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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 28, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Photo Gallery 
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "The second half was more like the way we have been playing. We fell into the trap we fall into in so many games. We take quick shots and don't have vision of the ball on defense. In the second half we had to have a great start. Rebound and get a one point lead this team has done this to Syracuse; they did it to West Virginia, and a lot to teams. We had to have Preston (Knowles) and Andre (McGee) in there at the beginning to set the tone and it lead to two dunks by Samardo (Samuels). It led to two steals and then it was open for us. We set a goal because a lot of teams have struggled with this young and talented team, with South Florida early on. We set a goal in this game we tried to get 35 deflections and defend the three point line; you will win 95% of your games college or pro. Tonight to guard against any defensive let down we wanted to set a record of getting 50, which is very difficult to do and we got 53. It is an amazing performance defensively to do that. Every timeout we kept talking about how many we had to set the tone defensively for us making them shot a lower percentage in the second half."
(On George Goode) "He had a great two or three days of practice. It does not matter which three of those guys you put in they all bring something different. George is the best shot blocker of the three, TJ (Terrence Jennings) is the best rebounder of the three and Samardo is the best low post player of the three. All three of them are going to be great ball players down the road."
(On halftime message) "This is a team that shoots 43.8% on the season and they are very explosive offensively. They shot 53% and it was all because we could not do anything defensively because we were taking bad shots and could not get our pressure on. We stopped taking quick shots and we ran our offense. We have to come out right away. Andre and Preston had to fight to get us back in the game. At halftime we needed them to set the tone right away and they did. That opened it up for Edgar (Sosa) and Jerry (Smith) when they came in."
(Louisville's play on Dominique Jones) "To his credit we were taking away the three and he was driving to get into the lane, getting easy buckets. We were going still pressure him, but we were going to rotate better in the first half. We were not rotating and too many times he got to the rim."
(On Louisville's improvement) "I think we are just practicing really well and we are more focused in on everything. We play every game as if it is our last game. I just reiterating three to our guys three things; stay humble, stay hunger, and just play for the next game. Don't look ahead at all. If someone asks you a question about the tournament, seedings, or our ability to move on in the tournament do not answer. Just answer questions that relate to the next game, only. If you do that and you put all your efforts in practicing for the next game you will succeed. That is what we have been trying to do, just play every single game like it is our last. Stay humble, stay hunger, and improve each day. Those are my three messages and they are doing a good job doing that."
(On Will Scott) "I think it is tremendous I am real proud of Will. He has been a real delight to coach. He transferred from Cornell because he wanted to be a apart of big time basketball. There has only been one teacher to give him anything other than A. He is going to have his masters this summer. You spend for years and get only one non-A and fifty percent of your grades are A+'s you can't even get upset at that teacher. We are really happy for him. To got to Oxford and study; he has been a gift to coach."
(On Louisville's recent stand out players) "Terrence Williams is playing great, just tonight he got himself off on the wrong foot by taking bad shots. He still dominates the game even if he doesn't score. I think Earl (Clark) and T Will are playing like we hoped they would play this year. If you look at the stat sheet and see Andre and Preston's stats and don't follow the Cards you wouldn't be overly impressed. All cardinal fans know exactly what they do. You know now that the second place took place because of Andre and Preston. The come back in the first half took place because of Andre and Preston. There are so many things that they do that don't show up in the stat sheet. Both of those guys are playing great basketball. I think our whole team is focused on wining and they are doing a great job. They have a great attitude for winning."
USF Head Coach Stan Heath
(Opening statement) "I thought the first 20 minutes of the game we played about as well as we could play. I was really proud of the guys that they really fought and scraped. Louisville is the most difficult team, their depth, size of the athletes; they really try and wear you down. They wore us down in the second half. They really got to us. They did a very nice job of putting the heat on Dominique Jones. They double teamed him a lot and he was not quite the same player he was in the first half. Once they got the snowball rolling, it really blew up. The three's started falling and it was time for us to go home."
(On the Louisville scoring runs) "I have watched quite a bit of them and we played them already, we know that they love momentum and they love runs. You have to put those fires out quickly or they will explode. They exploded on us tonight. I thought that once they got into that groove, they were just firing on all cylinders. It seemed like the three point shot was working for every guy that checked into the game. We knew coming into the game that they were not shooting good from the three point line. We were more concerned about penetration and doing a good job with Earl Clark and Terrence Williams. It was more than just that. There were a lot of guys stepping up for them. It makes them much more difficult and that is what happened tonight. We did a pretty good job on Williams and Clark was really solid but other guys really stepped up for them and made things very difficult."
(On Louisville's improvement) "I think you either get better or you get worse. They are getting better. They are very comfortable with what they are doing on the court. Their press was much more aggressive than the last time we played. Their zone is their zone. They are long, athletic, quick and they rebound very well. I think that they are doing what they do a little bit better. Look at how they have been going on a roll with all of the teams in the BIG EAST and they are peaking at the right time."
