Louisville vs. Bellarmine

Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
(Opening Statement) "Well, if we could duplicate the first half we could be a pretty good basketball team. Their young man went down and we sort of got the air taken out of us a little bit and I hope he's okay, I pray he's okay. If we can put together two halves like the first half, we'll be a pretty good basketball team, but we didn't and it's a credit to Bellarmine fighting and fighting and fighting. They're a good group, they're working very hard. We're still adjusting to a new style. We're not in the greatest run-and-press shape, but hopefully we'll get there."

(Were problems with the passing game?) "Well our guys didn't pass the ball. Donovan was interested in scoring, Q (Quentin Snider) was interested in scoring and when they get to the level where a pass is more important than their score, that's when you'll have a really good offensive basketball team. It's been there, and I give them a lot of credit, it's been there, tonight it wasn't there. Sometimes when you play for a lead, you hunt shots more than hunting the pass. The mature thing is hunt to pass."

(On what way was the defense was better in the second half) "Rotations - you weren't getting beat off the bounce, you were challenging shots."

(On the aggression in the second half compared to the first) "Sometimes, especially guys you really like a lot, it's tough to play with a lead, a big lead like that, but it just shows you the inexperience of this team that they didn't know how to play with the lead. We have a lot of weaknesses we need to work on, but inexperience is the one thing that you don't get until you go through it, and we have to go through it. If we play like that against Evansville or William and Mary or Long Beach State we won't come away with a victory. If we play like the first half, we'll come away with a lot of victories."

(On winning even in victory?) "Bellarmine is a very difficult team to play. The good thing is William and Mary and Evansville play that way, a lot of passing, cutting, screening, and you've got to talk a lot to be able to play teams like that and we didn't do a great job in the second half of that. They didn't get open in the first half and the second half we stopped communicating. But sometimes they have five guards in the game and it's not easy for Anas (Mahmoud) and Jaylen (Johnson) to chase around the guards, but it's good experience for them."

(On expectations from the five spot with scoring) "I think they'll do fine. I think Mangok (Mathiang) is out of shape, it's readily seen, but he should be, he hasn't played in 11 months. I think once he gets in better condition and drops a few pounds he'll be much better. We expect more out of Anas (Mahmoud), certainly. The problem with Anas is he doesn't defensive rebound. Since he's been here that's been the case. He's a very good offensive rebounder because he uses his length, but he's a real poor defensive rebounder. When you think seven feet playing against Bellarmine, when they shoot 18 percent in the first half, there's a lot of rebounds out there. He's just not a good defensive rebounder because he's weak physically, but offensively he uses his reach and does a good job."

(On if guards rebounding effects big men's rebounding numbers) "I don't think they're setting in Westley Unseld records. I don't think Deng had a rebound at half time and I don't think he had a steal and I don't think he had an assist. He was very much similar to Kenny Klein - sitting there doing nothing."

(Key difference between offensive and defensive rebounding?) "In offensive rebounding, the point of emphasis, especially on free throws is the pushing in the back, and that's really the most difficult thing for guys with thin legs like Anas (Mahmoud) or Mangok ( Mathiang). So offensive rebounding there is two spots that you have to…say you are shooting on the right. The low man has to go from baseline, out to grab a rebound and get off his back, and then the middle man has to fake and go to weak side. Eighty to eighty-five percent of shots are going to come to the left so they have to get their position rebound. We are a pretty good offensive rebounding team, but because our lower frame is so weak, we get pushed a lot and we don't come up with it. That's why it is so important for guards to rebound the ball. Although Gorgui (Dieng) was a good rebounder, when you have those guards that can go back and get the ball like Peyton (Peyton Siva), or Terry Rozier, who was the best rebounding guard we have had, Donovan (Mitchell) has the potential to be that way, and certainly he can. We are a better offensive rebounding team, than defensive rebounding team, so we have to do it by committee."

(Goal to interrupt passing lane by Bellarmine?) "We were active with our hands, and we were talking and then we just broke down. I think the young man getting hurt, I know it bothered us considerably, and we just hope he is okay, but we just came out flat. Some of the really good teams that I've had wouldn't have done that, but this team is just really, really young basketball wise."

(First few possessions for bellarmine hard to maintain defense with a lot of passes?) "It's tough especially when bigs are defending guards. It's tough on us, it's tough on Mangok (Mathiang), and they do a great job of that. It's also a great defensive practice for us because Evansville will screen more but they do the same things in the terms of passing. William and Mary does it in a different fashion, so their talent level is much higher, so you can picture how good they are going to be, but those two teams are just like Bellarmine in terms of ball movement, and screening. Evansville does a great job of screening and moving."

(Talk about shot over pass) "We were doing it. In our two exhibition games we were doing a great job, but I think it's human nature for players to call home and say 'Mommy, I had 24 points today' instead of passing the basketball. This team will evolve when they get more gratification out of the pass than they do the shot. You saw that tonight, guys were driving the lane and there was a man wide open in the left corner. Well at the two red-white scrimmages we were passing. The night we knew we had the lead, we knew we weren't going to lose, and guys went for their points. So they will get it; they are smart kids and they want to win."

(Tony assertive in the first half. Is that what you want?) "Yeah I'd like to see, like I told Tony in the timeout, I told him you are concerned too much whether your shot goes in. I'd like to see you try to play like Peyton Siva a little bit more. Try to get in the lane, try to get shots for people, and try to play great defense. He's consumed, and he's in the gym all day long trying to work on his shot, when he should go to his strengths. Nothing wrong with working on your shot, but go to your strengths a little bit more. He's got a very good midrange jump shot, gets in the lane, and he's fast, but he has to work on his passing. A lot of times, even the one that got through, he is trying to thread the needle when there are guys wide open on the perimeter."

Bellarmine Head Coach Scott Davenport

(Opening statement) First off, about Daniel Ramser, we are logistically trying to make some arrangements with our bus and we will go straight there. For those of you who know a little bit about Bellarmine basketball, me and the monitor are not really best friends. But I suggested to Tony (Greene), who is one of the best officials in the country, 'why don't you use the monitor let Dr. Stephenson see to exactly what happened so we would know exactly what to treat. So through UofL, Norton and the doctors, it was a grand slam. He caught an elbow right in the temple area. I didn't see it and I am going by what the officials and doctors told me. That was handled really first class way. It puts a lot of faith to what happens when you go to an event. The basketball game is a tale of two halves. They were incredible the first half. They made some tough shots and then the turnovers allowed some easy shots. You say how canone half be like that and the other half be like that and welcome to college coaching. Anybody who has a college age child, you can identify. That is what happens. It isn't going to be a perfectly wrapped package with a ribbon. Our goal this week, going into today was to leave with a boost going into Saginaw Valley, the defending regional champion in the Midwest Region in our level. If you go into our locker room right now, we have accomplished our goal, because of our play in the second half. The tendency would be if a team like Bellarmine plays like this in the second half, the tendency would be to say that it was all three-point shooting because that is the great equalizer, but we only took eight in the second half. That is all. I am really, really proud of our basketball team. I know I sound like Coach Pitino. He loves his guys. I love our guys. That is what we talked about before the game, how fortunate we are. I cannot comment on other people's programs, but I know through recruiting what a lot of it is like. I know what my players are like and I know those players (UofL) because they play together all summer and I know what they are like. That is two groups of first class college athletes right there.
(How much fatigue with the third game in a row?) "Well, I said to them because I try to keep hiding from them. Let's take all of college sports. Each sport male or female, any level, division one, two, or three and please call me or text me or run me down, if somebody plays three top twenty-two teams in the country on the road, true road games in six days. Somebody tried to correct me and said well, baseball. No, you play the same team in a series. That was a little ambitious. But if I get a couple days of treatment, I'll be back at practice. I'll be okay. You know those are three really good teams. You know what I take away from that as a coach? They're all different. The one thing that I learned very early, as a young coach is that there is more than one way to be successful in the game of basketball. Those teams are all different but they are all very, very good teams. They're all rightfully ranked. Cincinnati, they are with their style, Indiana no question, Louisville without a doubt. We're going to take a lot of pride. Going to be a lot of teams lose to those three worse than we did. And don't think those kids don't look at every single score. But I'm proud of them. Fatigue that's okay. We're not worried about that. Who asked the question about fatigue? You forgot what staff I came from? Fatigue never enters in. I haven't forgotten."

(How does it feel to see your team rally around seeing their teammate fall down and then come back? They really came out on fire.) "They did it for each other. They're special. I am the luckiest guy in the world. I mean it's every minute of every day. You know you got something special when you sit down and write out a practice plan with your staff, and it's a two hour and twenty minute practice and you go down there and practice and it's over in like ten minutes. You're like, 'oh my gosh.' The reason it is really fun to teach is when you're teaching students who want to learn, and I call the players students. It's really fun to teach. Now it's a little frustrating when you're getting a little animated and they're looking at you like, 'yes sir, yes sir, yes sir,' I'm just waiting for one of them to go, 'yeah!' I don't think they do that. They're amazing. You know what they were talking about? They were talking about the crowd. They were talking about the crowd who are the most knowledgeable people in all of college basketball. They really appreciated it. That's what they were talking about. I went back in after I took my coat off. They were all talking about that. That means a lot to them. They earned it. Nobody gave them that tonight and I'm proud of them.

(What was your demeanor like at halftime?) "Just go out and do the best we can and try a little harder you know. No, I'll tell you exactly. We defined it very simple. Beau Braden had two guys he watched, Doug had two, and Felton Spencer had one. Now you're not going to play hard. Yeah, good luck with that. And we said if you're not in your stance doing the things we're asking at maximum effort you're coming to the bench. If they take you out, everybody gets to play before you play again. If you ask to come out, two possessions, you're as tired as you can be, tell me you're ready, run back to the table, and go in. And they handled it. They're very mature, intelligent group of young men. I was mad."
(Talking about dealing with teenagers and your down twenty- six to three. Did they get over that quickly than maybe you do?) No question. You just kept me awake for the next two nights. I'll tell you. The reason we were behind, we kept saving the timeouts and when you are attacking the pressure of a basketball team. Either half court or full court. When you don't attack, it's defense because they have nothing to lose. They can gamble, shoot the gap, back gap, dive, block shots, because you're not attacking. Why should they not? When we started attacking toward the latter part of the half, it started to come around. Then we attacked the entire second half. Now, why didn't they attack? It is easy to say very difficult to do. It is easy for me to say go attack Mangok and Deng Adel. Go attack them. Let me tell you that, but their confidence grew as they did the things we practiced because the bottom line and to who all know sports, for me to simulate that in practice? Impossible…impossible, but when it came down to it, we were a very fundamental team in the second half and that is what I'm proud of. It wasn't a fluke. Hey, we had one three-pointer that kind of hit dead. It was just sharp passing. I think we had fourteen assists. That's how we play and I was proud of that.
(About possibly slowing down the pace) No, no. We wouldn't have had any place to go. It was like we were playing against seven guys. They are long and have length. I think the other thing that happened in the first half every year we play Louisville. Their length and quickness is so good. Those shots we hit in practice, in this game you are eight for nine inches further back, you shoot it a hair quicker, you arch it a little higher and it doesn't go down. You give them credit for that. We are not the only team they do that to. I mean their length and their athleticism can swallow you up whole. I tell you, I'm excited. I watch practice with them. They are really an improved basketball team. They're good. They're good. I mean, Donovan Mitchell, Deng Adel, I mean there was sometimes we played good defense, but man. You have to give them credit too.
(Do you come away from this encouraged?) "Yes. But I was encouraged coming in. Not as much at halftime. But I was encouraged coming in, because I'm with them every day. We came down here and practiced last night and it was a great basketball practice. We were practicing for Friday night last night. We shot this morning, we had individual instruction, we had our walk-through this afternoon, it was very good. These six days were tremendous for us. I'm so thankful to Louisville and Cincinnati, you can't express it. It's great for Bellarmine, but it's great for those kids."

(How do Louisville and Indiana compare with each other?) "It's going to be interesting, because Indiana is trying to play – I'll give you a reference point – almost like North Carolina. They're trying to get it up there at breakneck speed . They're very similar teams. Louisville's interior players probably are a little better, Indiana's players… the athleticism with Deng Adel and Donovan Mitchell going against OG (Anunoby) and (Robert) Johnson and those guys – whoa. I know that game is New Year's Eve in Indianapolis – that should be a tough ticket. That's two really good teams. I like that Louisville team. For what I like to watch basketball, I like that Louisville team. There are some teams that are very good – some people like vanilla, some like chocolate… I like that basketball team. I'm not just playing coach, I do."

(On the team's assist percentage) "Well in the second half at Cincinnati the other night, I think we were 14 out of 16 baskets in the second half were all on assists – that's how we play. We're going to attack you with pressure, but we're going to make you chase the ball instead of us chasing you defensively – we don't have that kind of athleticism. You watch us practice… it's a lot of fun to coach them in practice. The ball doesn't settle. Now, the teams we played in the last three games, their size and strength and athleticism can erase a mistake like that. They're good."

(On George Knott having a career high tonight) "Well, let's go back to July when we put him on scholarship. For those of you who don't know – we bragged about him in the locker room – four years ago in September, George Knott was sitting in class at Bellarmine. His basketball career had ended at Providence High School the previous spring - his sister played volleyball. His career was over. As a favor to the family, because his sister was a Bellarmine athlete, I went to watch him play in high school. He couldn't play. We had two players go down with career-ending injuries, my assistant said, 'Coach, George Knott is a student here at Bellarmine." He hadn't touched a basketball since June. We go get him out of class. If I asked an assistant coach to have him make five in a row in five spots, you would still be there. We put him on scholarship and named him captain the third week in July – and we did it in front of 242 campers to hope that those kids could say 'man, there's hope for me.' We had his parents hidden in the stage. It was one of the neatest things I've ever done. He is Hubie Brown, to Coach Pitino to Billy Donovan and on the 29 branches that live on individual instruction, it's George Knott. That's amazing… 6 for 7, four rebounds, 26 minutes – career over four years ago. One of the neatest young men I've ever coached."

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