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Postgame Quotes
January 24, 2017 | Men's Basketball
Louisville vs. Pittsburgh
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement:
"Well this was one of those nights, I've experienced a lot them in professional basketball, where everything goes right for one team and everything goes wrong for another team. It doesn't happen often, but it happened tonight. Sometimes with adversity comes good things. We knew when Quentin Snyder went out, we were already limited in the backcourt because of a two scholarship reduction. So we had to try to make Tony Hicks and Ryan McMahon point guards. Tony [Hicks] has
come a long way in a very short period of time, and that's helped us. We may need him come the latter part of the season. We moved the ball great and we shot it great. One of the most impressive things is when you hold a team to 16 percent shooting, you only give up five second-chance shots, and only gave up eight offensive rebounds for the game. That doesn't happen too often. The guys did a great job of blocking out. They did a super job of passing, and I'm really proud of the effort. I feel bad for Pitt because it's one of those nights that I've been through in the pros where I've seen it happen."
On the play of Donovan Mitchell:
"I just think that they were all passing the ball and moving so well. They were playing excellent defense and getting out on the break. Even though Donovan had 29 points, I thought all of the guys played great. I thought Anas [Mahmoud] played terrific. Mangok [Mathiang] played terrific. I thought that Tony [Hicks] and Ryan [McMahon] did a great job. It was by far our best 40 minutes of the season."
On if he's ever experienced a game like this in college basketball:
"In my first year at Kentucky we had six scholarship players. We went to Kansas and lost a very similar game like this. Roy Williams, who has become a very good friend of mine, at the end of the game when they were going in for dunks, if I fouled I was going to have four players, said 'Do you want me to call a timeout for you?' I said, 'No, I want you to put the worst five guys that you have on your lineup into the game.' It happens. This is a good ball club. About four or five years ago in the Big East, we had to win seven out of eight to make the tournament. We were having a tough year like Pitt is right now. We just said, 'we're going to win seven out of eight,' and we did it. Pitt has to do the same thing now. They just have to say, 'Okay, we're going to do this,' and get it done."
On if he thought that this was going to be a tough game:
"I think that every game is going to be tough, but I sat on the bench and said, boy is this the biggest shock, with the way we were moving and shooting and so on. We just played a great game. We had 48 rebounds, 24 assists, shot 58 percent for the game, and had nine turnovers. We just played brilliant basketball."
On what he did differently against Jamel Artis this game:
"We guarded him in the second half. We tried to extend. He's having a great year. [Mike] Young is terrific. We tried to keep attacking them offensively to try and get some of their good players in foul trouble, but last game he [Artis] was magnificent. Obviously we couldn't let him be magnificent on the road."
On what contributes to everything clicking for one team and nothing clicking for the other:
"In the pros what we say is, 'It's one of those nights. Forget about it. Move on.' It happens in the pros. We beat the Chicago Bulls one time in the opening game of the season, and everybody thought we were going to be great. It was one
of those nights. I remember Michael Jordan telling Antoine Walker, 'Antoine, you're coming to Chicago in two weeks. Just wait,' and they kicked our ass. It's the same thing when the Miami Heat lose Philadelphia in the opening game and then Philadelphia only wins like eight or nine games the rest of the season. It happens. You can do nothing about it. You can make excuses or you can just say, it's one of those nights. Let's get back. Let's win five or six in a row. Let's get our game plan and move on. It just happens. Not too often in college as much as the pros, but it does happen."
Pitt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening statement:
"That's about as disappointing of a performance that I possibly could imagine. A lot of things I could say, that I'd like to say, but that was embarrassing, unacceptable and it's my responsibility to have them prepared to play better, harder, and smarter. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's my responsibility. I don't know what short-term options I have available, it doesn't seem like many honestly, but from a long-term standpoint there will be some options and there will be some things rectified. I think one thing that this team has consistently shown is the inability to deal with adversity and since Ryan [Luther] went down with the injury and since Mike [Young] has been less than what he was earlier in the season, there almost seems to be a feeling of – I don't know what adjective I want to use to describe it – amongst the players and I quite frankly don't understand that. I don't understand how you don't dig in and compete harder. We will keep trying to find answers, but not having Ryan Luther shouldn't cause this much of a drop off. He is an important player for us, for sure, but I feel like there some fragmentation in the locker room, unfortunately. I don't feel any of it towards the coaching staff honestly, but you get taught tough lessons if you're not prepared to do your best every time you take on a challenge. We will keep working to find answers and play better than we played tonight."
On the locker room "fragmentation" affecting the team's performance:
"In a roundabout way, yes. I am not going to sit here and air what I observe and what I see, but it's not the way it should be. It's not being taken in a good direction. Again, I am limited in options, when I turn around and there is someone that is not playing hard enough defensively, which was pervasive the entire evening, you put someone else in, but I pretty much have my five best defenders starting the game, so that's a bad sign when the other team shoots 71 percent against you in
the first half. It's a bad sign that when you go to the bench you get worse defensively. We have to keep coaching them and trying to get into the players a little bit better."
On if this was his first ejection and what the circumstances were:
"No. Heck no. I spent so long in the SEC that I am pretty well-versed on league policy but I don't know what league policy is here [in the ACC] so I better refrain from saying too much so that I don't violate anything."
On the effort level from the players reflecting the coaching message not being absorbed:
"Absolutely it is. It's 'I don't have to play that hard on defense because I know if you take me out we're going to get worse.' There's a competitive character, a level of competitive character that you are supposed to be signing up for when you become part of a team. That commitment that you make to become part of a team is 'I will do my very best.' Isn't that kind of the deal? You're on a team, the expectation for each other should I'll do my very best, you do you're very best, and we'll see what we can do. We don't have that simple lesson down yet."
On if this is one of the more challenging groups he's coached:
"Coaching seniors can be really good or really tough. It doesn't matter if you inherited them or you've had them for four years. Things are always delicate with seniors because a guy starts realizing 'hey my future is not in playing basketball.' At some point a lot of guys realize that when they're seniors like 'woah wait a second, I'm not going to be a pro.' So where does their investment go from there? It's an interesting group. It's a group at times I've had a hard time understanding. I like them, they're good kids. They're not bad kids, I like them. We showed signs of this in non conference wins. We had 25-point leads and would be hanging on to win games against inferior opponents. This didn't just happen. I just hope that I can do a better job with them."
On if he feels like he is losing this team:
"I sure hope not. I would say there is a guy or two on the bench whose mind is out the door because they aren't playing how much they want to play. I don't think I lost those guys that are starting the game. They see the need that you have to play as hard as you can to win in this league. We should have beat Notre Dame, we did beat Virginia. We've had some good moments. It's not like we were picked in the top third of the league or anything. Seniors, it can be a tough deal when things don't go how everyone wants them to go."
Opening Statement:
"Well this was one of those nights, I've experienced a lot them in professional basketball, where everything goes right for one team and everything goes wrong for another team. It doesn't happen often, but it happened tonight. Sometimes with adversity comes good things. We knew when Quentin Snyder went out, we were already limited in the backcourt because of a two scholarship reduction. So we had to try to make Tony Hicks and Ryan McMahon point guards. Tony [Hicks] has
come a long way in a very short period of time, and that's helped us. We may need him come the latter part of the season. We moved the ball great and we shot it great. One of the most impressive things is when you hold a team to 16 percent shooting, you only give up five second-chance shots, and only gave up eight offensive rebounds for the game. That doesn't happen too often. The guys did a great job of blocking out. They did a super job of passing, and I'm really proud of the effort. I feel bad for Pitt because it's one of those nights that I've been through in the pros where I've seen it happen."
On the play of Donovan Mitchell:
"I just think that they were all passing the ball and moving so well. They were playing excellent defense and getting out on the break. Even though Donovan had 29 points, I thought all of the guys played great. I thought Anas [Mahmoud] played terrific. Mangok [Mathiang] played terrific. I thought that Tony [Hicks] and Ryan [McMahon] did a great job. It was by far our best 40 minutes of the season."
On if he's ever experienced a game like this in college basketball:
"In my first year at Kentucky we had six scholarship players. We went to Kansas and lost a very similar game like this. Roy Williams, who has become a very good friend of mine, at the end of the game when they were going in for dunks, if I fouled I was going to have four players, said 'Do you want me to call a timeout for you?' I said, 'No, I want you to put the worst five guys that you have on your lineup into the game.' It happens. This is a good ball club. About four or five years ago in the Big East, we had to win seven out of eight to make the tournament. We were having a tough year like Pitt is right now. We just said, 'we're going to win seven out of eight,' and we did it. Pitt has to do the same thing now. They just have to say, 'Okay, we're going to do this,' and get it done."
On if he thought that this was going to be a tough game:
"I think that every game is going to be tough, but I sat on the bench and said, boy is this the biggest shock, with the way we were moving and shooting and so on. We just played a great game. We had 48 rebounds, 24 assists, shot 58 percent for the game, and had nine turnovers. We just played brilliant basketball."
On what he did differently against Jamel Artis this game:
"We guarded him in the second half. We tried to extend. He's having a great year. [Mike] Young is terrific. We tried to keep attacking them offensively to try and get some of their good players in foul trouble, but last game he [Artis] was magnificent. Obviously we couldn't let him be magnificent on the road."
On what contributes to everything clicking for one team and nothing clicking for the other:
"In the pros what we say is, 'It's one of those nights. Forget about it. Move on.' It happens in the pros. We beat the Chicago Bulls one time in the opening game of the season, and everybody thought we were going to be great. It was one
of those nights. I remember Michael Jordan telling Antoine Walker, 'Antoine, you're coming to Chicago in two weeks. Just wait,' and they kicked our ass. It's the same thing when the Miami Heat lose Philadelphia in the opening game and then Philadelphia only wins like eight or nine games the rest of the season. It happens. You can do nothing about it. You can make excuses or you can just say, it's one of those nights. Let's get back. Let's win five or six in a row. Let's get our game plan and move on. It just happens. Not too often in college as much as the pros, but it does happen."
Pitt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening statement:
"That's about as disappointing of a performance that I possibly could imagine. A lot of things I could say, that I'd like to say, but that was embarrassing, unacceptable and it's my responsibility to have them prepared to play better, harder, and smarter. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's my responsibility. I don't know what short-term options I have available, it doesn't seem like many honestly, but from a long-term standpoint there will be some options and there will be some things rectified. I think one thing that this team has consistently shown is the inability to deal with adversity and since Ryan [Luther] went down with the injury and since Mike [Young] has been less than what he was earlier in the season, there almost seems to be a feeling of – I don't know what adjective I want to use to describe it – amongst the players and I quite frankly don't understand that. I don't understand how you don't dig in and compete harder. We will keep trying to find answers, but not having Ryan Luther shouldn't cause this much of a drop off. He is an important player for us, for sure, but I feel like there some fragmentation in the locker room, unfortunately. I don't feel any of it towards the coaching staff honestly, but you get taught tough lessons if you're not prepared to do your best every time you take on a challenge. We will keep working to find answers and play better than we played tonight."
On the locker room "fragmentation" affecting the team's performance:
"In a roundabout way, yes. I am not going to sit here and air what I observe and what I see, but it's not the way it should be. It's not being taken in a good direction. Again, I am limited in options, when I turn around and there is someone that is not playing hard enough defensively, which was pervasive the entire evening, you put someone else in, but I pretty much have my five best defenders starting the game, so that's a bad sign when the other team shoots 71 percent against you in
the first half. It's a bad sign that when you go to the bench you get worse defensively. We have to keep coaching them and trying to get into the players a little bit better."
On if this was his first ejection and what the circumstances were:
"No. Heck no. I spent so long in the SEC that I am pretty well-versed on league policy but I don't know what league policy is here [in the ACC] so I better refrain from saying too much so that I don't violate anything."
On the effort level from the players reflecting the coaching message not being absorbed:
"Absolutely it is. It's 'I don't have to play that hard on defense because I know if you take me out we're going to get worse.' There's a competitive character, a level of competitive character that you are supposed to be signing up for when you become part of a team. That commitment that you make to become part of a team is 'I will do my very best.' Isn't that kind of the deal? You're on a team, the expectation for each other should I'll do my very best, you do you're very best, and we'll see what we can do. We don't have that simple lesson down yet."
On if this is one of the more challenging groups he's coached:
"Coaching seniors can be really good or really tough. It doesn't matter if you inherited them or you've had them for four years. Things are always delicate with seniors because a guy starts realizing 'hey my future is not in playing basketball.' At some point a lot of guys realize that when they're seniors like 'woah wait a second, I'm not going to be a pro.' So where does their investment go from there? It's an interesting group. It's a group at times I've had a hard time understanding. I like them, they're good kids. They're not bad kids, I like them. We showed signs of this in non conference wins. We had 25-point leads and would be hanging on to win games against inferior opponents. This didn't just happen. I just hope that I can do a better job with them."
On if he feels like he is losing this team:
"I sure hope not. I would say there is a guy or two on the bench whose mind is out the door because they aren't playing how much they want to play. I don't think I lost those guys that are starting the game. They see the need that you have to play as hard as you can to win in this league. We should have beat Notre Dame, we did beat Virginia. We've had some good moments. It's not like we were picked in the top third of the league or anything. Seniors, it can be a tough deal when things don't go how everyone wants them to go."
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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