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Louisville-Missouri-Kansas City Postgame Quotes
December 04, 2013 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement)
“Well, we did some things well tonight and some things we did not do. We pressed very well, got a lot of deflections. We just got beat off of the dribble quite a bit. That is probably our biggest weakness to date, how often we get beat off the bounce. Whether it is the new rules or not, our better players are getting beat too much, and we have got to correct that the next few days, because this team was obviously very inferior to our athletic ability. They played really, really hard, but we are going to play against a lot more ability coming up, and we don't want to get caught like we did against North Carolina. So, we really have to pick up our ball containment.”
(On Chane Behanan's play tonight)
“Well, I thought Chane was the only player on the team that played real well tonight. I think some guys played mediocre, and some guys played OK, but I thought Chane really played well. Regardless of the opponent, I thought he was doing the right things offensively and defensively.”
(On Chane Behanan's role expanding)
“I think Chane's free throw shooting is obviously the major concern there, and you know his second free throw tonight, when he doesn't snap his wrist, it just goes slow. He is a very good free throw shooter with form, but he realizes it after he snaps it, does it wrong, and then he corrects himself. So, we have just got to keep working on that.”
(On Anton Gill getting more minutes)
“I think he did a good job, I just think that he is physically a little weak and he gets beat off of the bounce a little bit. We tried playing him at two guard more than small forward, because he is physically weaker than the other players, but he did a decent job.”
(On Terry Rozier's play tonight)
“I really only thought everybody played really mediocre and I thought Chane was the only really good player tonight. I think everybody played OK.”
(On Terry Rozier improving)
“I think Terry is an excellent player. I just don't think in the first few games I gave him enough consistent minutes. I think he is going to be very good once he gets consistent minutes. I don't think it has anything to do with starting. His woes were more 'me' related, not Terry. I just did not give him consistent minutes.”
(On Mangok Mathiang's play this season)
“Mangok is just a process, just a major process right now. He is very slow reactor and very weak physically. He is the same as Anton (Gill). He is a redshirt freshman, but unfortunately, it is what it is. That is what we have right now, so we have to live with it.”
(On Russ Smith looking to pass and his play)
“Russ is just playing very weak defensively. He is getting beat more than anybody. His problem last year was Peyton (Siva) covered all his mistakes. I have been very disappointed in a lot of areas in this basketball team, especially distraction-wise. Russ came to me and said, 'I didn't practice well tonight. Chris (Jones) had a great practice, start him.' I said, 'Russ we do not have to do that.' Russ replied, 'We have to send a message and don't start me tonight. I came off the bench for a whole year. Luke (Hancock) came off the bench. We have to get the feeling it is all about team first.' I was very proud of him that he did that. It was a very selfless act and he went into the game trying to pass. Russ can't change who he is; he has to try to score. If somebody stops him, he can pass the ball. He has to score for us. He did play a good offensive game. He's just got to get better defensively.”
(On distractions for the team and Chane Behanan as a basketball player)
“Well, he is very active. This basketball team epitomizes what you see in young people today. They're no different than other guys. They are a very distracted group. They have a very difficult time concentrating and that is Chane; concentration level is his weakness. He is playing very good basketball right now. Chane has never been a problem on the court. He has just had a lot of distractions off the court. He has done fine this year. He just always has bad summers. If we could skip those months, it would be great.”
(On the high post offense not looking to score)
“No, we work on going 1-on-1 in practice from that spot all the time. Montrezl (Harrell) did go 1-on-1 tonight and got a dunk, but he walked. If you noticed, but he traveled on the play. It is about footwork. I have worked with Stephan (Van Treese) for four years on that move, and he just won't do it. It is about footwork and Montrezl (Harrell) is capable of doing it. I ran a couple of isolation plays underneath the basket on out of bound plays for Chane (Behanan) and he didn't do it. We are going to keep working on it.”
(On Akoy Agau getting more minutes)
“He is improving and he is working hard. He has had to go through an adjustment period in every phase of the game. He has worked a lot harder this past week as well as Anton Gill. Believe it or not, Luke (Hancock) doesn't miss a shot in practice; he doesn't miss. He has to become more like Russ (Smith). Those two guys have to get a lot better defensively and contain the basketball. They are both terrific offensive players, but they have to work on their defense right now. With the new rules right now, everyone has to adjust. I will say this, everybody has got to rotate and expect their man to get beat with the new rules. That is where we are not growing. If someone is on the wing, the other four guys have to say he is going to get beat now, how are we going to rotate? We have to be ready because this Louisiana Lafayette team is going to be a lot of fun for the fans, a lot of fun. They are an Arkansas-type team that gets up and down and they have obviously much better athletes then Kareem's (Richardson) team that is rebuilding right now. They have really good guards and good bigs, and it is going to be an exciting game for the fans. ”
(On UMKC's Kareem Richardson as a head coach)
“I think his team is playing real hard and that is how you start a foundation of playing hard. He is pressing and I wanted to see my team not turn the ball over tonight and we did a good job there. He has to get some talent in there, and he is the guy to that. He is a terrific coach.”
UMKC Head Coach Kareem Richardson
(Opening statement)
“Well, obviously going up against a caliber team like Louisville has was certainly a challenge for us. I was really pleased with our guys' effort. That was one of the main things we wanted to come in and play hard. But I'll tell you that Louisville team, they're going to be good - not going - they are very good. Despite what coach may think and that Carolina loss, they have enough talent, enough depth, to really make a run at it again. I know a lot of things got to go the right way, but they're certainly good. The most impressive thing that I really thought with those guys tonight was how active they are on the offensive glass. Getting 22 offense rebounds against us, and it's not just us, they just do a heck of a job on the offensive board and giving themselves second chance opportunities.”
(On Louisville scoring 29 points off of turnovers and the Cardinals' pressure wearing on UMKC)
“Yes, it certainly seemed like they had 7 or 8 guys. I now know how teams felt last year. They fly around and create a lot of havoc.”
(On what his team did better tonight)
“I thought we were able to sustain our defense a little bit more. We held Louisville to shooting 38 percent in the first half. We hadn't held a team with that percentage, and then the overall field goal percentage 43 percent I believe it was. That's not great, but that's progress for us. For us to sustain defensively, I thought that was good.”
(On Aaron Washington's injury)
“We don't know. It looked like he twisted his (right) knee pretty good. We will obviously know more tomorrow, if not tonight.”
