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Louisville-Missouri State Postgame Quotes
December 18, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
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Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
“I don't know what was better, the defense, the offense or the offensive rebounding. It was just awesome in the first half. Missouri State is a good basketball team. Outside of free throw shooting, we played a great game in every phase of the game. We shared the basketball. We made extra passes, we reversed the ball. We got into the pick and roll. Defensively, we were brilliant. Offensive rebounding was spectacular. When you get 20 offensive rebounds and almost shoot 52 percent, you are gaining so many possessions.”
(About the rebounding)
“I thought Montrezl Harrell was getting great position. When you force people to help, it is very easy to get good offensive rebounding. By using pick and rolls and driving, I think you force rotations and then your big people get on the inside against smaller people. That is it in a nutshell.”
(About Terry Rozier's rebounding)
“What happens with Terry is that, because he is a point guard, his man is responsible to get back on defense. So he gets a clear shot at the glass and doesn't have to worry about blocking out. He's very good at it. He was in high school and he is now. It is nothing I taught him, he just does it.”
(About Mangok Mathiang in the five spot)
“He is getting better and better. He was very good tonight. He drew two offensive fouls. He was blocking shots and was very active. He just needs to play a lot of basketball. He just hasn't played a lot of basketball in his life in an organized fashion.”
(About how this team in jelling)
“I keep telling our guys that we are five men on a string with the new rules. Tonight, if somebody gets beat, somebody steps up and switches and somebody rotates to the inside and keeps all five parts moving together. It is the first time we have done that this year. The desire and the hustle have been there, but new guys playing together haven't been there. Tonight, it was a brilliant effort defensively.”
(About Kevin Ware's limp)
“He just came down on it wrong. He said he got kicked, but it looked like to me that came down on it wrong and it just bothered him.”
(About Russ Smith's assist to turnover ratio)
“He is playing great offensively, but he didn't play great defense tonight to be honest with you. He lost his man quite a few times. I am not going to nitpick with a 30-point win. But I think Russ is playing spectacular basketball. He really is. He just looks like a different player ... a better player. He is making great plays. Even that turnover he got late, Anton (Gill) was supposed to be in the corner. It was like throwing to second base before the guy gets there; it is the same thing. Anton is supposed to be there.”
(On what improved defensively)
“This was the best week of practice we have had. I thought our guys had great respect for Missouri State. They watched a lot of film on them and knew how good they were offensively. We thought we could score against them, but we knew we had to stop the 3-point shot because they have put on some great performances from the 3-point line. I thought we did a good job.”
(On leading by a large margin at half and continuing the aggressive play in the second half)
“We played a great first half offensively and defensively, but we only played a good half in the second. It is not easy when you have a lead to beat a team. I thought (Austin) Ruder had his way shooting the basketball wise, and we did a very good job on him tonight.”
(On rotating to prevent the open three defensively)
“I think they just played great defense. They switched properly. They covered for each other. They trapped on the baseline when necessary, and drew the offensive foul. I think because the communication skills haven't been great with all the new guys, it was very, very good tonight.”
(On Mango Mathiang's play)
“I thought he was terrific.”
(And if Chris Jones' play was hurt by wrist injury)
“No.”
(Upcoming road games)
“FIU is a trap game and you will hear that from several people. This is probably going to be their first sell-out in the history of their school. It is a very good home-court advantage. We have to be ready for this game, and we know that. I think our guys will be because they are a mature group. They don't always play great, but they always bring it. They are going to have to bring it against FIU to get a victory. I know they won't be looking ahead to Kentucky because they are pretty hungry and pretty humble. They have a good sense on what all a road game is about. When you look at a North Carolina going into a UAB, anybody can be beat on a given night. You just have to be ready to play. We won't take many fans down there, and we didn't have many on the road before so it shouldn't bother us.”
(Luke Hancock's Achilles)
“I think he is getting better. He played 22 minutes and looked fine.”
Missouri State Head Coach Paul Lusk
(On the first half)
“Well, they just dominated us on the glass. They are very talented and it's not always who you play, but when you play them. I didn't think they were exceptionally sharp against Western Kentucky and I really thought they would be ready to go. They've got a lot of talent, but they also play so darn hard, and we just simply couldn't keep them off the glass and that was the tell-tale of the game. We were able to not turn it over that much, but they just had so many second chance opportunities.”
(On Rick Pitino telling his players and the media that Missouri State had serious potential to beat UofL)
“Well, it helped his team. We could certainly be better, but they had a lot to do with our issues out there. They were ready to go. They were faster to the ball, and they really guarded us. They were terrific on the glass. I knew the glass would be a problem for us and it ended up being a major problem for us.”
(On whether his team got frustrated with Louisville's defense)
“They're awfully good. They're in their matchup zone, they're in their man-to-man. We really struggled. A lot of credit to them; they are as talented as anyone we've seen and they also play as hard as anyone we've seen.”
(On what kind of learning experience came from this game)
“It's got to be a major learning tool for our guys. I thought we were a little bit on our heels at first, but we've got to grow from it and get better.”
