Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson wants a balanced offense in year three: ‘I don’t think I want to be a team to just rely on shooting threes’

Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson expects his team’s offense to look a bit different in his third year.

When Woodson took the job in the spring of 2021, he stressed the importance of spacing the floor with versatile defenders who can shoot the three-ball.

“I think when you build a defensive system, if everybody is connected together and [works] hard to defend not only the ball, but when there is a breakdown, and rebound the basketball as a unit, you put yourselves in position to win basketball games,” Woodson said during his introductory press conference in March of 2021. “The three-ball has changed the game, there’s no doubt about that. We have got to recruit players that can shoot the ball and pass and dribble [to] be able to make plays for one another.”

He inherited a roster that was led by star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and, as a result, he was compelled to play through his star. Jackson-Davis was a phenomenal player for Indiana and one of the best bigs to ever wear the cream and crimson, but his inability to shoot the ball from distance limited the floor spacing for the team’s offense. Now in his first year without the star forward, Woodson will implement an offense that is closer to the one he envisioned running when he took the job in 2021.

“I think I can create an offense that everybody touches the basketball and if you can shoot the basketball, then you’re expected to shoot it and make shots,” Woodson said in 2021. “If you can’t shoot it, then you have to do other things to help us win basketball games. It’s my job to go out and put the best team positive … on the floor that can do those things.”

Jackson-Davis was as dominant of an interior threat on both sides of the floor as anyone in the Big Ten during his time with the Hoosiers. His ability to score inside and his timing as a help side defender to contest shots helped make him the player he was even in spite of his lack of shooting.

Even with Jackson-Davis being the primary option, Woodson adjusted his offensive focus from year one to year two. In year one, Woodson relied heavily on playing through Jackson-Davis in the post but he ran more pick-and-roll offense in his second season, using Jackson-Davis as the primary roller. There was still a healthy dose of Jackson-Davis post ups, but not as much as year one.

“If I asked you guys, did we post the basketball more than we ran pick-and-roll last year, you would probably say we did. But we didn’t,” Woodson said during Indiana’s 2023 institutional media day. “53 percent of our play last year was pick-and-roll basketball; 47 percent was posting the basketball. Where the first year we dominated the post with Trayce [Jackson-Davis]. I would have been foolish not to utilize him. But we expanded him out on the floor a little bit last year, and he was able to do some things in that area.”

Now in year three, that evolution is expected to continue. The 2023-24 team is going to look a lot different than last year’s team with six of the team’s top eight players in total minutes played leaving, including four starters. And as a result of the roster turnover, Woodson is still trying to figure out his team’s play style heading into the season.

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“I’m still looking at our style of play. I think you still have to mix it up,” Woodson said in September. “You’ve got to have post play, and everybody is playing pick-and-roll, which I was accustomed to doing in the pros. It’s nothing new to me. But only time will tell in terms of our style and where we go with it.”

The expectation is that the starting lineup for Indiana basketball will be captains Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway in the backcourt with former five-star recruits Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware making up the front court. While there are questions surrounding the team’s ability to shoot the ball, there is a ton of potential with three former five-star making up the Indiana front court.

With Xavier Johnson conducting the offense, the expectation is there will be a lot of pick-and-roll, especially with him and 7-foot center Kel’el Ware. Johnson has averaged 5 assists-per-game in 129 games at the college level and has excelled as a pick and roll ball handler.

Ware’s ability to shoot the ball from distance and the threat of a pick-and-pop from him will open up driving lanes for guards and wings. Johnson and Galloway will have more space to attack the rim while the defense is forced to guard Ware outside of the arc.

5-star freshman Mackenzie Mgbako is also expected to play a huge role for Indiana and he fits the mold of a versatile wing who can shoot the three-ball that Woodson is looking for. According to Jeff Goodman, the 6-foot-8 forward shot the ball well from three during Indiana basketball’s pro day earlier this month. If his shooting translates, Mgbako will be another player who spaces the floor for Indiana’s offense.

While Woodson has stressed the importance of shooting the ball from distance, he emphasized the importance of also attacking the rim during Big Ten Media Day in Minneapolis.

“So I think you have to have a little bit of both. I don’t think I want to be a team to just rely on shooting threes,” Woodson said about his offensive focus. “I think you’ve got to take the ball inside and keep the defense honest that way as well.”

With so many new pieces, the Indiana basketball team will look a lot different in February than they will when they first take the floor against Florida Gulf Coast on November 7 and the team’s style of play will likely resemble what Woodson originally envisioned when he took the head coaching job in 2021.

“So right now I don’t know what kind of team we’re going to be offensively,” Woodson said during Big Ten Media day. “We put in a few things here over the summer and since we started official practice. We’ve got a long way to go, but I like the make-up of our ball club.”

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