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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 17, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"This was a great win for us. Our respect level for Marquette and the way we prepared- that's the best attention span I've seen in our guys in a long time. We're in double sessions and they have so much respect for Marquette that they really tuned in, especially at the offensive end. Normally, we don't pay as much attention to what could be open and we had a lot nice situations off of our pick and roll and running our guy to the rim. They're one of the most difficult to play against because on every pass, every post move and every drive they're uncanny at how much they deflect the basketball. So, we did a terrific job tonight of executing and I'm real proud of our guys."
(On David Padgett's play) "He (Padgett) played terrific. All of our guys played well tonight. I think Edgar Sosa did a tremendous job of doing what we wanted him to do. The whole team played really well. They put Dominic James on Jerry Smith because he's been playing real well and that was a smart move. But the other guys stepped up, T-Will made some really big time plays and had an outstanding game."
(Having Padgett, McGee, and Clark off the bench) "Well, we're still not where we need to be. Obviously, we played a great game tonight; we played a great game against West Virginia, came away with a win at Rutgers, and played very well against Kentucky. In another two weeks we're going to be really good. In David (Padgett) you see the improvement each day, in Tello each day. I'm real happy. I think DC has been playing real well in practice. So, getting all the guys back they know that their minutes may diminish, but they want quality time while they're out there. So there's no resting at all."
(Louisville's improving defense over the last three games) "Well defense is what wins. We can't play racehorse basketball anymore because we're coming off injuries; but, we do want to run. We want to be smart when we run and the more Edgar Sosa plays like tonight and the more we're capable of running. But with the front court like we have you really want to work inside to out and make sure they touch the ball. So, I though David was terrific; I thought all the guys played well tonight. Their focus was unbelievable tonight. I'm real proud of that."
(On Dominic James) I've said many times that he's my favorite player in college basketball - besides the guys on my team. He's my favorite guy because he disrupts everything. He's a terrific player, he had an off-night tonight. Every great player has an off night."
Marquette Head Coach Tom Crean
(On Dominic James' Injury) "Not sure yet. He couldn't have gone back into the game. We'll talk about it when we get on the plane, where we go next with the injury. It's probably just a re-aggravation of his injury from last week. He's been playing through that, and doing an excellent job. He just landed on it wrong; it was a tough play in the lane. I don't have anything more than what I just told you guys. It was his right wrist."
(On poor shooting) "Any time you settle of mid range jump shots - which is what we did in the first half. The foul line shot is open for a reason - it doesn't matter if you're in a man-to-man or a zone. And anytime you're playing against a tough defense, you can't settle for jumpshots. You have to get ball reversals and attack the rim. And when we did that we didn't make the shot, but we got better looks. And we played aggressively. When we settled for the elbow shots and jumpers, and you play against a team with the size that they have - you play right into their hands. And that's what we did in the first half."
(On size being a difference) "They got most of the 50/50 balls. We were not nearly aggressive enough on the backboards. I think that proves out why they out-rebounded us by 13. I'm sure size has a little bit to do with it - but they outworked us on the backboards."
(On only having 2 assists) "It's not our assists that I'm worried about, it's our driving game. We felt that if we attacked their defense right, we would shoot more foul shots than we did. I don't get hung up on the assists."
(On David Padgett) "David Padgett is the best screen and roll player I've seen in two or three years. And he's been that way for a while. He facilitates their offense better than any playmaker in the country. I think he's got a lot of value. That's what they want him to do and he does a great job at it. We did not execute the game plan, defending his pick and rolls. Those are the things we need to get better at, and I know we can get better at."
