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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 13, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2006
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University of Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"Give them great credit. They came in there and it helped that they had played Pitt well on the road. They outran us down the court due to our poor shot selection. We got behind, we fought back and it was a valiant effort. But then we made some bad decisions and errors and bad offensive handling of the basketball. You have to give them credit. They are a veteran ball club. They did a lot of great things and their inside people are strong. They are a terrific team and we knew they were. We need better shot selection. Some of our players don't understand what they do best."
"They ran their favorite play and we knew what it was and unfortunately we had a lapse and they got a layup on it. That is their favorite play - a downscreen and a screen across. We defended it well all night and then we couldn't defend it well on that specific instance."
(On difference in 2nd half) "I think good shot selection. We took bad shots in the first half. They were seven for eight on the break due to our bad shots. Some of our players still don't understand who they are and what they are and what they do best. They have to figure it out in a hurry."
(On Terrence Williams in the second half) "Too late for T-Will. You've got to know who you are before the balls goes up. He played hard and he played like he should have played. But to me the lesson should have been learned last year. He is still a young ball player and he is going to get better."
"The big guys are dominating us inside even against Bellarmine, they are dominating us inside too much and that is hurting us."
(On getting away from the double team) "That is not true, but we didn't get to it early enough when they scored. You can't double team a guy if he catches the ball under the rim ... that is too late. He has to catch it on the block outside the lane that is when you double team. If you duck right around the rim, there is no double team in basketball."
(On second half) "I thought we just took good shots and good shots keep the other team out of transition and good shots allow you to play good defense. We took bad shots in the first half."
"I think we are young and will take some time to learn shot selection. It starts with pressure on the basketball and it has to do with moving your feet. The scouting report has been our No. 1 problem that we have been having. Also absorbing the scouting report and that is typical with a young team."
"When you are at home you are supposed to come back. You aren't supposed to fold at home. If we had come back on the road, I would have said that is a nice situation. You are supposed to win at home. UMass is better basketball team and were better at every phase of the game. They beat us down court and beat out on the glass and they made big shots. They were a terrible foul shooting team but they made some at the right time."
"I told Travis that I was proud of him and I knew he had a great team. I told him he had to shoot foul shots better. He has a good chance to win the Atlantic-10. He has good interior people and his guards looked good."
Massachusetts Head Coach Travis Ford
"I thing the difference in the game was the way we stared the game. We haven't shot like that all year long. We played our best basketball of the year long definitely in the first half, as a complete of a first half as probably one of my teams have played. Defensively, we were in every position we wanted to be. We made shots that we've worked on; trying to create shots for each other. That's what we tried to do and normally we don't make very many of them. Tonight we did."
(On the bench play) "It's interesting; we've not been getting anything from our bench, not much at all. Etienne Brower gave us great minutes. Ricky Harris came in as a freshman and gave us good minutes and making some three's. We needed that in front of this type crowd, it's going to take a lot out of you mentally and physically. We needed our bench we couldn't survive, we go into trouble in the first half when Rashaun Freeman got into foul trouble. Usually when they get into foul trouble, you can pretty much warm the bus up for us. The three point line is a strange thing and if you can shoot three's it can really help you and that's the only thing that helped us survive with those two guys out. We had line ups out there that we had never played. We had Brower and Gary Forbes in there at the four and five, and I've never even done that in practice. I didn't have a choice. We were just trying to move the ball, drive, kick, and shoot threes."
(On getting the win against Coach Pitino) "Oh, it really doesn't mean anything against Coach Pitino. It's good for our basketball team to try to get to where we are going. I didn't think we had been playing too well lately. We have a good basketball team, I've said that the other day when we didn't play very well at Austin. We haven`t really peaked yet, not that we want to peak, but we haven't really put it all together. It's good for our basketball team. This Louisville is going to be very good. They've got a lot of freshmen and injuries, everybody knows about that, but they're going to be very good."
(On Louisville playing Kentucky) "I'm not getting in the middle of that."
(On winning on the road against a BIG EAST opponent) "It's big for our basketball team, no question. It's something Coach Pitino taught me and we did it a couple of times, it's when you get a big lead, like we had, fifteen or whatever it was, and your one the road and you see the whole thing just deplete. A lot of teams can just wilt and we didn't wilt, so I think we gained a lot of character out of that. For us to be up fifteen and them come back and tie it with four minutes to go, we really could have given up. Coach Pitino has always said that's when great winning character is built when you can do that. I told our team I was very proud of that as much as anything that we were able to sustain losing a big lead and not just wilting. That's a lot said for this basketball team. We've got some good seniors; it's what you expect out of them. Everybody on our team scored, but one and that's unusual for us."
