Player Postgame Q&A: Indiana basketball players Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau react to win against Chattanooga

Indiana basketball players Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau spoke with the media to discuss all that happened during the Hoosiers’ game against Chattanooga.

Below is the full postgame press conference.

Q. Malik, start with you. Just curious, that stretch in the second half, about six minutes you guys didn’t score; eight minutes without a field goal. What are the things you guys need to change, adjust to not have those things happen against good teams moving forward?

MALIK RENEAU: Yeah, definitely just slowing down. I think we’re trying to do a lot of things, but we’re not executing or not doing it the way Coach wants.

So just slowing down and trying to execute and just getting the shot every time down. Not trying to rush anything and making sure we get a good shot every time we come down the court.

Q. Malik, Coach was in here talking about how he felt you guys had a really good week of practice. Worked hard and got a lot of stuff done. He didn’t feel like it all translated into the 40 minutes today. Is there any sort of thing you guys can put your finger on in regards to what goes on, from what you get at practice to the games is just not quite clicking from one to the next yet?

MALIK RENEAU: Yeah, we today we definitely didn’t show what he did for the last week of practice, because I feel like we had great practices this week. Still got to put the practices into the game and execute how we execute in practice and everything will be smooth sailing.

Definitely defensive side is the most side we need to focus on the most and keep working at that and getting better. But I feel like this break will help us out and clear our minds and we’ll come back ready to work and get ready for Big10 play.

Q. Malik, three steals. Seemed really dialed in on the defensive end. Trying to bring energy. Is that something you’re focused on right now to help this team get there on the defensive end?

MALIK RENEAU: Yes, sir. Definitely trying to play without fouling, move my feet, stuff like that. I got into some sports where it was hard to get out the way to avoid the fouling.

Just trying to be a glue or a spark for our team to get them up and ready and energized. Yes, definitely.

Q. Mackenzie, after Malik’s and-one dunk it looked like you guys were going to blow out Chattanooga, but then you went on about a nine-minute stretch without a field goal. What went wrong offensively during that stretch for you?

MACKENZIE MGBAKO: Yeah, it just comes down to what Malik said, slowing the game down, get into our offense, working with what we got, looking for the open player or running our offense the way Coach wants it to be ran.

I feel like if we slow down we can make anything work for us in the half court.

Q. Obviously during that nine-minute stretch you guys were playing really good defense. How important is it to have that defensive intensity when the offense isn’t playing well?

MALIK RENEAU: It’s definitely important, especially coming down in this Big10 stretch we about to have. If we’re not scoring the ball at a good rate, then we got to be able to stop people and get stops down the stretch when it comes down to these games, which Big10 games are usually down to the wire pretty much majority of the time; just not a blow out already.

Just trying to execute down the stretch and really provide sparks throughout the games where we can constantly keep those 40 minutes playing hard.

Q. Malik, what were the conversations like on the sideline, in the huddles, and on the floor during that offensive drought in the second half?

MALIK RENEAU: Just trying to figure out what we were doing on the offensive end, which was trying to get into offensive sets. We had guys not knowing what we were doing, so we had to just tell everybody what we were doing on the offensive end and just get everybody into their spot so we could run our offense well.

Q. Mackenzie, or Malik, feel free to jump in, we’re 12 games in now. One more non-conference game before the Big10 season starts. Looking back to where you were early November and now, are you pleased, worried, concerned? Where do we stand in your heads to where you are as a team?

MALIK RENEAU: I wouldn’t say worried. I feel like we’re in a good space. We definitely got to improve on a lot of things coming up, but this break will definitely give us a chance to clear everybody’s minds, and, like I said, get back to it and come back with a spark when we come back from that break.

MACKENZIE MGBAKO: Yeah, I’m not concerned at all. We have a great week of practice. Today it didn’t translate as much as we wanted it to, but if we continue to build on what we cemented already it’s going to show in the end.

Just defense, get into our offense, and making stuff happen.

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