**[Indiana](https://247sports.com/college/indiana/)** basketball continued its late-season surge with a critical win over Ohio State in the regular season finale to make one final case for the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers have won five of their last seven games and have firmly put themselves on the right side of the March Madness bubble with the Big Ten Tournament looming this week in Indianapolis.
To discuss it all, IU Director of Player Development and IU legend **[Calbert Cheaney](https://247sports.com/Coach/calbert-cheaney-2536/)** joined Don Fischer on Monday night for the "Inside IU Basketball" radio show. Cheaney detailed Indiana's two-game trip to the West Coast, a big win over the Buckeyes on Senior Day, where he's seen the Hoosiers improve the most in recent weeks, and much more.
All notes and quotes are per Cheaney, unless otherwise stated. Full show notes are provided below.
**ON INDIANA'S WIN VS. OHIO STATE:**
\- Cheaney said Indiana played much better offensively in the second half
**ON INDIANA'S LOSS AT OREGON:**
\- "The guys played their hearts out... we played a great brand of basketball against Oregon, who's a really great team. We were right there."
\- "I think the reason we struggled a little bit there was because of second-chance points... We gave up too many offensive rebounds (15)... translated to 23 second-chance points."
\- Cheaney said he doesn't get too caught up in the free throw disparity playing on the road, but IU still has to control things like effort (offensive rebounding and boxing out).
\- "We gotta do a better job of making shots... When we get those open looks, we gotta shoot them with confidence and then make them. It ain't no secret formula."
\- Oregon forced Galloway to his left hand in pick-and-roll situations, which IU picked up on and will try to game plan for ahead of Big Ten Tournament game.
\- Cheaney said Jackson Shelstad's deep 3-pointer late "deflated our guys a little bit."
**ON TREY GALLOWAY'S IMPROVEMENT THIS SEASON:**
\- Cheaney said last year after Xavier Johnson got injured, Galloway was forced into the point guard role and "it was like pulling teeth trying to get him to understand how to run the pick-and-roll and all that other stuff."
\- "Can't say enough about Gallo and what he's done... He's gonna be one of the top Hoosiers in the history of Indiana basketball, which is great, couldn't be happier for him."
\- "He's been wonderful for this program over the last five years. What can you say? I've enjoyed working with him. He's really been great."
**ON ANTHONY LEAL:**
\- "Unbelievable what he does. A lot of the stuff he does doesn't show up in the score sheet."
\- "He just makes the right plays. That's part of him understanding how the game is played and how Coach wants to play it and getting guys in the right spots and understanding what it takes to win."
\- "That's invaluable, when you have a guy like Anthony that understands and gets people in the right spots and in position to make the right play. He's been unbelievable."
**ON MYLES RICE:**
\- "He's one of the fastest — I thought (Xavier Johnson) was fast, but this guy's faster than Xavier in terms of just his speed. Sometimes he's gotta learn how to harness his speed on the floor, but the past few games he's been great."
\- Cheaney said Rice's defense against Braden Smith was great, also made things tough on Bruce Thornton.
\- "With Gallo handling the ball, it kind of takes pressure off of Myles at the point."
**ON OUMAR BALLO:**
\- Fischer says Cheaney competes with Ballo in shooting drills, which Ballo enjoys ... Cheaney jokes that Ballo "enjoys getting his butt beat. He doesn't beat me, ain't going to happen."
\- "He has to play harder, and that's what we try to teach him and try to get him to understand. The harder he plays, the better we are as a team because he's the anchor in the middle for us."
\- "We just try to get him to understand, hey, you can't take plays off. It's not okay to take plays off, so give everything you've got for five to six minutes, then let coach know you need to come out then we'll put you right back in there."
\- "We need him to play at a higher level in order for us to be successful. Him, Malik, especially those two are our bigs, so we need them to dominate the bigs, score when we need them to score, pass out of the double team, and be that anchor that we need."
**ON LUKE GOODE:**
\- "When he's not making shots, he rebounds. He's one of the best offensive rebounders on our team. He rebounds the ball, he does the little things, he throws his body around."
**ON INDIANA'S LATE-SEASON TURNAROUND:**
\- Fisher said he thinks IU has been more successful recently because they've been "more competitive, tougher and smarter. To me, that's because you have three Indiana players (Leal, Galloway, Goode) that are in the starting lineup now that have made a huge difference in what that means to wear Indiana on the front of the uniform."
\- Cheaney said Leal and Galloway bring a lot of leadership. "They understand what Coach wants to do and they try to do it to the best of their ability, especially from an offensive and defensive perspective."
\- "It doesn't matter if you're from California or Missouri, as long as you play hard, you play smart, you play together, good things are always gonna happen."
\- Cheaney said he thinks Leal, Galloway and Goode have helped Indiana play more together, which has led to more success.
\- Cheaney agreed that Indiana plays better with only one big on the floor ... "Playing smaller with Goode at the four has really helped us defensively, and it doesn't really bog us down as much. We have more free-flowing in the offense and the ball moves around a little more."
\- Cheaney said bringing Malik Reneau off the bench has been helpful for both Reneau individually and Indiana as a team.
**ON CHEANEY'S ROLE IN PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:**
\- "Talent level is always there. Skill level is always there. But their mind is what you want to keep as clear as possible... I always tell them, once you get between the white lines, that's your safe haven, that's your safe place."
\- "There's no secret formula to all this stuff, it's simple and complex. You gotta work at it to get to where you want to go."
**ON COACHING EXPERIENCE AT THE NBA LEVEL:**
\- Cheaney previously served as a player development coach with the Indiana Pacers prior to joining the Indiana staff
\- "It's not about money or all that other nonsense. The game has been good to me. From a player's perspective, a coach's perspective, a lot of people helped me get to where I am right now. And I always just try to pay it forward."
\- "At the NBA level it's just basketball. When you get to this level, you still class and you're making sure they're doing okay. But the relationships are still the same, developing relationships with the young fellas."
\- Cheaney said he loved working with current Pacers guard TJ McConnell ... "TJ is a little knucklehead in a good way. He can be his own worst critic, which can be a good and a bad thing. But for him it's a good thing because of his outlook on how he sees the game. It was just a joy getting the opportunity to work with him."
\- Cheaney said he got to work with Jalen Smith, who's currently with the Chicago Bulls, Isaiah Jackson, who's still with the Pacers. Still stays in touch with those players.
\- Re: Pacers this season ... "Unbelievable what Coach Carlisle has done and what (GM Kevin Pritchard) has done with the organization and getting it to the point where they have an opportunity to really do some things this season."
**ON UPCOMING GAME AGAINST OREGON IN BIG TEN TOURNAMENT:**
\- "We gotta rebound the ball. If we can do that we'll be okay."
\- Re: Defending Oregon center Nate Bittle ... "He's really good. Oumar did a good job against him when we played them. I think Oumar's size bothered him a little bit."
**ON PLAYING FOR BOB KNIGHT:**
\- "I think the best memories being here was my teammates. We had a great group... We had really, really good group of guys that played hard and we respected one another. There was no "I" in team."
\- Cheaney said he thinks the team MVP when he played was Alan Henderson because not only could he score, he was also the leading rebounder and best defender. Also highlights Damon Bailey for being a good leader.
\- "We should've won three Big Ten titles in a row, but we screwed the pooch my junior year."
\- Cheaney said he still gets letters and messages about how IU got screwed by the referees against Duke in the 1992 NCAA Tournament... "They might've got a little help from the officiating, but let me tell you something: you knew why they were the national champion the year before."
\- Cheaney said he visited Knight at his house a couple weeks before his passing with Pat Knight. Knight was asleep for the entire 3-4 hours that Cheaney was at the house, but right as Cheaney was leaving, Knight woke up and Cheaney gave him a kiss on his head and said "thank you for everything".
\- "If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing."
\- Fischer said every former IU player he talks to, they say Cheaney is the best teammate they ever had.
**MISCELLANEOUS NOTES**
\- Fischer noted Cheaney spent two years on Tom Crean's staff at Indiana in the same role ... Cheaney said he had the opportunity to work with Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, Jordy Hulls, Will Sheehey, Christian Watford etc.
\- Re: NCAA Tournament ... "We're not thinking about that. We just gotta win and the rest will take care of itself."