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Here’s what Mike Woodson had to say following IU’s season-opening win vs. EMU
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Indiana started things off on the right food Tuesday night, downing Eastern Michigan 68-62 to start the 2021-22 season. It was also Mike Woodson’s regular-season debut leading the Hoosiers.
It was far from a dominant performance with Eastern Michigan clawing back from a 17-point halftime deficit to make things interesting at the end. Trayce Jackson-Davis with a double-double helped drive the offense and finished with a game-high 21 points.
Xavier Johnson finished as IU’s second-leading scorer with 14 points while Race Thompson had 5 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, the Hoosiers struggled from deep while going 4-for-24 from three-point range.
After the game, Woodson discussed what it meant to be back in Bloomington and to get things started with a win. Here’s a look at what he had to say:
Woodson: "We’ve got to go back and break this film down, and talk about how we built the lead and how we can extend the lead going forward. I didn’t think we handled that part very well tonight." #iubb
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) November 10, 2021
Woodson: "I’m not highly disappointed. I like the way we played in spurts. The fact that we made the plays coming down the stretch, a team that hasn’t been together a long time getting challenged." #iubb
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) November 10, 2021
Woodson: "We're missing a lot of wide-open 3s right now. We gotta get better in that area. … They will. We'll get to that point."
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) November 10, 2021
Woodson: "Trayce is gonna be double-teamed and we know that. When it comes out of there that first time, that shot is going to be open. When we got those looks. …. we just didn't knock them down."
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) November 10, 2021
Woodson: "I want to have confidence in shooting them (3s) but I think there were three or four that were just unnecessary."
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) November 10, 2021
Woodson: "Our switching was pretty good for the most part but you still have to challenge shots. I think they pulled the trigger on a few where we just didn't contest well enough. … We got soft. We were comfortable with the lead."
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) November 10, 2021
Indiana will move on to face NIU on Friday night.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.