you'll give yourself a chance to win. And tonight, we did all those things. We defended. We didn't rebound well, but we were able to put the ball in the hole and we didn't turn it over, so that was kind of nice to see. 

Q: What did you see Purdue doing on defense that gave Jalen that midrange? Were they dropping on ball screens?

WOODSON: Well, Edey drops. The other bigs, they're up so the matchups starting the game was Race, Edey had Race, so we tried to keep Race in early pick and rolls. Eventually, they had to come to Trayce. Eventually, they had to move Edey back to the five guy to actually guard him, but again, our offense when we're running pick and rolls, it's predicated on spacing and how teams are playing us. Sometimes they hard show, sometimes they drop, sometimes they stay a little bit longer in terms of trapping the ball and then you've got to get rid of it. But they way they played, he had a big night.

Q: Mike, you know how difficult it is to play in this building. 

WOODSON: Tell me about it.

Q: Purdue had a 33-12 differential in free throws. You guys were out-rebounded by 16. With all of that, what did this team find on the road to be able to pull this win out?

WOODSON: Just playing hard, man. Again, your defense will keep you in a lot of games. I'm telling you, if you just get stops. Tonight, we were making shots, too, so that's a deadly combination when you get stops and you make shots behind it. So, and yes, it has been a long time. That's the first time I've ever won here in Mackey. Four years in college, I never won here. It's a tough place to win. They've always had great teams here, well-coached teams so we beat a good team, a well-coached team tonight.

Q: Coach, Trayce had foul trouble but he still goes for 10, eight and seven. What is it about his attitude that even if he's not playing his best game, even if he's in foul trouble, that he's able to impact the game?

WOODSON: He stayed in the game, mentally, you know. A lot of great players when they're struggling like that, they'll start complaining about this and that. He just rode what was going on. He knew what was happening, and he filled in nicely the second half. He did a lot of good things for us like he's done all season for us and was able to contribute and help us secure the win. 

Q: Yasir Rosemond, when he walked off the floor, he was shouting, 'This isn't the same Indiana.' What did this win and sweeping Purdue for the first time since 2013 do for you in your quest to rewrite Indiana's narrative?

WOODSON: Well again, I mean yeah this is a big game. I mean it's amazing when you come into that arena, they're fans are jacked up and they've got wonderful fans that cheer their team. And when they come to Bloomington, it's totally the opposite. It's all about our team. To come into this hostile environment and get a win, it just says a lot about our players. I mean, we've been really sitting at the top in terms of being one of the best teams in the Big Ten since we had the skid on the three-game losing streak. We're like 10-3 now in the Big Ten since that start, but that's behind us, man. I try to prepare these guys for every game, and Iowa's next. This game's behind us. They can celebrate a little bit on the bus, but come tomorrow morning we've got to start preparing for Iowa and they played a hell of a game today against Michigan State.

Q: Coach, I think it'd be easy to say this rivalry is alive as it's been in quite a while. With that being the case, with IU-Purdue being as intense as it's been this season, what does that do for the fans and the narrative of how basketball just means more in Indiana?

WOODSON: Well again, you can't exclude Notre Dame because they've always had good teams, too, over the years. This state has been enriched with a lot of talented players coming out of this state. And Purdue in particular has always had great teams, great coaches dating back to when I played. It's not going to ever change. It's what it is, man. They have their fan base, we have our fan base. I love our fan base, I truly do, because we've got a great fan base. We do.

Q: Asking another question about Jalen's development, you're talking about different ways teams play you on screen and roll. How much have you seen him improve basically knowing what's the right decision for him based on the coverage he's seeing as he comes around the screen, based on basically what teams do on the screens?

WOODSON: He's grown a lot, but there's still holes. He's not perfect. I think as he continues to mature as a player, he's going to actually figure it out, all of it out. There's a lot of things from a point guard, whoever's running the pick and roll, that you've got to read. He's had his moments, but tonight he was brilliant in terms of how he played the pick and roll and got to his sweet spots and made shots. He made free throws, got fouled. He just had a total good game today.

Q: Trey Galloway has 13 points, five assists, no turnovers, 38 minutes, some really good defense on Braden Smith, who's been very good for them. Just wanted to get your thoughts on Galloway's overall game tonight. 

WOODSON: Gallo's been solid. He was solid last season, unfortunately he had the injuries, but he's been solid. He plays hard, man. That's what I like about him. He's got a nice basketball sense in terms of how I want guys to play, the perimeter play. So I'm happy with how he played tonight. I'm happy with everybody. This was a total team effort. We beat a great team tonight that was well-coached.

Q: Mike, talking more on Galloway. Defensively, what did you see him doing tonight guarding Braden Smith and holding him to a low game?

WOODSON: Well, we were trying to put, like we did at our place, apply pressure. Any team that you play in the Big Ten, you've got to have front court pressure. We tried to apply it early on the floor when they would in-bound the ball and not lay on screens when they're running their pick-and-roll game and setting screens on the man. I think Gallo's starting to really mature for our ball club because he does a lot of nice things, dirty things, that most players don't like to do and that's play defense and get into people."

Q: Mike, you came out of the locker room at halftime on a 17-4 run, and that really broke the game open. What was the message in the locker room, and what adjustments did you make?

WOODSON: Well you know, I told them, hell, to be on the road, be down four, you should be pretty happy but you can't be satisfied. I told them the first four or five minutes to start the half was going to be critical because we had guys that had fouls. We had four guys that had four fouls coming down the stretch, but I thought we came out and we answered the bell from the start with our defense. Then we got out, got the ball out. Gallo got out and put some pressure out early and got a couple steals, and then we were off and running.