Louisville-Florida State Postgame Quotes
January 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Florida State vs. Louisville
KFC Yum! Center | Jan. 20, 2016
Postgame Quotes
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "Except for the last two minutes, it was a great performance by our guys. Just overall better on offense and defens e, we had something like 50 paint touches offensively, I think it was 57, and that is a record for us. So we did a lot of good things tonight. Florida State was a very dangerous ball club. They have a lot of offensive weapons, a lot of size but our guys rose to the occasion and played a great game."
(On what stood out the most in tonight's performance) "I think Quentin (Snider) and Trey (Lewis) were both great, I think they both played a great game. I thought Nanu (Onuaku) was big on the backboard, I thought Jaylen (Johnson) played great, it was a good game and did a lot of good things. I thought Damion (Lee), although he did not have a good shooting night, was very active on defense. Prior to the last two minutes we played great defense, we had them in the 30 percentile and then we gave up lay-up upon lay-up."
(On what he liked from the defensive perspective) "I liked everything except a few non-blockouts where Ray (Spalding) ducked out of the way instead of clearing out and getting the rebound. Overall it was a great performance by our team."
(On what has been the difference defensively the past two games) "I just think we are getting better and better at all phases of the game. Our ball movement is good, our recognition and what is going to be available. I thought Quentin was brilliant tonight. He knew the clock and did a lot of great things and I was really, really happy with him."
(On Donovan Mitchell's dunk) "It was pretty special, all of a sudden he came out of nowhere. Now I have seen him do it before but that was a pretty darn good one, it was explosive. When he jumps off two feet, my God, he can get up. "
(On scouting/recruiting Mitchell) "He made a play … I told Kenny (Johnson) 'we got to have him.' He made a play where the guy took the ball out of bounds on the left sideline, a little bit higher than the hash mark and Donovan went like this (*points left finger in the air*) and he was on the right wing across from the guy. They just threw the ball up from the other side of the court and out of nowhere comes this guy and just dunks the basketball. My mouth stood open, the whole gym stood up and went crazy. I said to Kenny, I think we gotta get that kid. Then he started, really doing some other things we liked. He's going to be a terrific basketball player. Deng (Adel) right now, you can see it he's a little nervous he hasn't played but he's going to be fine. He'll get over that nervousness and he'll be a good player as well."
(On upcoming road games) "We've got two big road games coming up. Virginia Tech led Notre Dame the entire night, I happened to be watching it, and they lost it at the end. Two different teams, Georgia Tech has two guys built like Chinanu Onuaku, very strong low post game, very physical in everything they do, and Virginia Tech brings as much energy as any team we'll face in the league. We have two very difficult road games and we have to be ready for them. This was a brilliant performance by our guys again, two great performances back-to-back. "
(On offensive rebounding) "We've done it all year, we've been a good offensive rebounding team all year."
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton
(Opening Statement) "Obviously we lost a Louisville team that played awful well tonight. I thought they created a lot of indecision on our kids' part. They were very well-prepared. Actually we were one of the better free throw shooting teams in the conference, but it didn't look like that tonight. I don't know if I've been in a game where we've shot this poorly from the free throw line. This shows that a lot of our young and inexperienced guys were obviously somewhat tentative and just didn't have that mental and emotional focus that it takes to come in and play against a team that plays as well as Louisville did tonight. I thought they executed their offense, made us work defensively. I'm surprised… I thought they had a way better shooting percentage than they did. But you've just got to give them a lot of credit. I just thought that mainly in the first half, they dominated the offensive glass, got an exceptional number of put-backs. Believe it or not we worked on that all week. We focused an awful lot on blocking out. Louisville is so adept and skilled at getting in position, big and strong and athletic that we had a very difficult time keeping them off the boards. You can't do that against a team of this quality, you've got to play complete. As I evaluate the game, these are the kind of games as coaches you hope you don't have but one a year. You learn from this and hopefully this will motivate us as young as we are to go back and get on another winning streak."
(Rebounding – especially offensive - has been an issue in losses in the ACC, is there anything you can do besides work at it?) "Well we play a four guard lineup because two of my inside starters are not available. (Michael) Ojo's the starting center and Phil (Cofer) is back home nursing a foot injury. So we lost our two best rebounders and our two most energetic guys. We've been playing with a four guard lineup, so we've got to make up for our lack of size in the interior with better execution. You can't let that become a problem because that's who we are this year. We don't have that power forward, so we have to rebound as a team, I didn't think we did that very well tonight."
(Did Donovan Mitchell's dunk affect the team morale?) "To be very honest with you, no, it can't. I just think that their consistent execution on offense and defense sucked the wind out of us. It wasn't that one particular play. That was only two points. That happens all the time in the ACC. In the ACC, every night out, you are going to have someone make a play against you like Mitchell did. That was an outstanding play, he's an outstanding player, on an outstanding team. You just have to recover from that. They played an exceptionally good basketball game. I don't think we matched their competitive toughness. You can't go on the road in the ACC without that toughness that Louisville displayed tonight and you have to match that and come away with a victory."
(On Xavier Rathan-Mayes not playing tonight) "It was a coach's decision."
(On Xavier not being available – does it throw teammates off?) "It could've been foul trouble, he could've turned an ankle. You have to learn how to win with who you have. And we've had other players get in foul trouble and not be available and we move on and play well enough to win. We can't use that as an excuse."
(On if he could elaborate more on Xavier not playing)"I said it was a coach's decision, that's my only elaboration on it."
(You have a deceptively quick turnaround, you play Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon) "I'm actually glad we have a quick turnaround. We need to get back to work. I think this loss will motivate us and inspire us. We are not as nearly as a bad a team as we just played tonight, but that happens. I looked out there once for several minutes and I had four freshmen out on the court. That's a very difficult challenge to do, to go on the road and play a quality team like this, but we'll bounce back.
(Can you offer any explanation on the paint touches a little more? Coach Pitino said they were able to get 57 paint touches which he felt was a record for them.) "We weren't very good defensively or offensively. From the beginning of the game it was obvious that they intended to drive the ball inside. We played a four-guard lineup, we didn't have the size inside to challenge that. That was a bad formula for us. Not using our two inside guys who are athletic and big and strong and for them having part of their philosophy to get inside the in the paint, it was just a bad formula for us and a great opportunity for them.
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KFC Yum! Center | Jan. 20, 2016
Postgame Quotes
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "Except for the last two minutes, it was a great performance by our guys. Just overall better on offense and defens e, we had something like 50 paint touches offensively, I think it was 57, and that is a record for us. So we did a lot of good things tonight. Florida State was a very dangerous ball club. They have a lot of offensive weapons, a lot of size but our guys rose to the occasion and played a great game."
(On what stood out the most in tonight's performance) "I think Quentin (Snider) and Trey (Lewis) were both great, I think they both played a great game. I thought Nanu (Onuaku) was big on the backboard, I thought Jaylen (Johnson) played great, it was a good game and did a lot of good things. I thought Damion (Lee), although he did not have a good shooting night, was very active on defense. Prior to the last two minutes we played great defense, we had them in the 30 percentile and then we gave up lay-up upon lay-up."
(On what he liked from the defensive perspective) "I liked everything except a few non-blockouts where Ray (Spalding) ducked out of the way instead of clearing out and getting the rebound. Overall it was a great performance by our team."
(On what has been the difference defensively the past two games) "I just think we are getting better and better at all phases of the game. Our ball movement is good, our recognition and what is going to be available. I thought Quentin was brilliant tonight. He knew the clock and did a lot of great things and I was really, really happy with him."
(On Donovan Mitchell's dunk) "It was pretty special, all of a sudden he came out of nowhere. Now I have seen him do it before but that was a pretty darn good one, it was explosive. When he jumps off two feet, my God, he can get up. "
(On scouting/recruiting Mitchell) "He made a play … I told Kenny (Johnson) 'we got to have him.' He made a play where the guy took the ball out of bounds on the left sideline, a little bit higher than the hash mark and Donovan went like this (*points left finger in the air*) and he was on the right wing across from the guy. They just threw the ball up from the other side of the court and out of nowhere comes this guy and just dunks the basketball. My mouth stood open, the whole gym stood up and went crazy. I said to Kenny, I think we gotta get that kid. Then he started, really doing some other things we liked. He's going to be a terrific basketball player. Deng (Adel) right now, you can see it he's a little nervous he hasn't played but he's going to be fine. He'll get over that nervousness and he'll be a good player as well."
(On upcoming road games) "We've got two big road games coming up. Virginia Tech led Notre Dame the entire night, I happened to be watching it, and they lost it at the end. Two different teams, Georgia Tech has two guys built like Chinanu Onuaku, very strong low post game, very physical in everything they do, and Virginia Tech brings as much energy as any team we'll face in the league. We have two very difficult road games and we have to be ready for them. This was a brilliant performance by our guys again, two great performances back-to-back. "
(On offensive rebounding) "We've done it all year, we've been a good offensive rebounding team all year."
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton
(Opening Statement) "Obviously we lost a Louisville team that played awful well tonight. I thought they created a lot of indecision on our kids' part. They were very well-prepared. Actually we were one of the better free throw shooting teams in the conference, but it didn't look like that tonight. I don't know if I've been in a game where we've shot this poorly from the free throw line. This shows that a lot of our young and inexperienced guys were obviously somewhat tentative and just didn't have that mental and emotional focus that it takes to come in and play against a team that plays as well as Louisville did tonight. I thought they executed their offense, made us work defensively. I'm surprised… I thought they had a way better shooting percentage than they did. But you've just got to give them a lot of credit. I just thought that mainly in the first half, they dominated the offensive glass, got an exceptional number of put-backs. Believe it or not we worked on that all week. We focused an awful lot on blocking out. Louisville is so adept and skilled at getting in position, big and strong and athletic that we had a very difficult time keeping them off the boards. You can't do that against a team of this quality, you've got to play complete. As I evaluate the game, these are the kind of games as coaches you hope you don't have but one a year. You learn from this and hopefully this will motivate us as young as we are to go back and get on another winning streak."
(Rebounding – especially offensive - has been an issue in losses in the ACC, is there anything you can do besides work at it?) "Well we play a four guard lineup because two of my inside starters are not available. (Michael) Ojo's the starting center and Phil (Cofer) is back home nursing a foot injury. So we lost our two best rebounders and our two most energetic guys. We've been playing with a four guard lineup, so we've got to make up for our lack of size in the interior with better execution. You can't let that become a problem because that's who we are this year. We don't have that power forward, so we have to rebound as a team, I didn't think we did that very well tonight."
(Did Donovan Mitchell's dunk affect the team morale?) "To be very honest with you, no, it can't. I just think that their consistent execution on offense and defense sucked the wind out of us. It wasn't that one particular play. That was only two points. That happens all the time in the ACC. In the ACC, every night out, you are going to have someone make a play against you like Mitchell did. That was an outstanding play, he's an outstanding player, on an outstanding team. You just have to recover from that. They played an exceptionally good basketball game. I don't think we matched their competitive toughness. You can't go on the road in the ACC without that toughness that Louisville displayed tonight and you have to match that and come away with a victory."
(On Xavier Rathan-Mayes not playing tonight) "It was a coach's decision."
(On Xavier not being available – does it throw teammates off?) "It could've been foul trouble, he could've turned an ankle. You have to learn how to win with who you have. And we've had other players get in foul trouble and not be available and we move on and play well enough to win. We can't use that as an excuse."
(On if he could elaborate more on Xavier not playing)"I said it was a coach's decision, that's my only elaboration on it."
(You have a deceptively quick turnaround, you play Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon) "I'm actually glad we have a quick turnaround. We need to get back to work. I think this loss will motivate us and inspire us. We are not as nearly as a bad a team as we just played tonight, but that happens. I looked out there once for several minutes and I had four freshmen out on the court. That's a very difficult challenge to do, to go on the road and play a quality team like this, but we'll bounce back.
(Can you offer any explanation on the paint touches a little more? Coach Pitino said they were able to get 57 paint touches which he felt was a record for them.) "We weren't very good defensively or offensively. From the beginning of the game it was obvious that they intended to drive the ball inside. We played a four-guard lineup, we didn't have the size inside to challenge that. That was a bad formula for us. Not using our two inside guys who are athletic and big and strong and for them having part of their philosophy to get inside the in the paint, it was just a bad formula for us and a great opportunity for them.
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Players Mentioned
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