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Louisville-Memphis Postgame Quotes
December 17, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
“A lot of times statistics can be a little misleading. In this fashion, both teams played really hard defensively and both teams shot low percentage. But what is not taken into concentration is fouls. The way we look at it, is if we foul them then that is a score. When we were in man defense in the first half, we don't look at it like 28 percent from the field. We see it more as shooting 45 percent because we fouled them, and the same goes for them, we were fouling each other. The second half became wide open because both teams were playing so hard. Tonight, we went against a great basketball player. Will Barton was always under control and you don't see guys like that anymore. He was like an Elgin Baylor type player; you don't see guys like that. He was always under control and moved without the basketball. Against our defense, anybody who has 28 points and 16 rebounds has a hell of a night.
“I thought Gorgui (Dieng) was fantastic; he didn't get a blow during the game. He had 14 points and14 rebounds; he was a great presence during the game. I thought we made fabulous plays down the stretch. I thought Rakeem (Buckles) had an incredible rebound when we needed it. Russ Smith was fantastic, big time. I'm really proud of Russ. There's not a nicer young man in college basketball.”
(On putting Russ Smith and Rakeem Buckles in the starting lineup)
“It was based on ball containment. Memphis is a big time dribble team and we have been struggling with that and Russ and Rakeem are a little bit better in that situation. We just wanted to get off to a good start. It wasn't based on who we thought the best players are. We wanted to start defensively. If we were going to a zone defense, we might have started a little differently. It's not a big deal; next game could be a totally different situation.”
(On the evaluation of the defense)
“I thought most of the time we were playing great defense. It's very tough because we are a young team. They were trying to penetrate and we were forced to help, and then the guy who had to help then circled for a 3. They had a good strategy and they are a very tough team to play against. With the exception of one team, they have played eight outstanding opponents. Their record might be 5-4, but nobody has played the schedule that they have. They are going to be all right; they are a good basketball team, well coached and well drilled. It was exciting to have Memphis back; we had some great games with them. I just hope the BIG EAST gets smart and allows them to come into the league. We got hurt big time, and we need Memphis. Memphis doesn't need us, we need Memphis. We need Temple; we need to build up our basketball again. Whoever the brilliant people were who raided our conference, we have to in return be equally brilliant. We need to bring in basketball schools. Memphis is the perfect fit for the BIG EAST culture. They are an inner-city school, just like Temple. They would strengthen our basketball conference.”
(On if Memphis is the most talented team that Louisville has played so far?)
“I think Vanderbilt outplayed us. I think Vanderbilt is better than us. We just had 'Tebow Time.' We just played better at the end of the game.”
(On if you classify your team as an outstanding team?)
“I think the key to success is humility. I think the key to success is not hugging yourself. It's obvious that if your 10-0 and ranked fourth in the country you're pretty darn good. We just made a rule that we won't hug ourselves. We are not even in January yet, and we played good teams. I think Ohio University is as good as any team that we played this year. Vanderbilt was terrific without their best player. Memphis was terrific. Against Butler, without Peyton Siva, and we come out with a double digit victory was a great win. We played some really good teams.”
(On the amount of minutes Gorgui Dieng had to play)
“Well, I thought there were a lot of fouls and free throws in the game. Those are like semi-timeouts. So normally I wouldn't do that but because of all the foul shots. I felt like he was getting a lot of breaks. His position from a fatigue standpoint is one of the easiest to play because he plays the backside of the press. So we were getting half a timeout every time we went to the line.”
(On having new guys back to play)
“What happened with (Kevin) Ware was I was going to play him more, but they went to zone and we didn't work on zone offense in practice with him. It was a very good decision on Josh's (Pastner) part. They only showed one possession of 2-3 zone. They haven't played very much zone. I think because they saw the Farleigh Dickinson tape playing zone a little bit they went to it. Kevin doesn't know the zone offense because he has only been here two days. That's the reason I didn't play him more.”
(On Rakeem Buckles game)
“Everybody had a great game. I think we made some mistakes defensively because they are a great offensive team. They are tough to guard at all five positions. That rebound Buckles had was great. There was no ACL drag over on that rebound. He got up. He almost got it on the way down.”
(On Russ Smith)
“I have to give credit where credit is due. It was Ralph Willard's discovery. We went to watch a young man who we were in with and I said, 'Ralph, I don't really like him. He's going to be very good but it's going to take too long.' Ralph said, 'I'll tell you who I like I really like, Russ Smith. I've known his dad since I was Russ's age and he was the MVP of our basketball camp in seventh and eighth grade.' I said, 'He is 5-8 or 5-9.' He said, 'Rick, he is not go stand next to him. He's six feet now.' So I stood next to him and asked him how he was doing, he gave me a hug, and Ralph kept saying, 'He's the guy we need.' So I give all the credit to Ralph Willard. He (Russ Smith) is a very unique talent.”
(On Gorgui Dieng's progression)
“He got real frustrated early and his legs aren't very strong, but we have been working really hard on the vertimax. He's improving his jumping. He has to have a day off tomorrow even though we are preparing to play a really good team. I know I say that every time and you guys think I am giving you the Lou Holtz act. This team is really good. Charleston is really good. I'm not sure why I scheduled them but I did. Bobby is one of the best guys in the business. They are coming in here and they will be nine or ten and one. They have a center who is like Luke Harangody. They have a big time scorer on the wing, and they bring pressure. It will be another exciting game just like the one tonight. Another exciting game.”
(On what he saw out of Kevin Ware)
“I've never had a player in my life who I could put in after two days of practice. So he has done well. He is going to be very good. It's just that when he went zone, he really doesn't know our zone offense at all. Memphis surprised me by going zone because they haven't shown it. He's going to be fine. He will be a very good player. He is a terrific athlete, good off the bounce, and much more a point guard than I anticipated. We are very excited to have him. Next game, he will be able to play a little bit more.”
Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
(Opening comments)
“It was a very good basketball game. I was really proud of our guys. I thought the guys battled. I thought they competed and gave great effort. I thought Louisville battled, competed, and gave great effort. It was a Hall of Fame Day game, and for us, we felt very privileged to be part of a game when the Hall of Fame is involved. I thought it was obviously big for the fans. I feel horrible for the Memphis fans that we didn't get the win for them. Last night at our team meeting, we went through all the history involved with this game. I thought Jason Smith (Memphis writer) did a wonderful job in the local paper about the history and we talked about it with our team last night and what it means. We were hurt because we wanted to do this for Tiger Nation, but I told the guys it's a long season. We're due to get hot. We are going to get hot. We're too good of a team not to get hot. We just need to clean a couple of things up. Take those last few minutes against Murray State and the game here, and just put it together and we have a chance to get on a hot streak. I believe in this team, and we're going to be fine. There are not a lot of fans on the road, and then you play here and it's packed like some of the games in our league. So we just have to find a way to keep getting better and find a way to win on Monday and then find a way to win on Thursday. Bottom line, the difference in the game, we don't need to over analyze anything. It just comes down to really two things. It was turnovers. They had 24 points off of turnovers to our 16. We didn't take care of the ball in some areas, and free throw shooting. That's the bottom line – nothing else to pin point and it's really black and white there.”
(On adjustments made in the second half)
“We made some adjustments in the second half. We went zone. I thought our zone was good. You have to give Louisville credit. They hit a couple of 3s that were at some key times. But that's what happens when you're in a zone, you have a tendency to give up a few of those shots like that, and they started hitting them. I think we lead the country in teams hitting 3-pointers off the backboard against us. But I'd like to give a special shout out to Will Barton. I thought he was special again, and he's playing like a first team All-American. He's playing like a pro. I feel bad, that even with his warrior effort, we came up a little short. He's been absolutely fantastic. I thought Joe (Jackson) gave us good minutes. I thought Chris (Crawford) was good in the middle part of the game. I thought the last few minutes of the game, he wasn't as sharp as we needed him to be. I think the first few minutes he got into foul trouble, so that hurt us a tad bit in the last three minutes. He may have just gotten worn down a little bit. But either way, I thought Ferrakohn (Hall) did some nice things and he'll continue to get better. Adonis (Thomas) is going to be a really great player, but he's not a freshman. I told him, you're playing too many minutes to be a freshman, and he's going to breakout. There's some things he did well, and some things he needs to get better at. But once he does that, it's just going to make our team that much better because we have to get more production out of the four and five spot, especially the four spot. We have to continue to get more production and continue to get better in those areas.”
(About the attitude in the locker room after this game vs. Murray State)
“No one takes losing worse than me. I don't know if there is any coach in the country who takes losing worse than me internally. I know it is not healthy the way I handle it inside, but I felt at peace that we gave everything that we did to be able to have an opportunity to win the game. We are going to be fine. I told the guys in the locker room that I want to make sure that we continue to stay positive because a lot can happen. Everyone here knows who covers sports, everyone sees it. How many times have you seen teams that are maybe a little bit up and down and all of a sudden – boom - they just hit a streak and they just get going and they reel off 16, 17 in a row? Things like that happen in sports, we have all seen it. We have seen it with our local team in the pro franchise – the Grizzlies – we saw it with us last year. We saw it with other teams.
“I remember growing up in Houston, when Hakeem Olajuwon got hurt and the Rockets reeled off about 19 in a row. It was unbelievable. In sports, sometimes, just strange things happen. That is what is so great about sports, you aren't dealing with robots; you are dealing with humans. I felt like for myself it was important to stay positive with the guys and keep a positive message. The season is not done. We have a lot to play for and our number one goal is to win conference. We have to win conference. That is what we want to do and everything we do is preparing for is that. We have to find a way to win Monday and got to find a way to win next Thursday so I can at least sleep and have a good holiday.”
(Thoughts on Louisville)
“I thought they were great. Obviously, coach Pitino is a hall of famer. He is a terrific coach and he has a terrific ball club. Gorgui Dieng is a really good basketball player. He affects the game in many areas and not just scoring. You have to give coach Pitino and his staff a pretty good compliment for continuing to get him better. I saw him in high school and he was a nice player, but he isn't as good as he is now. They are a good basketball club. I mean the Buckles kid, I don't think he was a big time 3-point shooter, but he hit that big 3 on us and from that side angle slot 3-point shot. Coach Pitino is a hall of famer. He should already be in the Hall of Fame. They have a good basketball team.”
(On UM strength of schedule)
“We still have at Georgetown, we still have Xavier and Tennessee and we still have Robert Morris, Charlotte and Lipscomb on Monday. So we are not out of the woods and we still have some tough games. I talked to Jeff Hathaway, who was the UConn AD, who was the chair of the selection committee and I asked him how were we a 12-seed lasts year when we had a 29 RPI. I didn't understand. Penn State had a 10-seed and their RPI was 60-something. He told me, 'Look at your strength of schedule, your non-conference strength of schedule, that is what it comes down to. It is all about who you play, where you played and how you did.' I tried to take that and I knew we were relatively young and it was a little bit of a risk but I wanted to go out and schedule. I think the fans in Memphis wanted it and to get ready for conference. We needed to play a tough schedule and so I am hoping it will pay off in the end, which I think it will.”
(Where does Louisville fit in as a tough opponent)
“Louisville is as good as any of them. We have played some tough teams and they are as good as any of them, especially when you have them at home because they have a great home environment – a tremendous crowd. They really have a sixth and seventh man, there is no question about that. They have a tremendous home court advantage, so they are a good basketball team.”
