Q. One of the things that happens in the summertime with individual players getting better with individual skills, I know we get a chance to talk to Trey later today, but it seems like he's worked very hard on better shooting form from three point range. Can you talk about his improvements there and what all went into that during the course of the summer?
MIKE WOODSON: I mean, he thought he had to expand his game a little bit in terms of shooting threes. Hey, he hadn't shot one yet. I mean --
Q. I'm sorry, Mike. Trey Galloway.
MIKE WOODSON: Oh, I thought you were talking about Trayce. Okay. Well, he has worked. He's put a lot of the time in terms of shooting the three ball. A lot of these guys have. You know, I look at what Miller has done.
Again, I mean, the only way you're going to make them is you got to put time in in the gym. They've spent a lot of time this summer and it's starting to pay off. Trey's shot looks totally different than last year. His free throws look different. And he's healthy.
I mean, that guy was kind of beat up last season because of the fact that he plays so hard. He took some bumps, and it's been a while to get him back on the floor. Now he's back and playing pretty well for us.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Trey Galloway also. Expanding on that, he worked his way into your starting five last year, so I'm assuming there is a lot you like about his game. I was hoping you could talk about the things that you like about his game, and if he does become a consistent three point shooter, how valuable is he to this team?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, he was valuable last year. I can't help but think he's going to be valuable for us this year so early into the season.
Listen, the guy plays hard. That's a big part of it. I mean, it helps that he can make shots now. He's confident enough to knock the three ball down. He just makes basketball plays and he plays hard, and playing hard for me trumps a lot things. That's what I look at first and foremost, how is your motor.
He's got a high motor in terms of how he plays. When he's doing all the things we have asked him to do on the floor, he will be out there getting minutes.
Q. Xavier has a couple bigs who can spread the floor, and not just shooting-wise, distributing the ball. A lot of their actions come off the elbow. What principle does your defense need to follow tomorrow to account for that?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, we haven't played too many bigs that -- the last big that we played was Michigan's big that can make shots out on the floor. Big Jack can make shots out on the floor.
In transition, we can't get so sucked into the point where he's trailing and he just trails right into three point shots.
He made a couple of those the other night in their game, so we just got to be alert to that. And the big fellow, Zach, I mean, he does a lot of things out on the floor, but he mainly does a lot of his damage around the bucket.
So we just got our hands filled with two bigs that we got match with our bigs with the energy and see what happens.
Q. Kind of piggybacking off the defensive topic there, obviously this year you have two guards in your back court in Xavier and Jalen, who are very good on the defensive end of the floor. What does that do for your defensive unit as a whole to take it to the next level, and how important is that to continue the success that you had defensively last year?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, it's very important. I mean, whenever you can put some heat on the ball as the ball is coming up the floor to kind of slow or disrupt their early offense, your opponents' early offense, it helps. Xavier was pretty much the only guy that could do that last year.
Now we've got Tamar Bates comfortable, Galloway comfortable, Jalen is comfortable now where we can extend our defense a little bit. But make no mistake about it, Xavier has some great guards. They got good guard play and Souley and Jones out front. Those guys are all pretty good basketball players and they play hard. I mean, the guy, Adams, No. 5 that comes off the bench, he might start. He started I think last year for them.
They got solid players. It's individual matchups all around the floor. Nobody has a night off is kind of how I look at it.
Q. I guess going back to just sort of the idea of the front court matchup here, from your perspective, Trayce and Race are guys that I imagine you know well, had long careers. How have Malik and Jordan, both their individual skills and the way they play together in that sort of second unit time, when they're on the floor together, how has that changed what you can do, the way you can attack an opposing front court in ways you might not have been able to last year?
MIKE WOODSON: Again, we don't have any dropoffs. Again, guys, it's early. It's two games we've played. If you want to count the other two exhibition games. You know, I like our second unit. There is no doubt about that. If they continue to play at a high level, it just makes us that much better as a basketball team. I just didn't have that last year.
That is no knock against the guys that we had. They gave us all they could give us. That was good enough for us to get the 21 wins and get into tournament play. We got to be better than that this year. Our bench has to play a major role in what we do.
If you follow me over the years as a coach in the NBA, my bench was all pretty good. I've always felt that the bench is just as important as the guys that start the game, because sometimes they not going to have it. If the bench is there consistently for you, it makes you a better ball club.
Q. Hope you're doing well. Something that's kind of come up in the past, I guess, is just your emphasis on making sure that guys are having fun when they're playing. Obviously that's not everything, but why is it important for them to have fun while playing?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, I mean, have you ever played sports?
Q. Yes, sir.
MIKE WOODSON: Did you have fun when you were playing?
Q. Most of the time I would say yes.
MIKE WOODSON: Okay, then I think any time you play sports you should have fun. Why do it? Why are you doing it if you're not trying to have fun?
I want my guys to have fun, with the understanding there is a lot of work behind having fun. There is a time to have fun and there is a time not to have fun.
When you are practicing and trying to prepare and get ready for games, it's all about work, man. You got to be serious about what you're doing. Then the end result is if you win, then you have fun. I mean, that's what it's all about to me.
I mean, this career and what we do is a short-lived career. These four years will come and go for these guys, and now they got to figure out the next step. Sure I want them to have fun. I think most of these guys are -- I think they're all having fun I would like to think.
We're 2-0 and playing pretty good basketball. Let's see where it leads us.
Q. Coach, the Cintas Center is a wild raucous environment, and for your freshman, this is going to be their first road game of their career. How do you prepare them to play in a place like that?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, after our Bethune game the first thing I said before we broke huddle is, I'm thinking about the next game now. You know, the Bethune game was what it was. We had a chance to come back and break the film down and watch it.
But the road is different. You know, I mean, if you learn to handle your business and play well on the road, then it becomes contagious.
But you got to do all the necessary things to win on the road. It's not easy winning on the road. You can't turn it over. Where we had problems early last season, we were in every road game and led in a lot of road games, but our turnovers cost us early on.
Key rebounds here and there, a missed defensive assignment here and there, those are the things that we have to clean up this year to be a great team on the road. I mean, because, again, when you go into these arenas, these guys, they feel good about themselves, too. They're at home now. Now you got to make them uncomfortable.
So I'm kind of anxious to see where we are going into tomorrow night's game because we are going to have to be a good road team in order get where we need to go.
Q. Kind of following up on that, with last year's struggles on the road being so forefront on the mindset, do you look to the veterans to get those young guys ready as well with them having the experience of playing in hostile environments like that?
MIKE WOODSON: Again, I think everybody has got to be ready. Yeah, you kind of hope to lean on your veterans because they have been around and they been out on the road, like you said, in environments like that.
You know, it can be kind of nerve-racking for some of these young guys. Like I said, I'm interested to see who steps up and who is ready to play and see where we are.
Q. Mike, having over a week off between games, wondering how can you benefit from that long stretch, and what did you work on over the past week?
MIKE WOODSON: Well, again, we were a little banged up, but we got a chance to put a few things in and start preparing for Xavier and Miami OH. We got them a day apart. The games are going to start to come quickly. It's going to be important that our guys get proper rest and their mental approach is on Target, man, because when these games start coming you can't run from them. We got to be mentally as well as physically ready to go.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports