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Louisvlle-College of Charleston Postgame Quotes
December 21, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
“We pulled another one out. It was a great game. There are no moral victories and I know Bobby's (Cremins) team outplayed us tonight. We just showed a tremendous fortitude down the stretch. When you give up 12 3s, you don't normally win because they are very difficult to guard. Because they take you off the bounce, and they are a drive and dish team. They can put four shooters on the floor, pass it real well and cut real well.
“We knew this was going to be a war. This is a great team. For about 32-33 minutes into this basketball game, they were the better team. So we give them a lot of credit and our guys a lot of credit because of the way they played defense down the stretch. Gorgui (Dieng) and Russ Smith just played like men possessed. Both of those men played like men possessed. I give big credit to my son (Richard). He made the move of the game. He told me to play Kyle (Kuric) in the four slot because the middle was wide open and they weren't playing it. He said, 'Put Kyle in there; he'll make the shot or something good will happen.' And he got in there and really bothered them.
“Where Rakeem (Buckles) and Chane (Behanan) were a little uncertain of what to do, Kyle made it and it was a brilliant move on Richard's part. We needed that at that point. So I am really proud of Russ and Gorgui – the way they played as I have been telling you because you don't believe me because you just look at statistics; we are just not a good defensive team. We have to get a lot better. But we play our tails off. I don't think you are going to find many teams who play as hard as we do. We just gotta get Chane and Rakeem to contain the basketball better. We know people are going to play a lot of zone because of our screening and back screening and Peyton Siva off the bounce. So we have to get better at that. Preston Knowles is not walking through that door anymore and we just have to get better at our zone offense.”
(About going to full court man)
“We put a guy on the ball and he was having too easy of a time getting it in. So we put a guy on the ball and we wanted to take that guy and beat the trap on any reverse or speed dribble. But Russ was a pickpocket in crucial situations you have to live with the occasional bad shot with him. You have to live with the occasional … I don't know … you've just got to live with him because he is so good and so talented – a very unique talent. There aren't too many guys who have good hands like that; not only quick hands, but has a great nose for how to steal on the ball. I haven't coached any guys who are great steal guys on the ball like Russ Smith. He is the best I have seen at that. You have a lot of guys who anticipate well and shoot the gaps well but he is awesome on the ball. He basically won the game for us. They are very tough because you are pressuring them because you are down and you let a guy go by you and you have to rotate and take the help, they dish it and they get 3s.“
“But you don't usually win games with the three point line, but we were so possessed with six or seven minutes left in the game. But I have seen a lot of teams play hard but that was overboard. So I told our guys now you know we have a lot to work on. Just because we are not the greatest shooting team, we have to be the ball movement team. Then you will see better cuts when and when the ball went inside you stood and watched and it was almost like the guy who was open from eight-to-ten feet doesn't know what to do and he has to shoot the ball like Kyle did.”
(On Kyle Kuric switching to the four)
“They (Chane and Rakeem) were uncertain whereas Kyle was going to shoot the ball. I just thought Gorgui played like a man possessed down the stretch. We played a really good basketball team. Charleston is a heck of a ball club. Ohio was a heck of a ball club. They could play in the Big East this year. They could hold their own with anybody … maybe not a Syracuse because of their size but they could hold their own with anybody else. Both of those teams are terrific, just as Long Beach State is.”
(On Gorgui Dieng's progression)
“I think he is really improving. He is 20 pounds away from being a great player. I think he makes big plays, and guards the basket well. Pressure like that, when you get a guy that can do what he can do … but again I am really impressed with Charleston. They can pass and cut, and (Luke) Harangody (was referring to Trent Wiedeman) inside is going to be a heck of a player one day.”
(On Gorgui Dieng blocking the shot while keeping it inbounds)
“I teach him that myself. I go up and show him how to do it. I said, 'Gorgui, you don't know who Bill Russell is, but he is one of the best players that could block a shot and keep it in play.' They key is with that many people in the floor to keep the ball in play and he did a great job of that tonight.”
(On the zone offense in the middle being open)
“They left it because they were going to take away the perimeter.”
(On if Buckles and Behanan should be able to capitalize in the middle)
“Yeah, it is something that we work on every day. If you have played the game then you know that, that is a hard shot. Now it doesn't bother Kyle, he likes that shot because of his great touch. They think should I drive, should I shoot, should I pass? You have to take the shot. You have to ball fake and take the shot.”
(On Kyle Kuric's overall performance)
“Yeah, I think he did well. He has to rebound the ball better though. I'm not sure he is 100 percent and neither is Peyton Siva. It's amazing to me that Russ Smith was one of the poorer conditioned athletes last year. He hates running suicides, he hates running on a treadmill to get in shape for the season. Right now, he is one of the best conditioned athletes on the team, and Peyton Siva has to get back to that. He is fatiguing right now because he missed 28 days of practice. He worked on his shooting, but not working on getting back into awesome shape like the Energizer bunny he was before.”
(On if the pressure from Siva and R. Smith could help benefit other teammates to get more steals)
“Yeah, but what you witnessed tonight, and I have been coaching along time, very difficult to do. They were exhausted. They wanted to give me a 30 second timeout, but I told them we needed a full timeout. They were exhausted and rightfully so. They made big plays. With the exception of a few late free throws down the stretch, every game we have played this year with six to seven minutes to go, we have really good defensive plays and executed really well on our offensive plays.”
(On team being able to come back and finish down the stretch multiple times this season)
“I think they have great heart, great character. Then we have been getting great execution. I told them there are two things that is going to stop us; stagnation of our motion offense and the 3-point line. I told them 'Stop the 3, stop the 3', but it's easier said than done when you are guarding Charleston. Charleston is very good. They can pick and roll. They drive and switch and force you to pick up the help defense. We didn't want to play any zone tonight, but we played a zone a few times and it hurt us because they played motion against us.”
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
(Opening Statement)
“It was a heck of a ballgame. Their pressure finally caught up to us down the stretch. I'm really proud of our guys and this is a great learning experience for us. And hopefully we can learn a lot from it.”
(On going into their next game)
“We've got a big game coming up. But we had a chance here and it was great. Coach Pitino is a great coach and they are just relentless. Their pressure is relentless. Next game is a big one and it's a different type of game. But what I want to do is just learn from this game.”
Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
(On things they did well)
“In the first half, it was just hitting shots. We were playing tough, and we were taking care of the ball. Then in the second half, we got a little loose and started to lose the ball a little bit. They were beating us on rebounds and they are just a real scrappy team. It's a very tough team to play, especially when there is a crowd here. They played with that crowd, and whenever that crowd got loud is when they went on their run. It was an awesome experience and we just have to learn from it.”
