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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 19, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Action Photos 
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"The kids went absolutely berserk in the lockerroom, not because I said they caused 25 turnovers,not because I said they had 10 steals, shot 56 percent because of all the incredible effort in the double sessions they have gone through this week, but because I said I am giving them the day off. You would have thought we had won the national championship.
I am real proud of their performance, we were really, really pressing aggressively and the key is that when we shoot a high percentage, you get it on more then when the disparity builds up on the turnover standpoint. The big key was we were aggressive offensively. The last time we played them we certainly not aggressive on the offensive end. So I am real proud of our basketball team, they worked very, very hard."
(About Siva) "Peyton Siva is a great free throw shooter and a lot of the fans don't realize it. He can't even bend his wrist and probably shouldn't even be playing. It affects him shooting the basketball. He is heavily taped and has a very difficult time shooting the ball. That is one of the problems but he wants to play and hopefully before Christmas he will be healed. But he is a tough kid."
(About slowing down AJ Slaughter) "We were going to trap all their players. We worked really hard on our trapping schemes to make sure they went East and West towards the sidelines and not only in the full court but in the half court situation. They are a big pick and roll team and we were going to get the ball out of his hands and make them pass the ball on the pick and rolls. Our guys did a great job in trapping fundamentally correct and we worked very hard on that the last few days."
(About Sosa) "I think offensively, he is a very gifted young man. I think he is getting better defensively. I think he is really hungry to win. He wants to keep it going. He has had two Elite Eights now and he wants to keep it going. It is unfortunate that this team has had the injuries this team has had, and have all those players out. But now they are back and ready to get back on the right page."
(About Jennings) "He is just working really hard in practice and his footwork and his fundamentals like Samardo's haven't been very good. I think he is realizing that it will take fundamentals for him to become a very good basketball player. He has worked really, really hard the last four practices. He is getting rewarded for his hard work."
(About Samuels being affected by TJ's hard work) "Oh no question, and it is the same with Peyton and Edgar. A week ago we couldn't have competitive practices like we have now because not only that those guys are out of the game but practices got terrible because you can't make them competitive. Now it is back to being competitive."
(About simplifying the press) "I didn't simplify things at all ... I changed some things. We are going back to our black-white press which I used quite a while ago. And got away from our 22 press which is our 2-2-1. It is a much more aggressive press but it takes advantage of our depth a little bit. But when we had all those injuries, I wasn't going to make a change at that point , we had to wait to get all those guys back. Since 1997 used it (black-white press) extensively. I toyed with it because I thought our depth was very good but then we had injuries then it can fatigue you as well.
The key is you have to be offensively aggressive because if you shoot a good percentage you can get it on and that is when it pays its dividends. If you take challenged shots and you don't take a high percentage it is irrelevant to any basketball team. Tonight our offensive aggressiveness was terrific."
(Most complete game to date?) "I think so ... without watching the film .. but there is a reason for that, I don't make any alibis and excuses. Because as a pro coach, I learned that injuries are a part of the game. But when you have them and you have them to Jerry Smith, Preston Knowles and Peyton Siva, you lose a lot of athleticism and your defense. So now we are getting healthy again, I think we will see a much improved basketball team."
(Last year's loss having impact on today) "Yes, anytime you lose obviously, we gave them credit last year. I think in certain aspects that's true anytime you get beat. That didn't work for us out in Vegas. We lost to Vegas at the buzzer and played them tough but didn't get the victory."
(What other elements helped get UL back on track) "I just think we just don `t panic, you all want reasons why we are losing. It hits you in head like a sledgehammer it is so obvious. But sometimes you don't see it. It is something you have to live through. We played two very good teams. One was extremely hot that night: Charlotte. And the other team was very good and they beat us. You have to give them credit. We are improving as a basketball team but we have been through this every year now. We had three losses before Christmas three years in a row. So we live through it and we don't panic. Just as you are only as good as the last article you write, that is the way the world is today. It is very, very difficult to perform that way. Because like horse racing, thank God it isn't a three furlong race because there wouldn' t be any Kentucky Derby winners. Everyone is just looking to the start. That is why I used that baseball analogy the other day. It was interesting all three teams that won it had had losing records after 27 or 30 games, which is interesting."
(About Classic) "It was obviously very special to us. The Billy Minardi Classic is very special. We always get a lot of friends to come in to honor their legacy. We celebrate Billy and it is very difficult for all the 9/11 people, we live it in our everyday lives. Not to get political, but all of us are very, very troubled by the trial in New York . We were very bothered by that. To bring it up to us again is torture for all of us. Each time we get a chance to celebrate, we do. It is very special for me personally and and I am very thankful for the guys to put forth that kind of effort on this very special day."
(About Preston Knowles) "He is not putting his hands up and he is afraid to put his hands in there for fear of jamming it again. Every day we are buying another day to be honest with you with Preston and Peyton, just if they were tough kids, it would have been another week to ten days before coming back. Tape it up and play. They should have never come back when they did. They are two tough kids. You don't want to be in a street fight with either one of those kids. Because they are tough kids. They came back a week to ten days earlier than expected because they knew this team had to have them."
Western Kentucky Head Coach Ken McDonald
(On the Louisville press) "I think Louisville is a good pressure team obviously. That's the history of Coach Pitino. We talked about how they were going to pressure and how we were going to do that and be organized. They did a good job taking A.J. Slaughter out of the game by doubling him and running at him early. We just didn't deliver the ball when we needed to deliver the ball. They are the type of team that can go on runs and we knew that and that one run they went on to push it to about 15 to end the half really hurt. It really hurt us confidence wise. I really didn't think we were aggressive enough as well passing the ball, not only getting out that first trap but actually attacking. But they're a typical Coach Pitino team kept getting more aggressive as we stayed passive they got more aggressive and it lead into the second half as well."
(On Louisville's run at the end of the first half) "We weren't cutting hard enough. They were doing a pretty good job tonight denying that first pass. We talked about it at half time. We had to make second cuts, third cuts and that was going to have to be it and organization. We had to make sure we were organized with our press offense. There were no surprises in the game in terms of what we were ready to expect. We weren't ready to go and execute our press offense and stay aggressive. Too many turnovers I think we gave up 36 points versus their pressure off turnovers. That's an unreal number. That might be a record. 36 points...That's a lot of points. I think a lot of things to learn from. The biggest thing was confidence, facing that pressure.
I didn't think we handled the crowd well, we talked about that a lot. I think this is the first true road environment. We talked about how this place was going to get loud. The runs really hurt you because the crowds really start to get into it. And we just didn't handle it well."
(On how much they missed Sergio Kerusch) "You miss Sergio in a lot of ways. What you miss is his ability to make up plays with offensive rebounds. You know defensively he's coming on a little bit and able to guard guys. You know, athleticism. Just the athleticism. Not only where we hurt on the turnovers, but also on the offensive rebounds . Him being a big guard. He changes the game in that area as well. He's got a lot of energy. He's an athletic kid. Offensively he can make shots when he's open. Now, you know AJ passes the ball out or Sally passing the ball out, you've got another scorer athletic enough to go make a play. We definitely miss him, but we're not going to use that as an excuse. A lot of guys stepped up today, but we just didn't produce and that's the bottom line. They're saying he'll be out 6-8 weeks with him probably having surgery on Sunday. Tomorrow. Best case scenario about six, worst case scenario is hopefully eight. We feel for him. He's a great kid, he's worked really hard. Ten minutes into practice yesterday he comes down onto somebody's foot. It's a really tough situation for him, and we're all going to have to pick up the slack. We didn't respond today. We'll have to Tuesday."
(On Anthony Sally's play) "We've got to watch tape and get back to the drawing board with a lot of guys. We had 15 turnovers and they were all 15 out of what 26/25 turnovers and those are all the upperclassmen, so he's not the only one. Everyone's got a part in this loss, including me. That's what you've got to do. You've got to look in the mirror. You watch tape. You learn from it and you go out and you do better. That's the bottom line on that. It's not just him. It's everybody, so we've got regroup and put this one behind us and come back and have a good practice tomorrow and really be ready to prepare mentally for the next physical game, which is going to Murray State, who is a heck of a ball team."
(On Murray State Game) "We've got stuff we have to work on as a team. The motivating factor, obviously, there is a lot of motivation. We were embarrassed at their place last year. That's going to be one of the stories. We've got improvement we've got to make as a team as AJ eluded to. We thought we were going in the right direction. Piece by piece. Game by game...gotten a little bit better up to, and including, the Vandy game. Then we have a big let down today. Not just a loss. You come here. You lose. You lose on your terms. You fight hard to the end. It's a ball game. You can live with that. We didn't put ourselves into position and we didn't deserve to be in position because we didn't work hard enough. What's disappointing in a game like this is everyone knew they had to step up. Sergio went down yesterday, but you've go tto move on. Now, we've got to circle the wagons and be ready to do what we've got to do. The next couple days to prepare for a very good basketball team. I'm more interested in that than the story line of revenge and that sort of stuff."
Western Kentucky guard AJ Slaughter
(How Disappointing This Loss Is After Defeating Vanderbilt?) "It's very disappointing. I felt we were really getting back on track and had a couple wins and beat Vandy, and come out today and not play up to par is very disappointing."
(On the Biggest Problem the Pressure Gave Him) "We were just being passive. Once they saw they could get really aggressive they did."
(On What WKU does to Make up for the Loss of Sergio) "We just have to step up. It's not just going to be one guy to step up. It has to be the whole team. Everybody is going to have to up their play as a whole team. We have to come together to fill that void."
(On How Frustrating This Game Was) "It was very frustrating. Just embarrassing that we didn't come out and play hard. We could have easily been in this game and we just let it slip out of our hands."
Western Kentucky forward Steffphon Pettigrew
(If the Loss Took Any Wind Out of Their Sails) "Yeah, but like Coach said, we can't use it as an excuse. We just have to pick it up as a team."
(On Their Offensive Rebounds) "We just quit playing. The big guys kept trying to block out the big guys and the guards just kept coming down and rebounding. There's nothing we could do about it. We've just got to keep blocking out and hitting the glass harder."
(On the Difference Between This Game and Last Year Regarding Samardo Samuels) "I think we had more ball pressure on the guards. I kept trying to bite in there and limit his touches as best as I could. And they just built that run and our heads just dropped after that."
(On Looking Forward to Murray State) "I think the whole team is looking forward to it. We're going to get back in the gym tomorrow and focus on their personnel. We've just got to keep our heads up and get this win. I think it'll help us out if we get this win and get back on track."
(On Improving Outside Shooting) "I really didn't focus on it. We run that ball screen offense and I just kept setting screens and my shots just kept falling in tonight."
