INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 3, 2024

Trey Galloway

Postgame Media Conference

Penn State 85, Indiana 71

Q. Both of you, if you'd like, you guys got off to a good start, had an 11-point lead 15 minutes into the game and obviously went from there. We asked Coach Woodson about the energy and effort that went into that. Did you guys see some sort of lack of energy and effort among yourselves, too, out there when they were making that run?

TREY GALLOWAY: For sure. I mean, we didn't really -- I mean, we came out in the second half. I mean, we had a four-point lead going into the half and we weren't playing well at all. I mean, and then we come out in the second half and it's the same thing. We are just not playing hard enough and smart enough on the defensive end. We had a lot of unnecessary fouling and then just a bunch of miscues that's really just on us that we can't have this late in the season.

Q. Trey, they hit 12 threes, shot better than 50 percent from the arc. What do you see is the issue there?

TREY GALLOWAY: I think they are shooting around 29, 30 percent for the year, and to shoot that well, obviously we're not making impact on them enough. They got a lot of open shots, and like I said, that just goes back to our miscues and the things we weren't doing, talking enough, and there's all those little things that went into the preparation that we didn't do.

So we have to be better.

Q. For either of you guys, particularly in the second half, Coach Woodson said Penn State was just dictating a lot. What couldn't you guys kind of pull together to sort of push back against them once maybe I think they started on like a 22-7 run there after halftime?

TREY GALLOWAY: Yeah, they were just playing harder than us. I mean, it's hard to really get a flow on offense when you can't get stops.

I think our offense comes from being able to get stops and run and doing certain things. So if when we don't get stops, we are not going to be able to flow on offense, and it's going to be a spiral and an impact on our offense when we are bad on defense.

Q. You mentioned the miscues on defense with switching, with that miscommunication aspect, is that stemming mostly from preparation and how can you go about changing that moving forward?

TREY GALLOWAY: I think just being in the moment and being confident in what we are doing. Coach gives us a game plan, we have to follow it and do it. So I think the miscommunication, it's kind of us just being hesitant but we have to kind of break out of that shell and talk to each other and find ways to get stops. And it's all of us. It's not just one guy. It was all five guys on the court tonight, and it showed.

Q. Being flat in the second half, do you feel you're a little worn down at this point with the injuries and the up-and-down nature of the season? Did that contribute to that or is that something unique to this game where you just didn't have it in the second half maybe?

TREY GALLOWAY: I mean, I don't think so. I mean, we prepared the right way. And we knew that they were going to come in here and try to play physical and do all the little things to throw off our game and kind of mix it up.

Like I said, at the end of the day, it's about playing harder and smarter.

Q. Woodson mentioned a lack of fire. How do you go about Fostering more fire, and kind of what were the conversations you all had in that second half run about trying to create that more, I guess, fight at the end?

TREY GALLOWAY: Yeah, I mean, when teams go on runs, you have to really find ways to come together and get stops. They are hitting some tough shots but still, you give them confidence early, they are going to kind of get in the flow and that's what they did. I think us really kind of coming together and all five guys on the court coming together as one, that's the biggest thing we need to do, and we didn't to that tonight -- I mean today.