Louisville-North Florida Postgame Quotes

Louisville 89, North Florida 61
KFC Yum! Center | Louisville, Ky.

Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "First of all, they are a really, really good basketball team. They are as good a shooting team as I've seen in 10, 12, 15 years because every shot they take looks like it's going in. Our strategy was that we have to get to their legs somehow during the game by not fouling, playing great defense and our guys did a brilliant job. We knew we were going to have to play Ray a lot tonight because Beau Beech is a great basketball player and he does play the power forward position at 6-8, but he plays like a small forward wing player at times and our forwards of Mangok, Jaylen and Anas cannot guard him on the perimeter or guard the switches and we knew Ray could. Now, with that being said, we knew Ray would play, but we didn't expect 18 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks. That was an incredible coming out party for him. His stamina was awesome. The team's stamina was awesome. The team's defense in the second half – to show you the type of conditioning we have – 62 percent from the field (for Louisville) and they (North Florida) shot 28 percent. Awesome, awesome display of basketball. As good a half as I've seen in this building since I've been here at both ends of the floor. I'm real proud of our guys. We beat a very, very good basketball team as most of you witnessed tonight."

(What did it take for this team to wake up and get it going to build the lead?) "Well, we aren't really a trash-talking team. I don't know what the hell was said, but that was more of last year's team. He said that Donovan (Mitchell) said something really bad and I said that he got the wrong guy, it's not him. He said 'no it was him' and I said no, you've got the wrong guy. I don't know. They are just really tough to guard. They cause major problems. They run 100 pick-and-rolls that you've got to switch. Then, sometimes you have to float down in on the sideline. There is a lot that went into this. To get ready for this team, it was the most difficult game plan we've had in a while to stop these guys."

(Is this the type of player that Ray can be?) "Well, I think this was quite unusual for a freshman. Every day in practice, Ray is the high man on deflections. You know, you would like to get anywhere from five to seven or eight deflections from an individual player – that's a very active player. He had 12 today. Besides that stat line, he had 12 deflections today. From the way he gets in the passing lanes, his wingspan and his quickness -- it's truly incredible and I'm really proud of him. He had a great night, but you are right, he is a freshman. Just like the other guys, he is going to have his dips, but you see the talent of all of our freshman and we had to do this tonight without our best defender in Deng Adel."

(How long is Adel out?) "I think he will probably sit out the next game and hopefully be ready by Thanksgiving."

(What does it mean to have two big men like Chinanu and Ray starting the second half, where it seemed like their quickness defensively was huge?) "Like I said, I knew Ray was a special basketball player from the time we recruited him. Most people in this town didn't know it – it's interesting – fortunately for us, Duke found out too late because they made a real big push, but if it wasn't for his mom being so loyal to us, he could've visited other places, but his mom told him he was going to Louisville and Ray said he wanted to go to Louisville. They saw the potential. When you look at skills, wingspan, the way they run, the way he can pass and his mind for the game, it's pretty incredible. For a 6-9 guy to run like that, wow."

(Where you surprised at that second half?) "We worked really hard the past day and a half for the first time on our match-up zone because we didn't think Jaylen could guard those guys on the perimeter, so we were working real hard on that. They just torched it, so we had to get out of that and go back to man, but we had to go with Ray. We said if we have to go man, we were going to go with Ray. He is excellent on the press as well."

(Were you pleased with how your guys took advantage of the advantage down low?) "Yeah. Last year, we knew we had an advantage in certain games and we still shot jump shots. This team is smart enough to realize where our advantage was. We knew we would have an advantage on the backboard and to go inside and they did it all night. This team is very intelligent as well as hard working. This was a devastating performance you watched. It impressed the hell out of me on both ends of the floor. This is a very good basketball team that doesn't get rattled. This team was up 20 on the road at Illinois and won comfortably. This is a NCAA team that will probably win 25 or 26 games, but this team doesn't rattle too much."

(Quentin started slowly shooting the ball, but in the second half he had 5 assists and made some shots. It seemed that he really came alive.) "Yeah, as long as he takes good shots. What I am really happy with about him was that he took the mid-range shots. Some guys, just really get concerned about shooting the ball when they are 1-for-8 and he showed no concern. He ball faked and shot, shot, shot. That to me is more impressive than the actual making of the shot – the fact that he would take the shot."

(Coach, what have you learned about this team that maybe you didn't know from the first three games?) "Like I said, I think we had a devastating performance. I haven't seen too many halves like that as a coach here – against a real good basketball team. To hold them to 28 percent, 20 points (in the second half), to play that type of defense and to turn around and play great on offense. They never lost focus on offense to hot-dog it, throw a lob, get bounce passes and backdoor layups and move the basketball. Never lose focus at all with the lead. To me that is just so impressive."

(Does this team remind you of any of your teams that you have coached?) "The attitude of the team reminds me of the '87 Providence team -- just wonderful people. I took Trey, Mangok and Damion to the captain's dinner last night. I told them to enjoy this. I've been coaching 40 years and guys like this don't come along. It just doesn't happen this way because you'll see guys taking pictures where they are pointing to themselves on the back. 'It's all about me.' This is an unusual group and we were that way a little bit last year, but that's just the culture to them. That's the way it is today. I'm not knocking them for that. Social media has made everyone that way, but this team doesn't buy into it at all. It's all about team, about each other. It's all about that who's got my back chant that we didn't choreograph nor did Kenny – he doesn't have that type of imagination. That was choreographed by them."

(Chinanu has been a dominant force throughout the first three games. What has been his change of mindset from his freshman year and into his sophomore year?) "Chinanu was just young. He is younger than most kids. You know most parents keep their sons back a year, but remember he graduated when he was 16 and didn't turn 17 until November of his freshman year. So he is just growing up. He is very, very smart – like Montrezl Harrell – a very smart basketball player and he understands how to play. He is just making the adjustment along with his maturity. His maturation is catching up to his body emotionally and mentally."

North Florida Head Coach Matthew Driscoll
(Opening Statement) "Obviously, anytime you go up against a team that has so many parts in the frontline – they've got so much length and the ability to continue to relentlessly go after every single shot multiple, multiple, multiple times – it eventually can wear you down. It's hard to overcome 22 offensive rebounds and it's hard to overcome when you get a couple of those turnovers too that are allowed that lead to easy baskets as well. To give them credit, I'm a top 25 voter and I've been voting them since the beginning and anybody that doesn't think they're a top 25 team – I've done this for 28 years and I've coached in the biggest leagues, Big 12, ACC and all that good stuff. These jokers are back to the Louisville team that you guys always remembered. They might've been more skilled last year with Rozier, Blackshear and Harrell, but this team has got no identity with names and every identity with Rick. And what I mean by that is they're just pressing, turning you over, trying to get easy put-backs, trying to get easy layups. The two fifth-year seniors they brought in are exceptionally skilled. Obviously, they played big minutes tonight against us and they did a great job understanding what coach wants and playing at the pace. To their credit, this is a team that I think Rick is going to enjoy coaching because it seems like it fits more who he is and what he's about as opposed to maybe what was here last year."

(On Ray Spalding's performance and how that impacts game plan) "Well, last night at scout (meeting), if you would've been there, as soon as his picture came up and as soon as we started talking about him, we said that his minutes aren't very high right now but in our opinion, he's the next great one. He's the next guy that you can tell coach has a great love for. We think (Quentin) Snider is the next guard that's going to lead them, but Spalding – he's long, active, knows how to play. He's got a great disposition about him and he's always in the right position. He's always got his hands up, so he's always tipping easily. The fact that he came in and did what he did, to say I'm shocked – I'm shocked on 31 minutes but again where does Deng Adel fit in this whole mix? Do you try to mix up some different guys, maybe go a little bit bigger or maybe get him more minutes with Deng? I don't know how bad his injury is, but it wasn't a shock because looking on film, we think he's the next guy."

(On his message to team after the game) "The one thing we always tell our guys is we have to bring a lot of money into the university. We tell our guys this – very simply, when we go to the locker room, the one thing you can never do is never let one loss lead to two and our guys know that. This is like Beau's 30th power five game or whatever, so it isn't like we came in here shell shocked. We just have to rinse this out and figure this out. We have a couple days to prepare to go play Saint Louis and then go on to Hartford to play on the backend of this tournament. We're really good and we've got a chance to be very special, because we have some really unique pieces. However, in a game like this, you see them for spurts and you see them for a little bit in that little run we made, where we took the lead back over in the first half. That group has a chance, but it has to be consistency and it has to be every single minute."

University of Louisville Athletics

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