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Louisville-Syracuse Postgame Quotes
February 13, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2012
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Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
“I am going to be short because it is late. It was a defensive battle and they came up with the plays in the end. I am very, very disappointed that we lost the game because last year the same thing happened. If you take both teams who are struggling with the other's defense then we made some really bad mental plays and took ourselves out of the dribble penetration. We have handled their zone really well in the past couple years because we had multiple guys dribble penetrate. Tonight, we only had one able to do it and then he took himself out of the game. But, when it comes down to it, it is very simple, we didn't make free throws ---that is what is so bothersome to me. Not that we didn't lose to a good basketball team, but (shooting) 12 for 21 with the amount of time we spend on it is inexcusable. So I am very disappointed in the loss. It meant a lot for us to win all the home games. We didn't get the job done.”
(About missing free throws)
“I can't answer to why guys make or miss. I just know we spend a lot of time. We make them usually in crunch time but when it comes down to when you play Syracuse ... you have a difficult time scoring against them. They always have a difficult time scoring against us. Both teams took each other out of transition.”
(On not calling timeout on second to last possession)
“We had the play. We went over the play in the timeout before. They like to trap out of it. We diagrammed the play before, but we just took the wrong option.”
(Why put Angel Nunez in for last play)
“That is a play we run every single day in practice. Do you figure a lot of teams make that shot with one second to go? Have you seen it? He (Angel Nunez) is not cold. We had to get a halfcourt shot and I trust Angel. Lot of guys don't practice that shot. We do. We practice it every day -- hundreds of times.”
(Why Blackshear didn't play as much in second half)
“He doesn't really know what we are trying to do defensively right now. I went with the veterans because it was a very low scoring game. I mean, don't get too excited about what Wayne did the other night. A guy comes in on his first night and has a good night, and then reality sets in. He still doesn't know what we do offensively and defensively nor should he know that. Don't get carried away. We are trying to get him ready for the DePaul game. Get him some practices in. This was not his kind of game, or Russ Smith's for that matter.”
(On any possible moral victory)
“There are no moral victories. We are crushed with this loss -- absolutely crushed. We didn't get the job done, when we should have. We were both having trouble scoring against each other which is a credit to both defenses. Plays like Gorgui (Dieng) not shooting that shot that bothers me because we work on that for 45 minutes every day in practice. I don't care if our guys miss shots. If they are open, they better shoot the ball. But that type of thing irks the hell out of me. Give credit to Syracuse, they are a good basketball team. The only thing that will erase this loss is to beat them up there.”
Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
(Opening Statement)
“It was an unbelievable defensive struggle tonight; both teams have difficult defenses to play against. They got a couple open looks they missed; we got a couple we missed. Usually it comes down to on offensive play. Dion (Waiters) had a couple of open looks on the drive and couldn't finish; he made a defensive play at the end of the game. It probably should've ended that way because it was a defensive struggle the whole game. I've got to give their defense a lot of credit, their very difficult to play against. Their freshman (Chane Behanan) played very well. When (Peyton) Siva got in foul trouble, that hurt them a little bit, it was just a struggle for both teams offensively. You can either give the defenses credit or say it was a bad offensive game. We're going to look on the bright side and say it was a real defensive struggle.”
(On Louisville's defense)
“Well they play a matchup zone, we play a 2-3 zone and we match up very well. They matchup a lot and you have to really drive it and get in the lane. I told Scoop (Jardine) he was 50 percent the last two games, 100 percent last game and zero percent tonight. We're fortunate enough to have three high quality guards; Brandon Triche had two big buckets. I thought we showed great perseverance to get the lead, they came back and took the lead right back, and Brandon made two plays we had to have to get back. We made a couple of defensive plays and were able to grab the lead. I think it's always tough when you lose a lead like that and you go down five, it's difficult at that stage. We've been in a bunch of close games this year and we've made plays we had to in those games.”
(On Louisville's last possession)
“We were going to play (Kyle) Kuric the whole game; he's averaging about 30 against us for his career. He's not all-BIG EAST against us, he's All-American. We forgot him one time and he made a 3; we were going to make sure we played him. I knew (Peyton) Siva was going to drive. We didn't want the ball to get down to the baseline because when it got down there, the freshman (Chane Behanan) made some really good plays. Kris Joseph made the play at the end there and was able to come up with the ball.”
(On transition offense)
“We'd like to run, but it's difficult - we're not rebounding well enough. Everybody wants to get out and run, but you don't get that to often when you play good teams.”
(On free throws)
“They were big, he (Fab Melo) made his first one. I wasn't too optimistic on his last two. He's becoming a shooter I guess, he's been shooting the ball better lately.”
(On Brandon Triche)
“He's a good player; he made some plays for us. He's had 18 or 20 a few times this year. I have absolute confidence in him; it was obvious that Scoop (Jardine) wasn't having a good offensive game, although he made some good passes. Brandon is a very good player and I have no hesitation to have him in there at any time.”
(On recent struggles against Louisville)
“Rick's (Pitino) teams are very good against zone. He's the best zone coach. He's great at attacking zones and they've had really great shooters. I think (Preston) Knowles really hurt us, sometimes you don't realize how valuable one guy might be and I thought he was very valuable against us. Seems like him and (Kyle) Kuric made big shots against us the last couple years. I thought our defense reacted a little better tonight than we had. They are very good at attacking zone defenses.”
