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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 22, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino
"They're a great basketball team. We gave everything we had to get the victory. We can't play any hard, we can certainly shoot the ball better. I'm proud of our guys they've given me everything they had. The crowd was great, it was electric."
"We're just not an overly talented basketball team right now, we're doing the best we can do under the circumstances. So we'll keep on working hard and hopefully some victories will come."
"He (David Padgett) played a great game. What we're trying to work on with him is not to flail, lose balance and throw ball at the rim. To get to a spot, go up and under, shoot the ball, don't throw the ball. He's working hard at it, he's only a sophomore, he'll get better. He certainly had a good night."
"They're just more physically talented. They're bigger and better. I don't like losing and being 1-4, but I'm proud of the guys, they're working their tails off. This is probably the weakest team I've had outside of the first year since I've been here. Because of all the inexperience, the scouting preparation is new to them. It's not two or three people, it's like six people. Only David has been through it. The rest of the guys have never been through it. It's very difficult on them, they're doing the best I can. What losing does sometimes, I know we're not the best shooting team, but we're a better shooting team that, losing gets you tight on your jump shots. I tried to tell Tello (Pallacios) and Williams to keep shooting, they were all good shots. All wide open shots they need to take. Hopefully down the road they'll start making some."
"We played good defense quite a few times, and they made good shots. We made some big mistakes, giving Marcus Williams his left hand. I was trying to get 7-8 guys to understand the scouting report. It'll come. We can't pack it in or concede anything right now. We've just got to keep working. The crowd was great players were working hard, I've got no complaints other than losing."
UConn head coach Jim Calhoun
"We just came off of a tough road game where we played incredibly well at Syracuse, we were able to get a 25 point lead. Tonight, I don't think Louisville was going to allow us get off to anything. I hope Taquan Dean does get healthy, it will make them a better team. What they need down the stretch is experience, which is what we all need, it's what we have. We have Marcus Williams who made big plays down the stretch. We turned up the defense the 4-5 minutes of the game, allowed one three. They didn't shoot well tonight, that was very important. Secondly, they had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and only four in the second. We started getting on the boards a little better."
"We shot 68 percent in the second half and took care of ball. Made decisions that Rick made for us with their pressure to grind it out as opposed to getting into a racehorse game."
"I thought David Padgett was great. He was equal to two of our big guys. He played terrific. Teamwise, we did things necessary to stop our opponents at crucial times and win games. Defensive rebounds and taking good shots in last 4-5 minutes. We didn't take bad shots last 4-5 minutes. The atmosphere here, this was my first time coach here, the atmosphere here is special. Their basketball IQ is off the charts. People understood basketball, even though they are routing for Louisville. They understood good plays. We find that at Syracuse too. They want Louisville and the Cardinals to win very badly."
"I thought we pulled out a grind win after having a flow win at Syracuse."
"I think a lot of credit has to go to Louisville when you have a leader out, I'm not sure how well our offense would have been if we didn't have Marcus Williams. Marcus is not the scorer, but he is the runner of the team. He gets the ball to the right people in the right time at the right spots. They didn't have that tonight. They worked like crazy. They made it tough for us. The press was a nuisance press, the only purpose was not to try to trap and open the court for us, because we think we're a pretty good running team. They were able to stop the run."
(On Jeff Adrien) "It seems like the bigger building, the more atmosphere, the better Jeff plays. Jeff likes big games. A freshman who's 6'6" with a 7'5" reach who's about 235, you can see that when he dunks the ball. He played terrific. He played big in a big game because he's strong and physical. I've seen Padgett play on tape four or five times. I thought he was really good tonight. He's really great in the post."
"If we were number one everything would be great. Right now our goal is to be number one in the Big East which is very tough to do. We've got Louisville coming back. We've got Syracuse. We've got some bears coming up. We've got an easy game with West Virginia. We've got all kinds of trials and tribulations. Rick would say the same thing. There's no easy out. There's nothing given in college basketball because kids leave early. Tonight there was a little difference in experience and I think experience showed the mental toughness of this team that's been through this before."
