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University of Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
December 30, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"Well we did some good things tonight and we did some poor things tonight but we got a victory and that was the name of it. But they were depleted and we got them in foul trouble. . We didn't play a really good game tonight but we did get a BIG EAST victory and we are real happy about that."
(What could have gone better) "I don't think we contained the basketball good enough. They played four guards and we tried to take advantage of that. I though we were a little flat-footed on rebounding in the second half. We got after the offensive glass and started rebounding like we are capable of rebounding. We did a much better job in the second half. .Jerry Smith was the guy who gave us the big lift."
(Big run) "We missed free throws and they could have gotten back into the game and Jerry kept the ball alive and got the rebound and kept playing defense and gave us the big lift we needed to get us over the hump. He played a very good game especially in the second half, he was the difference maker."
(On small ball) "They were trying to beat us off the dribble and it is not that Reggie isn't our best defensive player but we just needed some offense in there. Preston gives us a big lift that but it probably wasn't one of his better games. He's been playing terrific basketball."
(On progress of team) "We are taking baby steps and I don't think we are anywhere near where we think we should be. We are improving. We are getting better. We are taking baby steps. I would like to see consistency on the backboards and consistency on guarding off the bounce. There certain things on the scouting reports and our bigs are standing too much and rather than releasing and going to the glass. We are making improvements and it's much better than it was two weeks ago. They are doing ok (in reading scouting reports) In defense of them, when you have mostly players in freshman and sophomore class (that happens). I am not happy with our passing and we have the ability and we are coming down and all we have to do is throw a nice bounce pass and are in a 4-on-2 break -- instead we are dribbling, dribbling and trying to make spectacular lobs. Peyton is trying to get 19,000 people on their feet on every play instead of just making it simple bounce pass. We just got a little more fundamental and that is what young teams do. So we are learning."
(On Edgar Sosa) "I don't have a dog house. Everybody says that. He's never been in my dog house. He's a great kid. He has never been in my doghouse. I just happened to like Andre McGee a lot and I liked the way he plays defense. So right away because I like Andre, Edgar is in the dog house. I don't really have a dog house. Anyone who plays a bench like I play, doesn't have a dog house. I told Edgar, ` what was your best year' ... he said `freshman'. I said, `no son your sophomore junior year'. Freshman wasn't a spectacular year and you may have had better individual stats but your sophomore/junior years, you went to two Elite Eights and got a BIG EAST Championship. So you are the point guard and if the quarterback takes his team to the Final Four, Superbowl, whatever they call it, whether or not his numbers are good, he took them there. So Edgar had a great sophomore/junior year and he is having a very good senior year."
(Looking head to Kentucky) "We don't want to kill our guys on the court. We do a lot of film work. I concentrate more on the other team that we are playing. The other guys concentrate what they do. We have seen them a lot and we know how great they are and we know their abilities. They are not the tallest teams but they are the fastest team and the most athletic teams I have ever seen at Kentucky. So we know what we are up against and it won't be surprising to us. We will work on a game plan to try to limit some of that athleticism. Not easy to do. No one has been able to do it that is why they are undefeated."
(On limiting USF's Jones) "That was our focal point: stop him because he is capable of having big nights. We did a good job in that area. We are doing a lot of good things on defense. We are not making the rotations and step up and do a good job and then gave them a second shot and that is where it hurts. With the shot clock winding down, we gave them second shots."
(About press) "Press has been very good to us. It will be interesting to see if we can press Kentucky. I am not sure we can. When I was in the pros, I pressed Isiah Thomas and I thought it would work. John Wall may be the first player I have coached against that is unpressable, I don't know. Because if he gets by the first wave you are in big trouble. He is one of the better players I have seen in my lifetime because his attitude is so great. And he is the No. 1 high school player in the country and with that kind of athleticism and such a great attitude. Usually they are spoiled and pampered and is terrific the way he plays. Fun to watch him ... not fun to stop him but fun to watch him."
(Size of Kentucky) "It is a big problem. There are freshmen and there are certain freshmen. They have some special ones and they play well together. They have Patrick Patterson, who I have always loved. They play defense so hard. They are the best transition team I have seen in a long, long time. Their runs are incredible. I was charting them on film and on their transitions, they were 75-80 percent on transition and you don't see that very often. They can really finish. Their bigs run well, run really well. They get up and down the floor and they are unselfish and play together. We gotta watch what we do if because if you take a bad shot they really make you pay. Shot selection is really key."
(UK Transition) "Yes, they are incredible. Just the two games I looked at, they were great in transition. A good team normally goes 65 percent (on transition). But they are great finishers and sometimes you think you have them stopped and its one on three and then he (Wall) splits it and dunks the ball. You remember that dunk against IU? I forgot which one it was, when he dunked it lefthanded. That was an incredible play because there were three guys back. `No, not really, I will just put on my Superman cape and just dunk it left-handed.' He is having a great start. He is a terrific basketball player."
(Playing in Rupp) "They (the players) know it is a great atmosphere, I coached there and it picks up when the players are great. Best atmosphere I had there, except the first year, was 1996-97 when the players are great. It picks up in the elevator. Just watching the North Carolina game you could hear everything. We know that. We have Edgar and we have an experienced back court and that will help us."
USF Head Coach Stan Heath
"It was a tough game for us. We let the Louisville pressure get to us, especially the second half. I thought in the first half we did what we needed to do, neither team is very excited about the free throw shooting, neither team is very excited about the 3-point shooting, and neither team is excited about the turnovers. I thought both teams competed pretty hard. Just being shorthanded really cost us, I think that's BIG EAST basketball. You gotta have some depth, you have to have some guys come into the game and give you some production. And tonight it wasn't too good for us, obviously we lose Dominique (Jones) and Chris (Howard) it really put us in a hole. We have to put this one behind us and get ready for our next one as well."
(What was the mindset like at halftime) "We all felt pretty good going into halftime. We felt like we took one of their blows and we came back and gave them a blow as well. Being down by one and missing a lot of free throws and missing a lot of shots, we were playing a lot better and that wasn't one of our better halves. Being down one we thought we had positioned ourselves pretty good. However, in the second half I thought we had a few plays here and there that we didn't finish and they made a little bit of a run. Obviously when we picked up foul no three and foul number four for Jones I thought that changed a lot of momentum. He is the guy we look to and he wasn't able to play out there on the court very long. He is averaging 18 a game and we are struggling to score points, he's our main guy."
(On what Louisville did in the second half) "I gotta give them a lot of credit. Obviously they did a lot of things, when we went small they posted up our small lineup. When we had foul trouble they went at the guy in foul trouble. They kept pressure on the areas that we were really vulnerable. We didn't have answers as the game wore on."
(Will you team look different when your full strength) "We will look remarkably different. I mean you are talking about 20 points and seven rebounds, Augustus Gilchrist, who was playing terrific before he got hurt. Anthony Crater will give us a speed merchant that can really make plays out there on the court. Our two starting big guys from last year aren't here, Augustus Gilchrist and Alex Rivas, they are both at home trying to get better. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be at full strength and we can hang in there in the meantime. But we will look remarkably different with those guys in the lineup we have been pretty successful with our wins."
