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Louisville-Western Kentucky Quotes
December 14, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening statement)
“Well, we needed this type of a basketball game where it was hard fought, possession type basketball. We knew what we were getting into. Certainly, they got a big lift from the players that came back. But we played really good defense in the second half. I thought Chane Behanan played a terrific game. It doesn't show a lot of times, statistically, what a player does, but he got people good shots with his passing. He got on the backboard. He did a lot of great things. He had a great week of practice and he certainly is very deserving of that MVP.”
(On Terry Rozier impacting the game)
“I would say the direct opposite of that - almost the polar opposite of that. I think that Terry pressed because he wasn't scoring. I thought he did a great job of rebounding the ball. I think he learned the most valuable lesson a freshman can learn: you don't have to score to have a good night. He pressed because he missed a few shots. Rather, a point guard needs to think about everything other than that. The shot goes in, so be it. I told him that in the timeout. Don't worry about. So, I'll have to disagree with you. I thought Chane Behanan, Tim Henderson and Mangok Mathiang were the guys that impacted the game.”
(On what affected Terry Rozier's game)
“I just think a freshman - the first thing they look at is their shot going in. Terry was playing fine. He took good shots. They just didn't go in. I try to get my guys not to be concerned about, when you take a good shot, whether it goes in or not. But, he rebounded the basketball well. I think the difference was, obviously, Tim Henderson is a seasoned veteran who came in and gave us a big lift.”
(On the team keeping the turnovers low)
“You know, I wish I had an answer for that. Everybody keeps asking me that. I'm not sure why we have such a low turnover rate. I haven't coached too many teams that have had this type of rate before. I'm happy with 12, and to be honest with you, I think three turnovers tonight were stepping on the line - Luke on the sideline, Chane on the baseline and somebody else. So, I really don't have an answer. It's a very good thing though.”
(On Russ Smith at the point guard position)
“Russ did a very good job. I said this to the media before the game and this is not taking a shot at anybody else because my admiration for these guys is incredible. I think Julius Randle up the street is a phenomenal basketball player. I think Jabari Parker is awesome and all of these guys are great. They really are great. But, Russ Smith is the premier player in the country. And I say that - because everybody always wants something new - Russ Smith has been to back-to-back Final Four's, back-to-back BIG EAST championships, and he's won the national championship. Russ has improved his game where he had a negative assist-turnover; he's now a 2-to-1 assist-turnover (ratio). He's improved his shot selection and he's playing great basketball. And he's a point guard. I always laugh when people say, 'Can he play point at the NBA level?' They play with a 16-second shot clock - they take eight seconds in the backcourt - and he's a great pick-and-roll guy. We like him to score. When he goes to the pros, he's got to change to whatever coach he plays for. So, until you knock the young man off of his throne, he's the premier player in college basketball. (It's a) biased opinion by me, but I think he is because he's made every change. Two years ago, I needed him to carry the team on his back, he did. Now I need him to pass the basketball and take good shots; he does. Whatever you ask this young man to do, he's an awesome talent and I for one really appreciate everything he does for us. He had 10 assists tonight, 14 points. You know, he just does whatever the team asks. Two years ago it was, 'Russ you got to score; we can't score the ball, so you got to take over the game and score.' Now it's, 'Russ you've got to make guys better.' He does everything you ask of him.”
(On the strong start to the second half)
“I think this game was very good for us. I thought this team would play us tough. They have a lot of different sets. They're averaging 63 points a game. We come out and we're in superior physical shape. Not superior to any of the teams we've played, just our condition is superior in terms of where we need to be in. We're in great shape. I think we come out and make the right adjustments in terms of how they're playing us and I think the players are smart enough to see how they're hurting us. Obviously, after the first couple of timeouts, they had six more rebounds than us and we were playing good defense but they got on the offensive glass. We wanted to really stop the three. We felt that in a close ball game, the 3-point line would be the difference maker. And we made some 3s and got a big lift from Wayne early, a big lift from Tim, and that was the difference in the game.”
(Expand on 18 points and nine rebounds out of the center position combined)
“I thought Mangok (Mathiang) was very good tonight. It didn't look the greatest when he was ducking his head and making moves, but offensively, he was aggressive. I thought he tried to block shots and I think he played a very good game tonight.”
(And on Stephan Van Treese)
”I thought he did a good job as well, but I think Chane Behanan is the guy to me that sticks out. He just looked like a good basketball player tonight. He passed up a shot to get a teammate an open lay-up. He did some really good things tonight. We had the guys in town for the Billy Minardi Classic, great basketball people, pick the MVP tonight and I thought they made a really smart choice. It could have been Tim (Henderson) or it could have been Mangok (Mathiang), but I think they made the correct choice.”
(On bringing a player like Terry Rozier in the starting lineup when he is needed)
“I went away from Terry (Rozier) because I saw Terry pressing about his shot. I wouldn't have done that if he didn't care about it. He needs to sit next to Russ (Smith) and learn a valuable lesson. Russ could care less if it goes in; he is going to take 100 shots. Russ doesn't care and Terry needs to just watch Russ. It doesn't even faze him if he misses a shot. I don't know how long Chris (Jones) is going to be out, but this was good for us tonight.”
(With Tim Henderson not being on scholarship, how do you show him his value)
“He knows how much I appreciate him. There is no question about that. He knows that if he gets put on scholarship, he would lose the favoritism of all the Ladybirds, cheerleaders, and fans show him around town. People would not treat him the same if he got the scholarship. I am only joking. I think we don't look at Tim (Henderson) like a scholarship basketball player or a non-scholarship basketball player. I know for one, and I said this yesterday while speaking to the Yum! group (and) how it works with championships sometimes; we don't win a national championship without Tim Henderson. There is no doubt in my mind that if he doesn't turn around that Wichita State game with those two 3s, we would have never had that boom run we needed to turn that game around. I never put that much emphasis on it. I had a young man at Kentucky named Cameron Mills who equally got us to the championship game, so we never look at it as scholarship versus non-scholarship people. He is as valuable as any person on this basketball team.”
(On what level can Tim Henderson play in Division I)
“He could go to some of the teams we play like a College of Charleston, or a Western Kentucky and be a major factor in the game. Tim (Henderson) realizes that he is a national championship player; he will go down in history and always be remembered in this town. He will live in this community and be a strong asset to the community. I am sure he will get a great job someday because he is bright, articulate, and hard working. He is living the dream right now.”
(About Kevin Ware's limited playing time)
“Kevin is on the depth chart behind Tim. He is ahead of Anton Gill right now because of defense. Kevin did nothing wrong at all. He is just behind some players. I didn't have a problem with the ball hitting him off the foot and him fouling. You are cold and come into the game; that can happen. He has done nothing wrong at all. He is just below the guys in the depth chart. I don't believe he is 100 percent back. We are just a talented backcourt team and he is the fourth or fifth guard right now and he will have to go and beat them out.”
(About having five players in double figures and the absence of Chris Jones)
“The great thing about this game was that it looked like it was going to be a low scoring game ... a possession kind of game, which is what they wanted. But then, the second half was totally different and came into our favor with us hitting good shots, playing good defense and rebounding well. I thought we did a really good job in the second half. It was a different half. It was their pace in the first half. It was our pace in the second half. We got a lot of good shots. They are a good ball club, especially with the two new additions to their basketball team. They are very, very good. I thought our interior defense was the best that it has been. T.J. Price is a heck of a player and obviously he had 22 points. We did a very good job on the interior tonight. That has been a little bit missing. I thought this was going to be a very close game, a hard fought game. We need all our fans Tuesday night. Missouri State can flat out play. It will be the best offensive team we will face this year outside of North Carolina. They are really terrific. I am hoping our fans who have to get to bed early, like horse trainers, will give their tickets to people who haven't seen us play. We need our fans Tuesday night. It is going to be a very tough ball game.”
Western Kentucky Head Coach Ray Harper
(On the play of Russ Smith and what he did that made it difficult to stop him)
“He creates a lot of pressure on you when he's using those ball screens. He's always probing the defense and he's extremely quick and fast. I thought they did a good job in the second half, getting the ball inside - they got out in transition in the second half. I thought in the first half that we did a good job of keeping the pace a little slower; second half, I thought they dictated pace and got out and got some easy buckets.”
(On going scoreless for six minutes in the second half and the reason for it)
“At times, we didn't reverse the ball. Some of it was due to their defense. But, at times, we hurried. The one thing we thought we couldn't do against this basketball team was take early shots in the possession. We needed to be patient and I thought we did that the first half for the most part. We didn't take a lot of early shots in the possession. Second half, we got away from it a bit. This team lives and dies with the transition, being able to get out, create turnovers and get easy baskets. And that's what they did in the second half.”
(On the debuts of Chris Harrison-Docks and Trency Jackson)
“Good. They're two guys that are really going to help us as we go forward. It's difficult to play for the first time after sitting out a year. It just is. It'll usually take two or three games to really get your game legs under you. At the same time, I've watched these guys practice and how hard they practice and what they bring to this team. And I just felt that I could've looked at it a lot of different ways and not played them as much, but we're trying to get better each day and I think these two are going to help us do that.”
(On what he would like to see from his team to help generate more offense)
“We need to move the ball from side-to-side. Sometimes, we don't get a good ball reversal after one or two ball reversals. It's too much one-on-one and we need to get that corrected. Against good teams, you've got to get the ball swung from side-to-side at least three times most of the time. When we did that today, we got good looks. We're still missing some guys when guys are open; we're not seeing that. I think the addition of Chris and Trency will help some of that. I thought we competed today and I saw a lot of good things against a very good basketball team.”
(On how this game helps his team move forward)
“Obviously, this was the defending national champion. I thought the first half we did some really good things. We dictated tempo. We did not rebound the basketball like we needed to, or we could have been up six or seven, but we didn't do that. I think we're starting to understand, stick to scouting reports, and know scouting reports. It will be beneficial to us and very important to us as we go forward. I thought we took a step in the right direction. We're not where we need to be yet, but we're going to keep working.”
(On what the offense will look like at full strength)
“I hope one that puts up a lot more points. Again, two guys that can create shots for other people. I thought we did that a little bit today. We had some really good looks that didn't go down - that I'm very comfortable with us taking. These two guys are creators. They're guys that can get in gaps and make plays for other guys and that's very important. It's something that we've lacked and missed a little bit in the first eight games.”
(On having the lead on the road in the first half against the national champions)
“We did some really good things. If it were a 20 minute game, they were in trouble. But unfortunately, they did some really good things in the second half. Tim Henderson looked like Tim Henderson against Wichita State in the Final Four. He came in and made big shots. We were trying to mix it up, played a little more zone today than normal. We had to do that to try to keep them off balance. At times, I thought it was good, but then Tim Henderson came to the rescue and made four 3s in the second half, so hats off to him.”
(On when O'Karo Akamune will return)
“For sure when we get back from Christmas ... that first game, which we desperately need. That adds a lot of depth to us in the post. Right now, we're trying to play with Aaron (Adeoye) and George (Fant) and Aleks (Rostov). We need another guy to be able to step in there and play. O'Karo is a senior who's played a lot of minutes the last two years and we're expecting him to come back and really help us.”
