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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 07, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2003
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"I knew this would be a tough game. The two people you don't want to face is Pete Carrill in the old days and Ralph Willard. Our guys felt like they didn't play that well but they did. Their defense stifled three teams in the NCAA Tournament. The thing we have to do a better job of is rebounding the ball in the 1-4 positions. I am very proud of them. The matchup is very tough because Ralph does such a great job of planning."
(on Nouha Diakite) "I thought he was very active on defense. We missed seven shots around the rim because we were afraid to take a charge. We played great defense in the game."
"Brandon Jenkins gave us a great lift and played better defense than Taquan on the intelligence side."
"I know this is going to sound crazy but I am much happier with this win than the Western (Kentucky) game because we could have lost this game."
(on play of Francisco Garcia) "They were bad shots but great players sometimes make those shots. Reece Gaines did it for us last year and Francisco did for us today. The only thing he lacks is strength."
Holy Cross Head Coach Ralph Willard
"All things being considered with our tough week, losing to Boston College and losing a game we shouldn't have to in Williams College, we played a solid game today. We should some toughness today and we are a very young basketball. I am happy in certain ways in the way we competed today. We kept them off balance offensively. They are a very good basketball team. That one run (in the first half) killed us. We missed some assignements on Francisco in the first half and he made some shots in the second half that killed us."
(on his son, Kevin) "He did a good job scouting us and they did a good job executing. That team followed through. It's one thing to do a good job scouting but you have to follow up on it. They bumped us on slice cuts and we weren't able to get to the endings of plays. I watched the two games they played previously and they are a very good team."
(on holding Louisville scoreless for 10:43 in the first half and not being able to open up a big lead) "It was very frustrating especially with a young team. It was very disheartening. We did a good job scouting and we did a good job holding them scoreless in the first half. Six out of our 11 players are freshmen or sophomores and it's tough when we get down."
