Pittsburgh Postgame Quotes

Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack
(Opening Statement) "Feel really fortunate. I think our team played incredibly hard in the second half. We cut down our turnovers, only had 13 for the game after having 11 at halftime. We talked about playing aggressive and confident, when they three-quarter-court press us, and play in attack mode. Sometimes, when teams throw that conservative press at you, it looks like you're walking across a frozen pond, not sure if the ice is going to fall in, and we played a little bit more downhill and attacked a little bit better in the second half. I really felt like at halftime, our problem wasn't the defensive end, it was the offensive end. Thirty-three points isn't a whole lot of points to give up—a few of those were in transition, and now, you're talking mid-20's if you take care of the ball. Second half, we did that. I thought our defense was as good as it's been all year in the second half, and again, like I said, the difference was we played much better offensively."

(On defending Pitt freshman guards Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens) "I think their play in game one, and games since then, demanded a lot more respect than maybe our players had for them going in. I also think that I didn't do what was probably the best in terms of strategy. We had switched every ball screen to the Miami game to start the year, and we felt like that was the best plan against Miami. And then, thinking that, 'Hey, that should be the plan for the Pittsburgh game because it worked well,' probably did our players a disservice. So, we did adjust our pick-and-roll defense. I thought they made some good adjustments as well. Their guards are big, they see over the top of our guards when their roll man's not open, they were springing that weak-side pass and we weren't giving up layups on the roll. So, it puts you in tough positions. But again, by-and-large, we kept those two guys out of the lane as well as you can. They're really good players. I know they're freshmen, they should be seniors, which is even scarier, but physically, they're mature enough to be juniors and seniors when you look at their bodies. Coach (Jeff) Capel's got them playing extremely confident downhill, attacking, so they're tough to deal with, and we're not the only team who's had problems."

(On Louisville's second-half run) "I think our defense. Again, I go back to what I said at the very beginning of the press conference. Defense was probably what won us the game in the second half. I didn't think it was bad in the first half, but when you turn the ball over 11 times, you're going to get Pittsburgh out in transition, they're going to get some two-on-ones, they're going to get fouled, you're not in the right position. When you don't turn the ball over like we did in the second half, then you're playing more of a five-on-five game for the most part."

(On performances of sophomore forward Jordan Nwora and redshirt junior center Steven Enoch) "Jordan (Nwora), he hasn't shot well the last couple games, but he found his points in other ways. I thought he went to the offensive glass, he found openings in their zone—against their zone press, we got it down the floor a little bit. So, he's more, as you guys know, than a guy who shoots the ball from three. When's he doing that, then it's really hard to guard. I think Steven should be one of the best bigs in our league. He's got immense size, he's athletic, he's got a great touch. (Sophomore forward) Malik's Williams) playing so well on the defensive end that it's like a two-headed monster. It's really good to see Steven…sometimes, transfers, when they sit out a year, they've been in a coat and tie or sweatsuit for a year, and it takes a little time. It's good to see him come along."

(On the team grinding out the win) "I think it shows we have some character on our team. It's easy to win a game when things are going well for you, shots are falling, team isn't really frazzling you with their pressure, everybody is scoring. But when the ball can't go in or doesn't go in. To have the stick-to-it-iveness to believe in what should come first for our team, which is the defensive end. We had seven kills tonight (three consecutive defensive stops) and we've done that well in four of the last five games. We didn't do that in the non-conference schedule. We're going to have to win games like this. You're going to have games where your offense struggles. The other team takes away your better players, your shots don't go in, or you don't get some call to get you to the free throw line, whatever it may be. Defense can keep you in the game. We have certainly played better on the defensive end over the last four or five games."

(On Darius Perry's minutes) "Darius was late to the shoot-around. That was the second time he was late to something. He's the only guy who has been late. So I am not going to play him."

(On Enoch and Williams) "They're different, so we have to be cognizant when we are on offense. Defensively it doesn't matter they are going to be asked to do the same thing were all reactive to whatever the team is running also whatever personnel they throw out on the floor, we can't control that. We can control how we use them offensively. Steven is different from Malik. They both have a really good shooting touch. Malik is a little more mobile and he's not as physical. He doesn't seal and carve out space as well as Steve. We can't just think one drop-back quarterback is out, let's put the other drop-back quarterback in. We have to be able to change our attack and how we use them. We have done that through conference play a little bit to try to bring out both of their best on the offensive end. "

(On the team getting used to playing with a true big man) "There are times where Steven (Enoch) doesn't do a good enough job demanding the ball, other times the guards don't do a good enough time seeing in. Especially when Pittsburgh plays their zone, or man, they get extended, and the further out you extend, the more that he should be in one-on-one situations. Give Pitt credit, when Steven caught it on the block, they doubled him. So, our intention was to try to throw it from the top. It's a lot harder to double when the ball is coming in from the top. Give Pittsburgh credit. They give out scholarships as well, they're fronting and fighting and trying to keep it out of his hands. So that's two-fold, it's not just on Steven and it's not just on our perimeter guys. Those guys have to work together. Steven has to be a little more of a jerk to his teammates when he feels he got open. I've played with and coached some guys, like David West, if he was open in the post and you didn't throw it to him, the whole arena knew that you didn't throw it to him. Steven is such a nice kid sometimes he doesn't demand the ball like he needs to. I thought in the second half we found him in some good spots."

(What was the biggest change that you made defensively especially regarding fastbreak layups) "It wasn't the change. I think our mentality, who we were playing, we respected. I think we all had it for Pitt the second time around. I hate saying that, because every game is an ACC game. Every game counts the same in the standings. They don't say 'well they didn't win a game a year ago, so it's only going to count for a half game.' It counts. Unfortunately we put ourselves behind the eight ball at Pittsburgh and we get down 13, 14, 15 points and we are looking around. We couldn't come back. They pressure. We saw that in the first half. We could've given up a lot more points in the second half in transition, had our turnovers been what they were in the first."

(About using the difference between the two games with Pitt as a measuring stick) "We take inventory after every game. I know that this is the same opponent, but we all try to continue and improve and grow. I do think that we did some really good things against two things that we didn't do well at, at Pitt. I thought our attack versus their three-quarter court press was much better. Our attack versus their zone today, was much better. So that's an area of growth. We need to grow in all areas. It's hard to grow sometimes when you don't see those things. We haven't seen a lot of three-quarter court presses until the last couple games. We haven't been a lot of zone. We got Ryan McMahon out there, and Jordan Nwora out there, and our five men who can shoot it, so not a lot of teams want to zone you. So hopefully we made growth in those two areas."

(Regarding Darius Perry being late) "I don't know. Sometimes it's immaturity. You're going to have to ask Darius those things. We want him to be a big part of our team. There are standards that we aren't going to lower. He's got to learn sometimes the hard way and I'm hopeful that he does."

(Regarding Jaxen's Journey Coaches Versus Cancer shoes) "Thanks for asking the question. Obviously, this whole week, for college basketball, is Coaches versus Cancer and trying to raise awareness. Hell, who doesn't know about the disease. More importantly it's about raising funds and dollars. Over the years, whether it's an uncle of mine, friends you had, family members. Maybe it's because the older I get, we've all been affected somehow, in one way or another, from this horrendous disease. Really hurts you, when you start to see kids. Andy's story is a really tough one. Andy and I knew each other, it wasn't like we were boys. We went to the same high school. We would text from time to time and I heard from a third party, 'hey his son has brain cancer.' Then it was like a few weeks later he had passed away. I can't imagine what the Kettler's have gone through. So, we all wore, as you guys know, Matt Stebbins is our equipment manager. He did a great job. I don't think he personally did it, but got them logoed saying Jaxen's Journey, which is their foundations they've started to raise money for Jackson's specific type of brain cancer. I thought the least I could do was maybe sign the shoes. I think we are going to get our players to maybe sign the other one. Put four people that we don't even know, in our suite, for the Duke game. If an autograph basketball doesn't devalue everything from me, then that'll hopefully raise a little money that we can throw towards Andy and Kim's foundation, in Jaxen's name."

Pittsburgh Head Coach Jeff Capel
(Opening Statement) "First and foremost, congrats to Louisville. Their team played really hard, really good defense. It wasn't the most, probably aesthetically pleasing game to watch. It was two teams that played hard, competed, and really got after it. I thought we had a really good first half. We had some guys off the bench come in and step up, gave us great minutes. We were not able to sustain that in the second half, especially offensively. Defensively throughout, I thought we were pretty good. That team was leading our league in scoring, averaging a little bit over 83 points per game, and for us to hold them to 66, is pretty good. But for us, it was our inability to score and in the second half, we didn't do a good job of valuing the basketball. That's what won the game for them, they were able to make plays. Congrats to them- they're playing awfully well right now. Chris (Mack) and his staff have done an outstanding job. Those guys are big, they're physical. I think the growth of their team, in my opinion, has been because of (Malik) Williams and (Steven) Enoch. I think those two guys have really played at a different level since we faced them the first time. Congrats to them."

(Steven Enoch has been playing better, how much different does that make Louisville?) "It makes them a lot different. Anytime you have a presence inside where you can go in there and a guy can score with his back to the basket, where you can pitch it up to him, he can go get it above the rim, that makes your ball screen offense a little more effective, because you have different reads and then he can really go and get it on the offensive glass. His growth has really, really helped them."

(What was the change you saw in Louisville, especially from the defensive end today compared to three weeks ago?)
"It was pretty obvious they weren't going to let the two guys for us, our two guards beat them. I think they combined, both of those kids, (Xavier) Johnson and (Trey) McGowens, for 55 points last time. Their ball screen defense was tighter, they were more together. Again, Williams, his ability to block shots with the verticality without fouling. You can tell they put in a lot of work on that."

(This is two games in a row where you were able to force Jordan Nwora to a tough shooting night. Was there something defensively you wanted to take away from him?) "Well, we just tried to make his catches hard, just like we did the first time. We just tried to have an awareness for him, wherever he was on the court. He's a really good player. He's as improved as anyone in college basketball with what he's done from his freshman to sophomore year. Again, he made some big plays for them today. He's a guy that I think you have to have your antenna up all the time. Guys have to know where he is, and hopefully you can get a little lucky and he'll can miss some shots."

(Aside from the turnover, you also shot in the 20s in the second half. What were the areas that the offense was breaking down?) "Well we had some opportunities off ball screens in the first half that we finished, and in the second half we didn't. We had three layups right there off of rolls that we just didn't finish. We had a foul that one time where we stepped up and missed two free throws. And then that puts a little more pressure on our guards, because now they feel like, 'I have to do it, I have to make something happen. They did a great job of gapping up. When we came off of ball screens, they gapped up and so we had pitches that were there, but we were reluctant to shoot the three. So I just think they tightened up a little bit on ball screen stuff and we missed some plays early right at the basket, and I think that kind of got us down a little bit."

(You've taken over a Pitt team that has struggled in the past and its had a resurgence in college basketball, what do you want to prove going forward?) "The thing we've tried to establish is a level of competition. We're going to fight. We're going to be together and we've tried to establish a culture of defense. We are a team that is a really streaky offensive team, but I knew that coming in. So we've tried to put guys in positions to be instinctual, but the main thing is just to fight. Just to fight and compete every possession you're out there. I think we're taking the necessary steps to do that. We have to improve, just like everyone. You constantly have to improve your talent. You have to get players. You have the players that you have. You have to help them get better. I think we have done that. This is a difficult time of the season for everyone, because it is the end of January. You're getting close to February. Everyone is a little bit banged up, especially guys who play a lot of minutes. Everyone is a little bit fatigued and you have to have something where you can push through. Normally you see teams that are a little bit older, they are able to do that. They have a little bit more experience. They understand how to handle this. For our group, this is different for everyone. For our freshman, they've never been through anything like this. So I think we are a little bit fried from there. For our returning guys, I don't know by this time of the season last year. I don't know how much they were fighting. They were maybe ready to check it in. So we are learning a lot as we go. And obviously we have played a really tough schedule in the conference so far. If you look at the seven games we've played, it's Louisville twice, It's Duke, it's North Carolina, it's NC State, it's Florida State. All teams that were ranked, Florida State was 11th when we played them, but we know they are not now. So it's been tough and we fought and competed in each one and so that's something that we have to keep doing. No one is going to feel sorry for us, we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to keep fighting and keep competing."

(On Christen Cunningham.) "He's played great. You can tell he's an experienced guard. He was an outstanding player at Samford. And he's come here and he probably didn't get off to a great start. But he's settled in and become a really good leader for their team. He values the ball, he doesn't turn it over, he has a great grasp of their offense. He's had some really good offensive games. Today, he didn't score the ball well, but he ran their team and he assisted. He didn't turn the ball over much. He's a really good player."

(On recent scoring droughts, is there a common thread?) "I think the common thread is that the last three games, we've played three really, really good teams that are very good defensively. Syracuse's zone is one of the most difficult zones to conquer. There's a reason why they're tied for first in the ACC. Duke is one of the best teams in the country. There's a reason why they're ranked two and tied for first place in this league. Louisville's a really good team, they're tied for first place in this league. I think that's why."

(On Dwayne Sutton) "I think he's just the ultimate glue guy. And I mean that as a compliment. I think every really good team has guys like him. They impact the game in a lot of different ways. I think he does it with his defense, obviously with his rebounding, and then he can score. It's not necessarily needed all the time, but it's something he can do. He's older, he's mature, strong kid, seems like a really good teammate. He's someone that we really had to focus on, especially with him on the offensive glass."

(In the scoreless droughts we talked about, whether it's youth, do you feel like in those situations where the team has gone a while without scoring, do you ever notice Trey [McGowens]and [Xavier Johnson] trying to press and maybe try too hard to make a play?) "I think It's not just those two guys, I think we have guys during that time that do that. It's coming from a great place. Our guys want it so bad, and we're learning how to do it. So yeah, I think we have many guys that try to press in those situations."

University of Louisville Athletics

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