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FIU-Louisville Postgame Quotes
December 01, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
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Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
"I'm not sure what to say. It was a different game than we have seen in a while. We are playing good defense and getting a lot of deflections and we got a chance to work on our zone. But it just wasn't their (FIU's) night at all and nothing was working for them offensively in the first half. We will take the win and move on. From this point it gets a lot tougher now because South Alabama plays a lot of different defenses, they press a great deal. So this is the type of game that you just move on. It was not their night, and we just jumped out to a big lead early on."
(On starting Stephan Van Treese)
"The reason I started Stephan is because we are trying to get some blocking out at the power forward spot. That is where we are breaking down most, with blocking out and rebounding wise. We started Stephan, he didn't block out either. Neither (he nor Rakeem Buckles) did tonight. We did get to work on our zone tonight which is good because we haven't really played any. We got to play a lot of guys without running up the score, although that was inevitable."
(On Preston Knowles' performance)
"I thought this was his most complete game, he looked to pass the basketball tonight. He is getting in better shape, he is working very hard on his conditioning in practice and he has been dropping some weight which is good. He has a strange quirk, he is wide open and he doesn't shoot. He doesn't like to be wide open when he shoots. It's the most amazing thing. He will pass up a wide open shot. He likes somebody in his area for some reason. I have never seen that before. But he was looking to pass the ball tonight and looking to set people up, which is good."
(On Kyle Kuric's injury)
"He had a mild concussion. I would say that he probably won't play South Alabama and then will be ready for San Francisco. He was dazed, but you know the concussion things today, they have to go through so many procedures so I would say he will be doubtful for Saturday. But Chris Smith is playing well for us. It was good that he got a chance to play tonight. Russ Smith got a chance to get his feet wet a little bit. And we tried to get Gorgui (Dieng) to stop coming into the offensive player's plane, and to block shots in his plane. He did a much better job of that in the second half."
(On measuring Russ Smith and Elisha Justice)
"Well Russ has never practiced a day since he has been here. I couldn't say that they were even. I would say that looking at their reputation coming into the season that Russ was ahead, but you will never subscribe to those theories again. They are both really good players. Russ has got to learn some things and get in shape. But they are both really good players and we are lucky to have both of them."
(On learning from the game)
"Just get the victory and move on. It is one of those nights where nothing worked well for them, so we will just move on. It was a very entertaining game for you guys, but for us it wasn't with what we got out of it."
Florida International Head Coach Isiah Thomas
(Opening Statement)
"Clearly we were outplayed tonight. I thought the first 10 minutes of the game, the guys were a little shell-shocked, and as the game wore on we were quickly out of it. We just tried to get our guys competing, and tried to get them back to playing the way we were playing the last couple of games. You have got to give Louisville a lot of credit; they played extremely well tonight. It's a good basketball team. Them [Louisville] and Florida State probably will be two teams that have a chance to be in the top 25, top 30 teams in the country. I like what they're doing, we just have to keep getting better--get our team ready to play the next game."
(On FIU's defense)
"It's definitely the worst game we've played this year. I didn't recognize my team the first 10 minutes of the game. Anyone who has watched us play over the past couple of games knows that. We do play a certain style but tonight I just felt that the first 10 minutes of the game my team was a little nervous."
(On if the team was nervous because of the opponent or the arena atmosphere)
"Probably it is a combination of both, but I do know my team was a little nervous. I felt bad for the guys and just tried to get them back together. We'll just move on to the next game and hopefully when March comes around, we'll be a lot tougher team."
(On what impresses him about the Louisville program)
"The way they shoot the ball; their three-point shooting. They play with a collective will and they're playing with great confidence. They get it to their stuff pretty quickly, but they're playing with great confidence. I think playing at home has really helped them, and it's given them a great confidence and a great sense of awareness. I think that's what you see in them right now."
(On the potential of Louisville being a Top-25 team)
"I think they can go and play against anybody in the country. From what I've seen and what I've been watching on television and the teams we've played against...Louisville is just as good as any of the other teams."
(On if his team can learn or take anything from the game)
"There is definitely something that can be taken from it, not from a basketball standpoint but from a mental toughness standpoint. What I just spent the last 20 minutes in the locker room talking about was their mentality in terms of the game, how you coach the game and how you play. You play a certain way, you lose a certain way. I thought we got knocked out of our style of play tonight and consequently we didn't look like a good basketball team. I think we are a good basketball team. As the season goes on, I think we'll win our share of games. Again when March comes around I think hopefully we'll have a better showing, when we get a little bit tougher mentally.
