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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 31, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2008
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "That was a tough way to bring in the new year. Our guys played their hearts out at the end, but Las Vegas just made the last play. They took advantage of us because of Samardo not being able to guard one of their smaller players. They took advantage of that down the stretch, but he's got to learn to do it, which is part of his next learning experience. So it was very disappointing. I'm proud of our guys for the way they hustled back, but give Las Vegas credit."
(On the Cards' last offensive set) "It was exactly what we wanted. We wanted to go inside to Earl and if it wasn't open, we wanted to set the high pick and T-Will to drive. He had the option to dish or get fouled. I thought he got fouled but that's a judgment call."
(On the Cards' slow start offensively) "I think Samardo has to learn to play above the rim, but he can't let his lack of scoring affect his rebounding and defense. But that's just being a freshman. Las Vegas is a terrific defensive team, but he doesn't know what he's in for in the Big East. He's just got to learn. He's doing the best he can, but he just has to learn."
(On the play of Preston Knowles) "He played well. He hit some big shots, especially when you're struggling and nothing is going well for you, it's even bigger to make those shots. But Las Vegas is a very good defensive team. They make it difficult when they play five guards and they front the post. Samardo didn't really play big enough to hurt those fronts, but again, I can't complain about a freshman. We're probably going a little too much to him, but he's just got to learn to do some of the small things."
(On whether it's safe to say when Terrence Williams struggles shooting the ball, the entire team struggles as well) "No. It has nothing to do with it."
(On whether UNLV was taking away the Cards' transition chances) "Well, we got fouled a lot on fast break points, so they take you out. I thought that was an intentional foul as well on the fast break. Andre and Preston work their tails off in the press and it was an unfortunate loss. We didn't have it offensively tonight and in the three games we've lost now, we've really struggled at the offensive end shooting the basketball. That's an obvious weakness of ours. We just have to create as much motion as possible and not just rely on that."
(On whether they'll decrease the number of times they look to get the ball to Samardo) "No. He's just got to learn to play bigger in the post. He's got to learn to pass. It's part of your offense. You've always got to work inside to out, especially if you're not a great shooting team. You've just got to get better at playing above the rim and stop looking for fouls."
(On Andre and Preston) "Andre and Preston play great defense. They get after it. They give you 100 percent. We've just got to get Jerry and Edgar to play that kind of defense as well and not get beat off the dribble as much."
"That's a real, real disappointing loss for us. Our guys are just devastated over it. It's a real disheartening way to bring in the new year with that. We've lost three games now, and we've got the meat of our schedule coming up in a very tough conference, so our backs are to the wall and we've got to come out fighting."
UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger
(Opening Statement) "Obviously I'm really proud of the guys. I thought it was a great atmosphere, great environment. And we hung in there and made a play late and we had a good defensive stop there at the end. The big difference the ballgame is that we had a tough time on the boards all night with their length and their size, but we got a couple of big ones there late when we needed them."
(On Bellfield's game-winning shot) "That's a play we run all the time. Louisville was bouncing back and forth between switching the play and getting back. That time they switched their five man onto Oscar. He made a nice play that jump shot wasn't an easy shot. I thought Louisville defended it really well and Oscar made a tough shot."
(On the final stop of the game) "We switched the ball screen and Darris (Santee) had a pretty good angle on Williams, when came off, that gave it away just a little bit, but it was an opportunity. I'm sure they weren't displeased with the look, because they had it driving to the bucket. It just didn't go in."
(On winning without Wink Adams) "Without question anytime you lose a guy like Wink... but we had a whole week to practice and that helped a lot. It's not like he went out last night and we had to make adjustments all of a sudden. Tre'Von (Willis) came in and did a good job and Kendall (Wallace) came in and did a good job and DeShawn Mitchell gave us some good minutes the first half. I thought a lot of guys stepped in and played really well. I thought Oscar and Tre battled the pressure well all night. I thought Oscar really grew up tonight."
(On playing on national television) "You pick a stage like this and it's a good time to battle. I thought our guys did that. They fought, which they're going to do any time out. To fight and to win in a tough environment like this is a great feeling for them."
(On UNLV's defense) "The guys take a lot of pride in that. I thought all night we had a pretty good rhythm with what Louisville was doing. They're very talented, they're very long. We had a little trouble on the boards, but overall pretty good focus defensively and pretty good awareness, we just couldn't always get the rebound back."
(On the timeout with 56 seconds left) "It always comes down to the next possession. Every timeout we talk about rebounding and blocking out and five guys getting in there and trying to help out on the boards and knowing who their shooters are and who we're taking the post off of. I thought our awareness in the post was pretty good. I thought our activity was not giving them a lot of open threes.
(On controlling the tempo) "We typically like to run and go, but we don't always score a lot of points because we haven't shot a really high percentage. I thought tonight we had a good pace to it. When you're on the road against a good club like Louisville, we gave up a few transition opportunities, but not too many."
