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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 07, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Photo Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
Besides playing a terrific basketball game, we played an intelligent basketball game. Their zone gives people fits and our guys were did a fantastic job attacking the right seams and making the extra pass. On offense tonight, our guys were tremendous - they did a great job making the extra pass. Ever since our rebounding stepped up, our basketball has stepped up and I'm really excited about that.
(On Earl seeing the floor) It's really big when Earl and TWill started offensive rebounding - they're both excellent passers. Earl's very unselfish, TWill's very unselfish. Anytime your two best are that unselfish, good things happen.
(On Jerry setting tone early after seemingly struggling lately) Statistically you're right he hasn't been doing some of the things. After the Western Kentucky game we had a pretty good meeting with a lot of the players, getting them to understand. The only memories that are good is when you're remembering your national championships - you can't live off of memories. You have to live off hard work, you have to live off of execution. So he just went back to working hard, Jerry went back to doing what he's capable of doing and that's outworking people. When our guys outwork people, they look better. Every guy that went into the game, even Terrence Jennings tried to outwork people. And he looked good because of it.
We're a good shooting team. The last two games we played we were 2-for-22 on challenged shots. When you look at those statistics they're staggering, because this team is top 20 in defending the three-point shot. We wanted to make sure we would ball faking when they ran at us, make the extra pass and go inside and we were brilliant at it tonight. We had 26 assists in the game and we were 16-for-18 on the break. Our defense was excellent, a really good game - our best by far this season.
(On Louisville's size advantage) It's a big factor, that's why they play zone. We have not been rebounding, prior to this, real well.
(On Ohio's ability to shoot) Obviously they are terrific from the foul line. We've been playing good defense, we just keep talking about it. Our man was very good, our zone was very good, our presses were very good. The key to defense is changing it up and not letting the offense get comfortable with one defense. We've been good on defense most of the early tenure of the season.
(On Preston Knowles) He's sat out three days because of a back problem. I just wanted to get him some work - like seven or eight great minutes. I didn't want to put him in and take him out - that's how your back gets stiff. I just wanted to get him some work. Tonight when he left the court, it wasn't his back. It was some type of bronchitis.
(On developing Samardo Samuels' maturity) This is a tough culture you're dealing with when you're dealing with young people. They've got to be told when they're wrong, they've got to be told when they're right. He's a good kid. If you ever witness, and I'm not talking about my basketball team, what goes on with the younger generation today in terms of why they're not as good as they are because of all the patronizing that goes on. You realize why they don't realize their potential. When I hear the word touches I want to go through the wall and kill somebody, that's how upset I get when I hear that word. You've got to grow out of that.
And what happens is, in his defense, like any other person, Earl Clark and TWill lived that life as freshmen and high school kids too and then they grow out of it. They understand what it's all about. It just takes time and maturity to grow out of that. The interesting thing about it, when they really reach their potential, touches have nothing to do with them making money. That's why guys like Florida, had three players for the first time in the history of the game drafted in the top 10 and not one person averaged over 13 points a game. They learned the hard way. And Earl, I sat him down and I took his two best games last year - Providence and Marshall and showed it to him. Earl all you're doing now is show what a young man I used to coach many years ago trying to do. Great defensive player, great shot blocker, great runner, great dunker, great passer. And what you're trying to do is show people you can make the long ball. It doesn't make any sense. Look at these two games when you scored 22 and 20. You had two dunks, two offensive rebounds, two scores, three free throws, two threes, two banks shots. I said you understand what you're all about. He really wants to be the best he can be. He listened and took it to heart and that's what he is. TWill and Earl, what makes them so good is the fact that they're not one dimensional players. They can beat you so many ways. They can beat you with their passing, defense and offense, rebounding. They can beat you with their knowledge and that's what we want. Two guys like that. I think Edgar could grow up into that. He just hasn't bought into the defense aspect like Earl and TWill have.
Ohio Head Coach John Groce
"They way they shot the ball today and they did a good job of executing against our man and zone. It was certainly the best I've seen them shot the ball from 3-point range. Guys stepped up and made shots. I thought they moved the ball well. They present you with that dilemma where you have to deal with Samuels inside. So their size an athleticism around the basket and then coupled with their 3-point shooting, they way they were shooting the basketball made them very difficult to defend."
"Obviously when you are dealing with a team with great length and athleticism and size you want to be able to have the option to combat that with some size and DeVaughn (Washington) and Kenneth (van Kempen) and Jermome played bigger than what he actually is and can help us combat that. But we weren't able to do that as much as we would have normally done due to foul trouble. We have got to do a better job of playing hard without fouling. It is our responsibility and we have to do a better job of that."
(on Earl Clark) "He is very tough to defend because he poses a matchup problem for you in either way. He can post you because of his size if you have a smaller player on him and then if you have a bigger player on him he has the ability to drive the ball and get to the line. I know he led them from the line last year. I love his game. Obviously they have a lot of terrific players they've done a great job. Earl is very versatile in that forward position and he allows them to do some different things defensively because of his versatility and his size. With his length they can switch some screens and he does a pretty good job of keeping guys in front and that is a tremendous luxury to have as a coach. And I think that certainly he is a big part of their team."
(on the press) "We practiced up against that obviously but not nearly to that level because we don't play that style and Louisville plays that style everyday. We are pretty athletes and late I was pleased with the way Michael Allen and Frankie Dobbs played with the basketball against the press. But most of all I thought our turnovers happened at the end of the press when we make a bad decision and certainly they forced us into a lot of those. I was pleased when you see Frankie's stat line with five assists and three turnovers. I was really pleased with that especially for a freshman coming into this environment. For his sixth college basketball game and having to deal with two guys double teaming him in the back court. The majority of the game I was pleased with the way he handled it. I was really pleased with the way Frankie handled that and I thought he showed great toughness."
