Louisville-Manhattan Postgame Quotes
November 11, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2012
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Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening statement)
“Well, we finally played some competition to help us improve. The most noticeable thing to me was how we attacked the zone when Gorgui (Dieng) was out of the game, and how we attacked with Gorgui in the game. The one thing I am happy with us in all three scrimmages is our defense has been very good. I dont mind taking a lot of threes, with the exception of Luke (Hancock) because he turned down about five open threes. That is no good. I told Luke he has to have Russ (Smith's) mentality where every shot to him, is a chance to score. You can't be thinking about it just because you missed a few. The one area of improvement has to be rebounding from our guard spot. I coached Patrick Ewing, but a lot of guys like Mangok (Mathiang) and Gorgui get moved out of the lane a lot. Manhattan did a good job of blocking them out. When you have legs like Chane Behanan and Jamal Mashburn and guys like Buck Williams in the old days, they can't be moved. On Monday I'm going to show them video of Kenneth Faried, who I watched last night and had 17 rebounds. He is always a moving target and can't be blocked out. That is what Montrezl (Harrell) and Gorgui have to learn the most. Our guards have to do a better job rebounding though. Wayne (Blackshear), Russ, and Luke have to help rebound the basketball. Our rebounds are just coming from our four and five positions, so we have to do a better job all around. We are a low percentage defensive team and we hold people to low percentages. We were 14 of 20 on the break again tonight. When you shoot that type of percentage, you have to go get rebounds. We have to get our guards in there and stop leaking out.”
(Elaborate on attacking the zone with and without Gorgui Dieng)
“I think it is the confidence of our team. They don't want to throw the ball to Zach (Price), Stephan Van Treese, or Montrezl (Harrell) the ball at the five, but they will throw it to Gorgui every time. Not only is he a good passer like David Padgett with the passing ability on the perimeter because he sees things, but he also has something David didn't have which was a really improved 15-foot jump shot. That is a big threat against a zone. When people come up on him, he is going to find the bounce pass on the baseline or he will look opposite."
(On taking 30 3s in the win)
"I think if they are open, which those were wide open, then take them. They were trying to stop our dribble penetration. We have to make those. Luke (Hancock) and Wayne (Blackshear) have to make those threes. I think Russ (Smith) is rushing those too much. He is in too much of a hurry, just like everything he does in his life."
(On if this team can be better than last year's team was defensively speaking)
"We got nothing out of the other two games. I think you saw we didn't play one possession of zone, and last year we played a lot of zone. I don't know how soon this team can pick up the stuff we were doing defensively last year. Chris (Smith) and Kyle (Kuric) were 34 and 35 years of age, so they picked up things quick. I don't know if our guys can pick up everything we did last year. We are playing exclusively man and we haven't worked on zone much. We will need it though someday. Right now I am pleased with the man, but our guards have to help rebound.”
(About Peyton Siva's overall floor game)
“I think Peyton is the best guard in the country and it has taken a long time to get to that point because there were so many times when he would run in there and leave his feet and fall on the ground. He was always hurt last year. It was one concussion after another and a sprained ankle because he's Dwayne Wade. He spends half his life on the ground and you are going to get hurt when that happens. Now he stays on the ground and it has taken three years to learn to be a true point. He was never a true point before this year. I shouldn't say that because at the NCAA and the BIG EAST last year he was a true point. I think he is brilliant and a great player. We are going to miss him when he leaves here.”
(About Russ Smith's game)
“We are very anxious to get out on the break. We are looking to get out and we know our percentages are so good. You can't be short when you throw a long pass and I think we were short three times. That will come. This was very good for us. They were without their best basketball player and they did a very good job tonight. They have a tough time scoring right now. Their big guy got 15 rebounds. It was a good lesson for our bigs. He is smaller than Gorgui and Montrezl and he is a Chane (Behanan) type rebounder. I am happy with Chane coming back. Chane had an awesome practice yesterday and when he continues to focus, he is going to be a heck of a basketball player.”
(On Russ Smith giving lift offensively and defensively)
“Russ is tremendous because he is unguardable. Now the only thing he really has to improve on is blocking his guy out, getting loose ball rebounds and off-the-ball defense. He is always looking for the steal. I mean always. You can see his eyes get bigger and bigger. Russ was the key to last year. Without him, we don't win a BIG EAST championship and we don't go to the Final Four. Somebody asked me the question: “Who is more valuable, Gorgui or Peyton” and I have no idea. Who is the guy we can't win without? Russ Smith. He gives you a dimension that most teams don't have. He is unguardable and then he turns around and is the leading steal leader for a season at our school. On the ball offensively and on the ball defensively, he is pretty darn good.”
(On Chane Behanan's focus)
“Chane is a college kid, like I was, like you were, like everybody was. He wants to, besides basketball, have a good time in life. And there is nothing wrong with that except during basketball season. During basketball season, you have to put all your focus on the game. You have to have your PHd; you have to be passionate, hungry and driven. The other word that goes with passion is focus. You can't be passionate and not have focus. Yeah, I love the game and I want to work at the game but what do I want to do about it. I have to be focused on my job. He's young. Once he gets it, he can be one of the premier players I have ever coached because he is really good. Yesterday at practice he was so good it was scary; moves that most college kids can't do.”
(On playing Steve Masiello)
“He called me a couple time this week and asked me why I didn't answer his calls. I am focused. You coach your team. I will see you after the game. We will have a great time but don't call me. Same thing when my son comes in here. I don't even look down there. I love all of them very, very much but my respect for them is so high, I know they can beat us. We won by a lot of points today, but if their player had been healthy that would have been an eight or ten point game. I knew that. He played us perfectly in terms of how to come away with a victory. He didn't panic when he got down 16 or 18. He stayed with it because it was the only way he could stay in the game. He is very good strategist and a very good coach. You root for them so hard. Tonight my son was down 16 and after the game I check the computer and he has tied the score. People you love, you live and die for them except when the one game you go against them. I will root for him now and call him up.”
Manhattan Head Coach Steve Masiello
(Opening Statement)
“What an opener. We struggled finding the flow offensively and we couldn't really get back in it and they stayed after us. They did a really good job turning this over you can't play a team like Louisville and have 27 turnovers, that was the difference in the game. I give them all the credit they are a very good basketball team and they did a very good job getting the win tonight.”
(On how good Louisville will be defensively)
“I don't know what their weaknesses are. I've watched a lot film on them. I've seen them improve just in the three games so far this year. Their size, their length is unbelievable, they get after you. Russ (Smith) and Peyton (Siva) were nightmares to deal with and then you have Gorgui (Dieng) in the back and you got Chane (Behanan) and Montrezl (Harrell) and guys like Zach (Price) and Stephan (Van Treese) are giving them very quality minutes. There's no let off and that's what makes them so special. They really come after you.”
(On how big of an adjustment the team had to make without George Beamon in the starting lineup)
“It's not an excuse, but we couldn't adjust. It happened Friday night with an 85-2 drill, it was a fluke thing. We were practicing in a gym that wasn't ours and he slipped and fractured his ankle so we couldn't even have time to put in things or do anything different to adjust. Not that it would have made any difference. That Louisville team is very good and they were better than us today and they are going to be better than most teams.”
(On how Russ Smith has improved )
“The game seems to come very easy to him right now, I don't think forcing anything. I think when you watch him play he used, to force things a little bit and try to take some things on. It seems like he- and really the whole team-make things look easy that aren't easy. We got after him we pressed a little bit, we speed him up, he pulls up now for a mid-range 18-footer, 15- footer, knocks it down-his freshman year, he would have taken that to the rim. They're just a really impressive team and you can see their growth. I can especially from being around them so much. I've seen their progression Peyton Siva was unbelievable tonight. He didn't have one of his better games, but the whole game I hear him talking, leading, doing everything right. Just a well-coached team, they're very good players and that team's going to be very good.”
(On how it feels being in Louisville, but on the opposing team)
“Half the time I had flashbacks, I was going to start coaching the Louisville team and start telling Peyton (Siva) what to do. It's very weird. I have so many great memories here... and what coach has done from me-if it wasn't for him and Louisville I wouldn't be where I am. I owe him all the credit and what Louisville has done for me is really special to me. It's very special for me to come back and see some many good friends and faces.”
(If he was going to have Russ Smith playing for him at Manhattan)
“He was coming Manhattan ... I thought we had him. Things weren't working out to well, coach has an unbelievable way-he did it with Edgar (Sosa) all of a sudden he tells guys to leave and they become terrific. I'm going to start doing that.”
(On Kentucky native Donovan Kates)
“I brought Anthony Epps in to talk to the team today because Donovan has so much skill and talent he reminds me of Allen Edwards, a guy I played with at Kentucky, he just so nice. I need him to get into a fight, not literally but I need him to assert himself more. When he starts to become aggressive I think the sky is the limit for him. From a basketball stand point he's very fundamental, he's a great young man. He works hard he's just a terrific player and I think he can be very good down the line.”
(On how the hurricane impacted their preparation)
“Our exhibition was cancelled; this was the first time playing under lights. We didn't have a gym we didn't have electricity. New York City had a hurricane and a Nor'easter in the same week which is kind of unheard of. I give our kids so much credit because not one time did they make an excuse. They just did everything I asked. We practiced in probably 12 different gyms this week-all crazy hours. Really basketball was secondary we were concentrating more on life and other students and other student athletes. To see first-hand you pull into our gym there was a tree that went through a car and knocked out all the electrical-we couldn't even get into our gym. It was just a reminder of how bad things were. I'm not saying it to take away from this game because had things been perfect I don't think the outcome would have been different. Louisville is terrific, I'm so proud of our kids because of their mental fortitude and their ability not to make excuses for anything, just come out and represent the college.”
(On Rhamel Brown and the team rebounding)
“This kid is Superman when he decides to play and stays out of foul trouble. He is tough to stop. I think that is one thing we do we physically get after you a little bit. We have some very tough kids who play hard. The big thing for us was we wanted our guards to get on the backboard and rebound and they did a good job and we shot a lot of percentage. So we had more opportunities for offensive rebounds.”
