.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
March 20, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 20, 2006
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"We knew Clemson is an ACC team that plays like a Big East Team. We are both in the same boat with identical records. Their center has been terrorizing people of late and Brian Johnson has given us a good game. Brian Johnson has gotten himself in better shape. This is what you can expect from him down the road. He's been playing on one leg all year and now he has gotten back to about 75 percent. We really worked on our conditioning and free throws are a matter of conditioning when you play a very physical and up-tempo game. This is the first time we have been able to practice for a long stretch without distractions. We have had great practices with great attitudes. The guys are playing as hard as they possibly can and I am very proud of them."
"There aren't many teams that play like Clemson. They are very good at denying the passing lanes. We worked very hard at attacking their press. It is the way I did it at Kentucky, but we do it in a little different fashion. Where we turned it over was in the half court by picking up our dribble and they are very good at denying the passing lanes. We did a very good job against their press, you have to attack it for lay-ups not jump shots. When you go against a pressing team, the second thing you have to do against a pressing team is you have to offensive rebound on the missed shots. They feed on the midrange shots. We did a good job of moving the ball. Outside of our turnovers, we executed beautifully tonight."
"We are still battling injuries. When Andre gets healthy, he is still battling back pain so we are not getting enough break time. Taquan is still playing too many minutes. We are getting a good balance because when you go against pressure, everybody has got to be involved. Our five man did a good job, I thought Brian Johnson flashed well and worked opposite and kept getting lay-ups which would stop their run. We made our free throws which we have been doing of late and that is impressive when you are fatigued. We will have to rest them tomorrow for the first time."
"I had no idea how good Missouri State is, if they beat Houston. We watched them at the beginning of the year because we scouting someone else. Kevin (Willard) said I think I have this year's Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Missouri State is great. They are No. 21 in the RPI. We now know that the Missouri Valley Conference is underrated and probably Creighton and Missouri State should be in it. They are a terrific conference. They are flat out big time and Missouri State is as good as anyone at the top. It is a hell of a conference they have and it is pretty much a hidden secret. I haven't seen Houston. Looking ahead with this team is not a healthy thing to do."
"This is a fast paced Pittsburgh we played tonight. They body screened and are very aggressive, very physical. They are the most physical team in the ACC and force more turnovers. They have terrific talent and are very well coached. We knew it was going to be like this. We are looking at pretty similar talent . They had a little of an advantage at the five spot with that senior. We didn't expect Brian Johnson to play as well as he did tonight and he offset that."
"You are watching NIT Basketball and you are seeing how hard both teams are playing and what it means. I am sure Oliver is very proud of his team. They call it the `Little Dance". We are playing like our life is on the line and this is an NIT game and it makes basketball fun. This is a tournament. We badly want to get to New York City to improve and build on. The letters may only be three but for us it is a big dea. We are very excited to be a part of this."
Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell
"It was a hard fought ball game by both teams, it certainly wasn't pretty, both teams threw it all over the ball court. I am impressed by how hard both teams played. The tale of the tape as far as we're concerned was at the free throw line. We didn't shoot well. We had been shooting well the last game we closed out with 15 straight. Tonight once we got the zone solved, we were getting the ball on the baseline and in the paint. We weren't finishing the tough lay-ups and then we were getting fouled and came up dry at the free throw line. And really that is too much to overcome on Louisville's home court. When both teams are playing hard, you've got to make some shots. If you miss shots at point blank and then you get fouled and come up dry that's tough. We missed some layups where fouls weren't called. We didn't finish at the basketball or on the free throw line and it cost us. We would have liked to continue to play in the NIT, but we didn't get enough shots or free throws to get the job done."
(On the defense) "We didn't press a lot until late. We played mostly man to man until 7 minutes left in the game when we went to our diamond press but up to that point we were in man to man. Until that point we came out and felt we could defend them. We did a great job the first eight minutes of the ballgame. In the second half after we played better offensively, we were unsound defensively. We let guys rip through and drive by us. With those kinds of things our defense wasn't good enough and we resorted to the pressure. I thought it got the game speeded up to where we wanted it. We needed to make some free throws. I was happy with the tempo the press late. With 7-8 minutes left, we created a tempo where we could have caught up. But you've got to make lay-ups and free throws to catch up. What you saw late was desperation. I thought we weren't really poised and we spoke a lot about that at halftime. I thought the home court and the fans got into it."
