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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 26, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Action Photos 
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"I thought Andre McGee and Derrick Caracter played terrific tonight. With the exception of the end, we played really good defense. It was a good win for us and obviously we've got to get ready for a very talented Connecticut team."
(On Derrick Caracter) "I thought he was just very aggressive on the offense, he let things come to him. He beat the double team and the slap-downs and he tried to pass it when he didn't have it. He was very active, ran the floor really well."
(On St. John's Anthony Mason Jr.) "I think Anthony Mason Jr. is a tough guy to guard. He makes really good moves, really good shots - it was a nice birthday present that we gave him. He's a terrific basketball player, one of the finest offensive players in the Big East. It wasn't our defense as much as his brilliance on offense."
"The only thing we didn't do a really good job today was rebounding the basketball. We didn't rebound well. Obviously at the end of the game we lost focus."
"At the start of the second half we didn't run our offense at all."
(On the inconsistent flow of the game) "I think that's every team and that's a credit to St. John's. They were playing, even though, from a clock standpoint, they had a very little chance of winning. They showed you that they are a well-drilled, well-coached team. The players have a lot of desire because they never said `well, the game's over.' They just kept playing hard all the way to the end. That's a well-coached team, a team that hasn't won much. But when you get young teams to play with that type of intensity to stay focused like that, down the road they're going to be a very good basketball team. It's a sign that I've seen many times in my coaching career - young guys do that, they don't let the other team go from 15 to 25. It goes from 15 to 10. It bodes well for the future."
(On Andre McGee) "He's playing good basketball. What he does doesn't show up on the stat sheet. He wears the other point guard down, he shoots the passing lanes. He's very active. So many people say to me that Edgar's not really playing well, what's wrong? You have to forget what's wrong with Edgar and give Andre some credit. He's doing a terrific job out there in helping us win. So many things go unnoticed, I think you pick up a stat sheet sometimes and give credit where credit is due. But Andre McGee's playing good basketball and we need to take notice of that."
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
"Louisville is a very, very good team and they have so many weapons and can score in so many ways. We thought starting out in playing some zone and did a good job of playing it early and then they started spreading it out and getting it to the high post. David Padgett is a terrific passer and Derrick Caracter is so big and strong inside and hard to handle in there so we had to go to man to man and put in a smaller lineup. They did a terrific job. I thought we battled but we are just so young. It was a good test for us but we continue to get better."
"I think (Mason) he is being very, very aggressive on offense. He has had some good practices working at it. Working on his shooting and working on scoring off the dribble. He is really, really active. Our guys are doing a really good job of screening for him too and getting him open. He gets excited about it (playing good teams in BE) any team in the BIG EAST because they are all elite teams."
"We had some shots. I think Justin had some shots that didn't go down for him. They are very physical on the post and crowd you in there and those things. They are playing a zone so we wanted to put Justin at the high post and we tried to get him some looks there. Difficult to get him shots in that set. We had a lot of 1 for sevens and 1 for fives. We got to make those open shots because Louisville is not going to give him any."
(Re: no one else stepping up) "I don't think there is any reason for it. I think our guys are trying. Give Louisville credit guarding going but we just have to step up and make the plays when we have the chance."
(Mason only guy in doubles figures) "We need to get other guys to step up. Get JB (Burrell) going again. You know as freshman, you know the season, and you know we are 18 games into the season, and you know it wears on you. We need to get him going and get him shots and make plays along with the other guys."
"Our guys are disappointed, it is a tough stretch. We have gone through the first eight games with the seven best teams in the league back to back. And you know that is hard, we gotta take our lumps but keep battling though. No easy nights in this league. We just have to continue to battle."
