Louisville vs. Siena Postgame Quotes

Louisville Head Coach David Padgett

(Opening statement) "Much better in the second half, needless to say. We came out and obviously started out pretty hot, I think we had 12 points in the first four minutes. Whether or not we just got complacent with the lead or what, I'm not sure. Nonetheless, we came out, responded in the second half, played Louisville defense, held them to 30 percent in the second half, 31 overall in the game. Second half was much better. The focal point leading into this game, which we didn't do a good job of against Seton Hall, was get the ball inside. Get it inside to Ray (Spalding) or Anas (Mahmoud) post it up, or get the ball inside off the bounce, so on and so forth. Obviously, we did a much better job of that, you can see off Anas' and Ray's numbers. I'm pleased with the win, first and foremost, that always goes without saying. We've got things we need to improve on obviously, we just have got to continue to work. Overall, I'm pleased with the win, and we'll take it, move on, and get ready for Saturday."

(On what changed to spark the 18-0 second half run) "We had a good defensive lineup in there. They just kind of got us going. We got some deflections. Ray - I don't know how many he ended up with - but he was very active on the defensive end. Anas obviously did a pretty remarkable job of protecting the rim. We got stops, and we did a much better job of limiting them to one shot. They had 18 offensive rebounds, and I think 10 of them were in the first half. We did a good job of getting stops and then getting out on the break, got a couple easy ones. We didn't turn the ball over, we only had five in the second half. When we don't turn the ball over and we can move and play and share the ball, we can look pretty good on offense. So some things we can certainly build on."

(On Darius Perry giving the team a spark on defense) "He hounds the ball. He's got quickness we haven't had here in a long time, it's tough for opposing players to go by him. We did a good job. We were communicating, we were active. We just played with a little bit more of a sense of urgency than we did in the first half. Darius, when he comes in the game, that's going to be his job this year is to spark us on defense. He had some turnovers, just careless, but we'll continue to work on that. If he doesn't let that affect his defense, which for the most part he didn't, that's a good sign."

(On making the adjustment to reduce turnovers in the second half) "I told them, I said 'look,' and you've got to give Siena credit. They were aggressive with slapping down at the ball, trying to take the ball out of our hands, probably because they've seen we've struggled with that. I just told them 'You guys have got to be stronger with the ball.' I said, 'When you get in there, come to a jump stop and just be strong with the ball. Be strong with the ball. They're going to slap down. Just don't be in a hurry.' Sometimes I think we just get a little bit rushed maybe on offense, and we just try to make the play before letting it come to us. It's just valuing the basketball. You've just got to treat every single possession like it's the most important possession of the year, and I think we did a good job with that."

(On Ray Spalding attacking more off the bounce) "Well, they played a lot of zone, so you're not just going to bring the ball over to the wing and throw it to the side against the zone. We did a good job of getting those guys the ball in there. Even Deng (Adel) a couple times, we got the ball in there and he made a good pass. It was just a matter of them reading the defense. Get the ball in there, look around, see what's going on, and then just attacking the rim. That was the big thing. We've just got to try to attack the rim, be aggressive. They didn't have much of a shot blocking presence, and we've just got to try to attack the rim, and they did a pretty good job of that."

(On getting out rebounded)"They play hard. Jimmy [Patsos'] teams always play hard and this one is no different. Sammy Friday for [Siena] had 15 rebounds, 10 of them offensive. A couple times it was us, somebody would come over to block the shot and we wouldn't rotate properly to try to rebound. You have to give them a lot of credit, they were playing hard. We've got to be more active. I think a couple times our guards were maybe leaking out, I'm not sure I'll have to go look at the film. It's got to be a team rebounding effort. Even though Ray [Spalding] and Anas [Mahmoud] had 23 between the two of them it's got be a team rebounding effort. Dwayne [Sutton] and Jordan [Nwora] coming in and giving us 10 between the two of them, Malik [Williams] comes in and gives us four, so it's got to be everybody got to have that mindset of rebounding the ball."

(On if he knew Anas was close to a triple-double) "No, Kenny (Klein) said something when he came out of the game. It's a remarkable achievement to have nine [blocks] in a game. The only stat we're interested in is the final score. I wasn't going to put him back in the game just to try and get a triple-double. Maybe I'm just too hard on the kid, but as well as he played I actually didn't think he played that great of a game. You guys are going to think I'm crazy for saying that. He was obviously much better in the second half. Maybe it's because I played his position and I get frustrated with it, but he's obviously very valuable to our team."

(On how important it is for Anas to stay aggressive) "He missed a couple of easy ones but he was active on the offensive backboard. He had four offensive rebounds and a follow dunk. He was active on both ends of the court. When he gets the ball in the middle of the zone he obviously is the best passing big man that we have, not that the other guys aren't but he's just a little better. He has a good feel for the game, he lets it come to him and we've just got to continue to work on being aggressive around the rim."

(On if he sees any of himself in Anas) "He's a much better athlete and a much better shot blocker than I was in my best day. People say, I've taught Anas how to pass. No, that's not true, Anas has a natural feel for how to play basketball. I can tell him things once in a while, but at the end of the day he just has a good feel for how to play the game. It just comes naturally to him. We've just got to continue to work a couple times, I'm not pleased with his four turnovers and he knows that. It's just being stronger with the ball. We did a much better job the second half taking care of the ball, which in turn leads to better passing and better shooting."

(On how tonight's shooting game will help Quentin Snider's confidence) "It was only a matter of time before Q shot the ball better. I don't even want to call it a slump, he just wasn't making shots. The only way to get out of that is to continue to shoot the ball. He did a great job of running the team. I thought defensively he was pretty darn good. I don't think he got beat off the dribble too much. He's so valuable to our team on both ends of the court. He did a good job of running the team which you would expect out of your senior point guard."

Siena Head Coach Jimmy Patsos

(Opening Statement) "Really good game for us to learn from. What a great opportunity today, not just off the court, but on the court. Tremendous building, they're really long and athletic, they will be better as the year goes, defensively. I knew they were good, I didn't know they were that good. It was a real pleasure to coach. I recruited David Padgett when I was at Maryland, I know his dad was a great player himself at Reno. I just saw him -- boy, does time fly. What great opportunity for our kids to get better. To play that well in the first half, I kind of knew in the second half we'd really have to make the extra pass and we just struggled with that. On behalf of Siena, my boss is here, it was a really great trip, it was a great opportunity for us to get out. The Gotham Classic is a really good tournament. This game helps us get better. Now I have to go play Albany, which is one of the top Mid Major programs in the country. Then we go play Bryant and Memphis in this tournament, and that's a special experience for our kids. We get a home out of it. Every game for a Mid Major team we have to get better, and then we have to play really well in our league during regular season. And then eventually you get to the conference tournament. Just like Louisville, we're all building. I knew coming off two losses they were going to pick it up on the defensive end. But they're really long, they have a really good team. They made some threes, they shot 7-for-19 today. We kind of gambled a little they wouldn't make some threes. But what a great opportunity, we got better today. We just kind of ran out of gas, that's why they're a little better athletes. To quote Churchill Downs, you get out the gate a little slow, had them at the first turn, second turn, just couldn't make it around that stretch by the time we came galloping in after a mile and a quarter, we gave it all we had, which is all you can ask. We just got lost at the third and fourth turn there. We live near Saratoga, so we know what racing means, we'll just get in better shape so we can finish. Next year around, down the stretch they go we'll be better, and January and February we'll be chugging around the corner."

(Was it their defense that turned it around?)
"Yeah that was one point. You don't have much room for error when you're a team our size at our level. We have good players and good offense, but we're a little smaller. There was a missed free throw, but they made some good threes. They kicked it and made some really good threes that we kind of gambled they wouldn't make, but when they start blocking and then they start dunking on their rebounds, that's when their level shows up. You just have to make the extra pass or they're going to block shots. At the 16 minute mark, I said you're fine if you make the extra pass, if you don't they'll set the block record. They almost did because I think it was 18, and they had 15 blocks. We're a really young team. It's fun coaching young team, and it's fun riding young horses, but they don't always listen. They don't know to hold back. They don't know to make the easy bounce pass and then go to the rim. That's why we're learning. That's why it's a great opportunity for us. But yeah, their defense was better than I thought."

(On outrebounding Louisville in the first half and most of the second half)
"Well the MAAC is a tough league. The MAAC is a great league that's why the games are great for us. The MAAC is, in case you guys don't know, is Iona and Manhattan. Steve Masiello, who learned here, he's a great coach. He's gone to two NCAAs in the five years I've been there. It's a little 6-5, 6-4 league, but we jump and play above the rim. Our guys were going to compete, and they played against all these guys in AAU. I mean, Jordan Nwora and I were laughing, two years ago he was our top recruit. Well, he got better. He's really coming. He's a real offensive threat. He's like Jared Dudley to me in the NBA. We hung with them by effort, but they're really good. Sammy Friday really picked it up today. Sammy Friday has been coming along for us. He's a very interesting guy. He's a sophomore. He barely played last year. Just by effort we hung in there. Their blocked shots -- we have to learn to make easy plays when the defense comes over, and that's what today teaches you. "

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jordan Nwora

Darius Perry

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

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