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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
November 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino (Opening Statement) "It was a good opener for us. I'm happy with the victory. Pretty much every time we open the first half we have opening night jitters. Then we just relaxed and we started passing. We had five assists at halftime. We had 21 for the game which is outstanding Edgar Sosa getting people the basketball. He did a really god job of finding that. We still have a long ways to go, but it was a good opening game for us."
(On settling down between halves) "Its just about passing the basketball when we stand around we don't. I think it was just a matter of passing the basketball. We took some quick shoots in the first half its opening jitters. Even veteran teams have them. The defense was there in the first half and that's what counts. Some of the shoots they put in were with one second on the clock they were difficult shoots, they were challenged and they went in so you can't fault the defense for that. The defense was constant and the pressure was constant for all 40 minutes."
(On defense) "The two areas I'm concerned about is our transition defense and our rebounding. I don't like the way Earl (Clark) and Samardo (Samuels) are rebounding the basketball. Samardo not active enough and Earl isn't hitting people enough. Obviously, Twill is a very good rebounder, George Goode is a pretty good rebounder because he's long. So we just have to improve in that area."
(On Samardo) "He did ok. He's gotten about 20 percent better above the rim on offensive moves as well as dunks. He's still playing below the rim as far as moves. Looking or the foul you're not going to get it all the time. Referees get tired of calling it. So you have to finish above the rim with a jump hook you have to finish above the rim. With a power move and he does that with his dunks he's got to do that with his moves."
"We only took two or three challenged shoots. We just rushed it and never let our offense get moving. Not only do you need ball movement but you need player movement work inside to out. We are a very good shooting team, believe it or not though you couldn't tell that from the first half. I think a lot of the first half shots, we missed maybe seven shots inside and that was a big factor."
(On Sosa's consistency in practice) "He's played good basketball but we've just go to get him playing better defense. Its off the ball defense his on the ball defense-we got to get him to pick up his on the ball defense. "
(On putting Twill back in the game) "Kyle (Kuric) is hurt he has a high ankle sprain. I just wanted to get him a few minutes. He is a little fatigued because he hasn't played to much in practice. I wanted to get Twill a little work too because he missed some games. So I wanted to get him a little work. He looks great he's been 100 percent for some time. He is just a very unselfish Youngman. He didn't have any points he when we went back in he could have looked to score but he didn't. He just looked to pass. He is a very mature Youngman. He rebounds we've got to get Earl and Samardo rebounding like Twill. Twill is a gamer on the backboard we have to get those other guys rebounding like that."
(On Morehead state) "They've had a tough journey. They're the richest team in the country but we had good pressure. If you just concentrate on wearing them out you'll have your rewards in the second half. The good thing is our defense was there the entire night."
Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall (Opening Statement) "First of all, that's a very, very talented Louisville team. They're deep and they're experienced. I've heard Coach Pitino say several times that this is his most talented team since he's been here at UofL and I can't disagree. You talk about three or four guys on that team that will play in the NBA. They're long and they're physical. I thought for the first half, we competed and did some good things defensively. They take you out of everything offensively with their length and athleticism, so offensively, we struggled. I felt for 20 or 25 minutes, we were competitive and then their physicality and size wore us down in the second half."
(On what's it like to watch Louisville make a big run) "You know it's coming and the only thing you can do is you can play without turning the ball over and hope you can make some shots late in the shot clock to take the wind out of their sails. We made a couple of shots late in the shot clock, but we had way too many turnovers. We're playing with young guards and they've never seen any semblance of the pressure they saw tonight. We just turned it over too much."
(On what his guys will take from this) "I know this sounds crazy in a 30-plus point loss, but we've seen some progress and improved in some areas. If you're looking at it from our standpoint, you're playing with the No. 3 ranked team in America and you're down nine at half after turning it over 10 times. If we could've limited our turnovers to four or five, it might have been a tie game or much closer than nine. So, we're right there in the ballpark of doing some good things. At Vanderbilt, we played about 28 good minutes. At Drake, we played about 30 good minutes. At Louisiana-Monroe, it was about 36 or 38. So with each game, we've improved in some areas and doing some things. I'd like to think that even in a tough loss that they gained some confidence."
(On the status of Andreas Coleman, who left with an injury in the second half) "We don't know. We don't think it's an ACL. The trainer looked at it quickly before I came (to meet with reporters). It doesn't seem to be loose, which is a good sign. Andreas is a tough kid and he's our fourth post. We don't have much post depth, so if it were to be an ACL, that would be a big hit for his. We hope he's going to be okay. Hopefully, it's just a bruise, or worst case, just some cartilage."
