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Louisville vs. Tennessee Tech Post-Game Quotes
December 17, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2001
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"Probably with the exception of Oregon being our first road game, I thought this would be our toughest game. They had 11 days to prepare. We were unable to press them, so we had to rely on our man defense at times. Our effort was extraordinary. Certainly, Reece's shot and O'Bannon's play was big time."
(on Tennessee Tech) "They are a terrific basketball team. They are difficult to beat and they do a lot of great things. I am extremely impressed with Jeff Lebo. He has done a tremendous job."
(on the last shot) "I knew with time running down that Reece was going to take it. Overall, it was our man defense that won the game for us. I didn't know if we were going to be able to take this team or not."
"The one reason we've been winning by our defense is that we've been defending the three ball."
(on Reece Gaines) "Reece is a wonderful basketball player. When he puts on 15 pounds of strength he'll be terrific at the next level. He's terrific defensively, has a great attitude and is willing to learn. He's terrific and fun to coach. If he keeps learning and getting better with passing, he can be like a Derek Anderson. I do not have enough praise for him. He's wonderful."
(are you surprised with the team's start) "When I was doing individual instruction I did not think Brandon Bender would play until his sophomore year. Because of his desire he has improved. Larry (O'Bannon) and Carlos (Hurt) have been great. Everyone just has the desire, and it's off the charts. I did not think we would have this record or be able to play man to man defense, but all the credit needs to go to the guys. They just have the desire."
(on Luke Whitehead's status) "I just wanted to get him in the last game to get over it psychologically. Now he just needs to get better. I have a lot of confidence in the other guys, so now we can just let Luke get better."
Tennessee Tech Head Coach Jeff Lebo
"We are awfully disappointed. We are a veteran team and we expect to win on the road. We have played at some tough places with this group. It's awfully tough to come up short again, but I am extremely proud of their effort. I think this game will make us better."
"I used to think that coaching was overrated and that you need to have players to win. He (Pitino) is causing me to rethink that. He has them walking with a swagger and they'll be tough to beat here at home."
"We played awfully well. We had a little bit of bad luck, and Gaines made an unbelievable shot to put it out of reach."
"We are usually a pretty good free throw team. We had a lot of open shots that we missed, and we're normally a pretty good shooting team. We did a great job rebounding, which is a key ingredient to winning basketball games. We had some good shots. They (Louisville) were well prepared. It was an even game, with some key plays by (Reece) Gaines and (Ellis) Myles."
