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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 15, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2006
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"That was a real tough, physical basketball game. They hurt our zone with the high pick. We were totally prepared for it and didn't execute it. It comes down to simple execution at the defensive end sometimes and we didn't execute it. After playing unbelievable defense in the first half, we broke down def. in the 2nd half. It really hurt us in inopportune times. I'm proud of our guys. I thought they played with great heart and great effort. We just get beat by better teams."
(On the final minute of the game) "We were looking for a good shot, those were great shots. I couldn't diagram better shots than that. We were trying to get Tello (Palacios) off a pick because they trap and pop him, but it worked out much better than any designed play. We got all great shots and great rebounding. We did a terrific job of executing in the final minute. The shots just didn't go down, we could have won the game."
(On Taquan Dean) "He's playing on one leg. He didn't practice all week. We're a banged up team, a young team. Our backs are to the wall a little bit in this league. We're just going to have to get what we can out of him. He will definitely not playing Monday night. We've got to get him better."
"Our guys played terrific. I can't fault them one bit, they played their asses off. They played hard, just going against more experienced teams that are stronger physically and mentally. We're playing their tails off. We're not executing because we're new at certain points. But you can't blame that. If we continue to play with this effort we'll get better and better. Terrence Williams had great game."
"We lack strength even in conditioning. We've had so much time missed, we hang in there with some pretty good basketball teams, beating Miami and hanging in there with some teams we're playing is pretty good. There is no substitute for experience. Young teams don't win against good teams."
(On Aaron Gray) "We did a good job of guarding him in the zone and making him ineffective and going around him. David (Padgett) got a little tired at the end. The high screen hurt us against the zone. It really hurt us. There's only one way to play it and that's to get over it and it hurt us. One second to go, we're blocking him out and he gets the ball he gets the ball, that's just bad luck."
"That was very physical game. We allowed them to push us around on the glass. This isn't C-USA, which is a finesse league. This is a football league in a basketball league. This is a tough league. "
Pittsburgh Head Coach Jamie Dixon
"Very good win against a very good team, well-coached and a tough athletic group. We just found ways to gut it out. I wouldn't say we came out and shot the lights out. It wasn't our prettiest game. It was tough and we battled through. We had guys in foul trouble. Aaron (Gray) and Carl (Krauser) played the whole game with their hands in their pockets. They adjusted and that's a good thing. We played our usual rotation, playing a lot of guys and it benefited us a lot tonight. We'll continue to do that. It's the best thing for this group. So many guys made big plays."
(On Aaron Gray) "He's a very good passer. We talked about it at halftime. We needed to get more inside touches and realized we didn't because Aaron wasn't in much in the first half. And that was a big part of it. We got better in the second half. We adjusted in areas against the zone and that was one of them. We needed a little more penetration and a little bit more movement against the zone. We made decent shots in the first half. We made better shots and adjustments in the second half. Every zone is different. We had to find what spot we needed to get to. We recognized that throughout. It was good execution and good adjustment on our guys parts."
