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Marshall-Louisville Postgame Quotes
November 27, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2010
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Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"The one big point of emphasis tonight was their rebounding and how strong they are on the glass. They run the same things that Pittsburgh runs. They run the same sets and they are not a good foul shooting team. So you have to be very physical, we played really good defense and kept giving them second shots and free throws. It is such a waste to press and play good defense and give up second shots. It was very, very disappointing. Nothing worked well, the fast break is not working well. They had 25 offensive rebounds and 10 is the norm. So you took away 15 opportunities on the fast break. If you didn't start Van Treese in the second half then we don't win the game. He made the big plays that broke it open and we were able to maintain the lead. The most disappointing thing, because this team has been great at focusing in on the game plan, I don't think they believed how physical this team is on the back board. So there was a lesson learned there. The fact that Chattanooga beat them at Marshall, so they thought it was going to be blowout time. We tried to explain to them that this was a very athletic team that is going to push you in the back and get the rebounds. So it was a lesson learned and anytime you can learn a lesson with a victory, it is a good lesson."
(On second half rebounding)
"You liked our rebounding in the second half? It was the lesser of two evils I guess. When your center has one defensive rebound in the game, so if you can rebound on the offensive end you should rebound on the defensive end. So that was very, very disappointing."
(On Van Treese)
"Even in the first half he has some rebounds taken away from him that he normally gets. What you have to do is play every single team differently with a different game plan. You have to understand their strengths and our team tonight did not understand the strengths of this basketball team. "
(Like a BIG EAST contest)
"We told them it was going to be that. We said you are playing Pittsburgh without as much cohesiveness because they have a first year coach. They run the same sets offensively and the same rebounding mentality and the Marshall kids did a great job. They knew what they had to do to stay in the game and they did it."
(What you take away from this game)
"Anytime you can learn lessons with a victory it is a good thing because we are playing good defense. We are switching properly and we are doing really good things in the passing lanes and we are disrupting things with our press. But you can give them second opportunities and they kept getting them. If you look at the shooting percentages, the deflections are in the high 40s every game. That is great but tonight we didn't get it done."
(On Elisha Justice)
"He played a lot of minutes because Siva was in foul trouble. He played very well and he has a lot of moxy for a freshman. He does a very good job. I have never seen a player in this modern age dribble like that. You feel like you are watching a Bob Cousy throwback. In terms of his hand on top of the ball and dribbling correctly. He is an old school guard who does a lot of good things with the exception of not switching on that play late in the game. He has a lot of moxy for a freshman."
Marshall Head Coach Tom Herrion
"Obviously we're disappointed in the loss, but I'm extremely proud of my kids. They battled endlessly, valiantly, I thought we gave great effort. We didn't play particularly well in stretches in order to win here against a good Louisville team. Things that obviously hurt us on the offensive end, turning the ball over 19 times, obviously free throws are a concern. But I couldn't be happier with our effort and our resiliency in a very hostile environment. I thought we battled to the end and I'm proud of that. I don't believe in moral victories, we play to win. That's a good team and we took it to them, but we didn't play well enough to close it out on the road."
(On coach Pitino comparing Marshall to Pittsburgh)
"I think that's a compliment, we're a work in progress. I like to think we're taking a little bit from Pitt and a little bit from the other stops I've made. I thought we played like a Pitt team in our tenacity and our effort. I take that back, I think we played like a Marshall team that I want to coach. I understand what Coach Pitino is saying and I take that as a compliment, but our kids played Marshall basketball today in our effort, our competitiveness. And yet we were still deficient in some areas that contributed to our defeat."
(On Louisville's pressure to start both halves)
"I thought more so in the beginning of the second half which was kind of disappointing. I thought we did a good job settling into the game. In the first half, you know you've got to come into this environment and we knew they were going to press us. But the way we started the second half, I was disappointed in that. We gave up too many breakouts. You can't have live ball turnovers against a team like Louisville. You're better off throwing it out of bounds, or stepping out of bounds or traveling, where you get dead ball turnovers. Live ball turnovers put so much pressure on you with their transition game and on offense and that's where they really take advantage of you. (Stephan) Van Treese gave them real energy. They started Van Treese in the second half, most people don't pick up on that. I thought he was a key component to getting energy back in the building to start the second half."
(On free throw shooting)
"We keep going at it, keep practicing, keep working at it. We've spent more time on it, being on break this week. Obviously it doesn't reflect in the percentage. DeAndre Kane was 4 for 10, and he's a pretty good shooter. I don't know, mechanically, we'll keep looking at it. We'll break it down, look at mechanics and obviously it's repitition, but obviously we have to keep addressing it. It's one of the areas we're struggling in. If you go on the road and get 29 free throws. If you make seven or eight of those during a stretch, it might be the difference in the game. Cut the turnovers down by four or five and you're right there. Free throws are our concern. We had 25 offensive rebounds, when was the last time a team had 25 offensive rebounds? They don't fall to us. We're playing some high, major athletes out there. That's effort.
(On few offensive rebounds from their centers)
"We switched a lot defensively so we had different matchups. Offensive rebounding is effort and energy. Johnny Thomas gave us great minutes in the second half. I thought he came in and was a big spark, four offensive rebounds. Eladio (Espinosa) gave us good minutes also. We took a big step forward today. We lost, but we took a major step forward and played more like I want my team to reflect and now we've got to tighten up a lot of things but you play with that energy and that hard and clean up some things, we've got a chance to be a pretty damn good team.
(On DeAndre Kane's rebounding effort)
"He's such a big guard, I'm not sure he's a prototypical point guard, right now we use him a lot at the point. He's big and strong, he's got great hands he's a tough kid. It doesn't surprise me that he got seven rebounds. We're switching a bit more, so he is inside more with our matchups. He's a very competitive young man. Obviously he played well, he didn't shoot free throws well and he had six turnovers, that's not good enough. As well as he played, he's got to play better.
(On if they'd had Damier Pitts in the game)
"Pitts doesn't play for us right now. I'm not smart enough to theorize or look into any crystal ball to see. He's not in our rotation right now. We'll worry about that when he gets eligible. We play with the deck we have."
(On scoring production)
"Shaq struggled today. He's got to be a guy that gives us a little more scoring punch. I thought he struggled today. Give Louisville credit, they're a very good defensive team. Let's stop with all the talk about because coach Pitino doesn't have a Draftnet first round pick or NBA mock draft lottery star, that they're supposed to be down? That's an insult to the program, an insult to the staff recruiting them and an insult to the hall of fame coach. Enough with the `Louisville being down.' They're a different makeup of the team. They're an outstanding team, one of the winningest programs in basketball.
(On the KFC Yum! Center compared to Freedom Hall)
"I couldn't tell you. The court's the same size, the rims are the same. Obviously it's a spectacular arena. I told coach before the game it doesn't surprise me. If they're going to do something, they do it first class. It's a 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon, Marshall rolls in, they put 22,000 in the places, that says something. Historically they're one of the top 10 teams in college basketball."
