What Mike Woodson Said After Indiana's 91-79 Loss at Wisconsin Friday

Indiana lost 91-79 at Wisconsin Friday night at the Kohl Center, as Max Klesmit led the Badgers with 26 points. Malik Reneau scored 28 points for the Hoosiers, but that was just about the only bright spot. Here's the full transcript and video of what coach Mike Woodson said postgame.

Jack Ankony | Jan 20, 2024

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Indiana Hoosiers

MADISON, Wis. — Indiana lost its third consecutive Big Ten road game Friday night at the Kohl Center, falling 91-79 to Wisconsin.

The loss dropped the Hoosiers' record to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play, putting them fifth place in the conference standings. Sophomore forward Malik Reneau led Indiana with 28 points, but the Hoosiers' defense couldn't stop Max Klesmit, who scored 26 points and made five 3-pointers.

Here's what Indiana coach Mike Woodson said after the game.

On team losing composure with recent ejections from CJ Gunn and Xavier Johnson...

Woodson: "In the heat of battle, anything is liable to happen. I’m not happy about it. After looking at it, the kid put his head on his chest and he threw a semi-elbow. I don’t think it was something hard that warrants being kicked out of the game. But again, I can't control that. He was kicked out. From that point on, we just – I thought we were playing pretty good, but we gave up really it was a 16-2 or 4 run at that point. They went off on a tremendous run, and we couldn't get back."

On Indiana's issues during Wisconsin's second-half run...

Woodson: “It’s defense. You ain’t going to beat nobody in the Big Ten, and that’s on me, 91 points is a lot of points. Yeah, we missed the big fella [Kel’el Ware] tonight to plug the hole, but we kept getting beat off the bounce a lot tonight and that generated a lot – they made 25 free throws, that’s a bit much. We’ve got to get that fixed.”

On how long Kel'el Ware will be out and how the injury happened...

Woodson: "Don't know, I really don't. I have no idea how long he'll be out. Well, I mean he went down in practice, came down on somebody's foot, turned his ankle and it blew up on is. I mean, what are you going to do? I thought Payton [Sparks] played an excellent game for a guy that hadn't played very many minutes, I thought he was very – he was one of the positive signs tonight, which is kind of nice to see."

On if he was pleased with the team's toughness and effort...

Woodson: "No, not when you give up 91 points. I thought we fought. We didn't quit, but I know [Greg Gard is] not happy with his defense. I mean, you score 53 points in the second half, they score 52. Who's playing defense? Nobody."

On this team's player leadership...

Woodson: "Well again, I mean I put it where it lies. It still starts with our seniors. We've got three of them, and I didn't think Walker was very good. Gallo had a stretch where he just was horrendous, that really cost us about 10 points. So those are things that are correctable that we've got to clean up if we're going to move forward and stay in the hunt."

On giving up 26 points to Max Klesmit...

Woodson: "Well again, just losing him. You know, when we doubled we didn't rotate correctly. I mean, it's a lot of miscues. Again, that's on me."

On what he feels he can change this season to get back on track...

Woodson: "Keep working. That's all we can do. Keep working."

On resetting with a week off before the next game...

Woodson: "Go back to work. We've got to work. We've got to keep working. We've got to keep working to get better. That's all you can do."

On Xavier Johnson's role...

Woodson: “I thought he was better tonight. I thought he showed some signs of trying to lead and do the right things. We’ll look hard at it this week, see if he can earn his spot back. If he does, then we’ll probably have him back in the lineup. It all depends on how he comes to work and produces in practice to get where he needs to get."

On what separates Indiana from ranked teams and its 0-5 record against them...

Woodson: "Well again, we're a new team, and I'm not using that as an excuse. You've got 10 new players, and we're still trying to figure each other out. Not having the big fella, that hurt a little bit tonight. Again, I thought Payton gave us some positive minutes. Malik has been solid all year. We've just got to get some guard play for this team. Get them going."

On defense going away when Wisconsin went on a big run...

Woodson: "Well I mean, on the road you can't just think you're going to outscore teams on the road. You've got to play defense on the road and rebound the ball, and I thought we were there from a rebounding standpoint but 91 points, you're not going to beat anybody on the road."

On how losses are affecting him...

Woodson: "I'm a coach, and it's my job to figure it out as a coach and get our team playing better. And that's what I'm going to do."

On where defensive issues stem from....

Woodson: "No, I think they're trying to give effort, but I just think the rotations are awful. When we're playing well and we have good defensive runs, everybody's on the same page. But we haven't been able to put it together over a long period of time. We're playing well in spurts, and that's not good enough to win right now."