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Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
February 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2004
Louisville Coach Rick Pitino
"I have to give Memphis credit; they never stopped. This win meant a lot to us. Memphis goes and John (Calipari) has done a tremendous job with that team. They are a lot like us because they are banged up. Burks no one thought he would be this good coming out of high school. John and their coaching staff have done a great job with him. He's a tough defensive player and a good three point shooter."
"We've been banged up more than we've admitted and before the tournament, we will get somewhat healthier."
"Brandon (Jenkins) is an excellent player. He is long on defense and he bothers people. He's not afraid. He will be a terrific basketball player."
(on forcing Memphis into 21 turnovers) "We couldn't press as much in the second half because we didn't make as many shots. We did a good job pressing intelligently. We banged up and not conditioned to press. Francisco (Garcia) and Taquan (Dean) missed 15 days of practice and Luke (Whitehead) missed eight days."
(on the importance of the win) "We got over the hump. We are 23 in the RPI, those letters should be RIP as much as I look at it. Sometimes I can't figure it out. Our non-conference schedule is number 2. Our regular season schedule is 18. We never got discouraged about losing because we looked at our schedule and knew where we were going to have our bumps."
(on if the win put them in the NCAA Tournament) "It secured an NCAA berth. We've stayed away from double digit losses but we needed a win because I think if we didn't play that schedule, we wouldn't be in the tournament. Because playing Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee and the conference with playing Cincinnati, Memphis and Marquette twice only helps."
(on Taquan Dean) "This is the first time I've done a decent job substituting him. We're going to keep his minutes to 20-25 per game. We're hoping he can play when he's out there. He says he's fine and when I ask the trainer, he says he is hurting."
Memphis Coach John Calipari
"It was a heck of a basketball game. We battled and that's all you can ask for as a coach. They tried."
(on his team's injuries) "We have five guys out there. We had a chance. We made five or six bad decisions in the last four minutes and we missed some free throws. Short of that, we played great and we gave ourselves a chance to win. I thought down four, we were going to win it. With what's happened to them in the last three weeks and this place became really quiet, I thought we were going to win."
(on if injuries will hurt his team) "The issue becomes other guys stepping up and we are asking Sean Banks to do so much more. You can see he's a freshman but he's one of the best in the country."
"When you look around, who are you going to? I'm proud of the way they battled out there. What game were you watching? That could have been a 30-point blowout. We had a football player, accountant and receptionist in the ball game."
"The biggest game of the year for us is Wednesday. They all fought like crazy and had a will to win. We haven't lost in so long and you forget how that feels. We only had six turnovers in the second half, held them to 41 percent and we lose? Bad decisions cost us the game but give them credit. They had their backs against the wall and this place got silent."
