Indiana basketball: Mike Woodson’s fired-up take after Anthony Leal’s career night vs. Iowa

The Indiana basketball team needed a win on Tuesday night at home against Iowa basketball, and they got it. The Hoosiers came into the game with a 12-8 record overall and a 4-5 mark in Big Ten play. Getting further from that .500 mark would’ve been bad for Indiana, and thanks to a big day from Anthony Leal off the bench, the Hoosiers got the job done as they won the game 74-68.

Anthony Leal was a huge key in this game for Indiana basketball. Kel’el Ware was also huge as he led the Hoosiers with 23 points, and Leal provided a major boost off the bench with 13 points. Leal was rewarded with the game ball after the contest.

“I gave him the game ball after the game,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said after the game, according to an article from Sports Illustrated. “I thought he was huge — 13 points, seven rebounds. I mean, defended his a*s off. It was a nice carry-over because I thought he played well in the Illinois game. That’s why we elected him to come in early and play him and he responded for us which was kind of nice.”

Mike Woodson is a big fan of Anthony Leal. Not only does he have performances like that to help Indiana win basketball games, but he is also unselfish and all around easy to coach. Woodson has a lot of good things to say about him.

“Anthony is the ultimate teammate, man, in terms of just hanging in there with me,” Woodson added. “I’ve coached him, and he’s come to practice every day and he’s done what’s asked of him, and never complained. Not once. Been a true, true, true teammate – and guys like that, it’s easy to coach.”

One reporter asked Woodson if he had any talks with Leal before the game about finding his shot. Woodson said that he didn’t, and he noted that it all comes down to confidence for his entire Indiana basketball team.

“Not really,” Woodson said. “I mean, we take those shots a lot in practice. We practice them. We just gotta step up and make them. Mack had a lot of good open looks. Galloway had open looks. We’re going to continue to get open looks. We’ve just got to have the confidence to make it. I’ve got to help them figure out how to make them — by instilling confidence, same with our free throws, because we made them down the stretch some. But still eight free throws is a lot of free throws in a close ball game.”

This was a much-needed win for Indiana, and it didn’t come as easy as it originally looked. The Hoosiers led by 17 points late in the first half, but with just 1:42 remaining in the game, Iowa took a 68-66 lead. Indiana finished the game on an 8-0 run to get the win, 74-68.

With the victory, Indiana is now 13-8 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play. They are currently in sixth place in the conference, and they will return to the court on Saturday for a home game against Penn State. The Hoosiers should be fairly big favorites in that one.