Louisville Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs. North Carolina

North Carolina 90, Louisville 83 (OT)
February 1, 2022
Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center

Interim Head Coach Mike Pegues
(Opening Statement)
"I will start by saying our kids, given the scope of everything that has transpired this week, I could not have been more proud after two losses. On paper, we are 0-2 against Duke and Carolina, but in spirit, in heart and competitive spirit, in toughness and resilience, character and fight … I saw it all from from our guys tonight. I saw it in the Duke game. I saw it even more tonight, even down a man. I am so proud of our guys. I am so proud and grateful to our fans – that atmosphere was raucous. That was unbelievable. The Yum has not sounded like that for our games the way it did against Duke and tonight than it has in a long time. I thank them for their support. I had fans over there yelling to me 'great job, Coach, great job'. I am a rookie at this and it means a lot to me. It means a lot from our fans that they showed up and supported us. The only thing we can do now is to go on the road and grab one at a time. Hopefully, when we get back, they will still be here supporting us. But I am so proud of our team and the fight that they showed. We were down ten with twelve and a half minutes left in the second half. At times, when we have hit that level of adversity, this team has not responded that way. Tonight, they broke the pattern. I am proud of that. We need that to continue."

(About the overtime, the technical and the explanation)
"I was told on Jae'Lyn's (Withers) technical that he pushed a kid. I was frustrated with the call because Jae'Lyn is not the kind of kid who is going to walk into a scrum and start something. I haven't seen the play, but I am pretty sure Jae'Lyn was just trying to discard the kid so he could get to his teammate. He is not that type of kid. They don't know our kids. They don't coach them every day. But I just feel like in a three-point game, that is a tough call to make. I know they have their rules and all. First of all, my technical was inexcusable. I am irate after the big scrum with Sydney that looked like, to me, like a clear foul on (Armando) Bacot. It went the other way. I was completely shocked by that. Nonetheless, I need to temper myself when things are seemingly something that I think it should be. I am responsible, in part, for why we lost tonight because I have to control my temper better. I apologized to my team and to our fan base for getting that tech. I am not going to sit here and blame the officials, that is something that is being taken care of by our administration. They are looking into those calls because those are two tough calls."

(About El Ellis's play and shooting)
"Yeah, I'm shocked by the eight for 21. I felt like every shot, he made. He was phenomenal. El's a guy that we got to keep the ball in his hands in the middle of the floor, especially when he gets hot. He can create some mismatches. He can create some issues for big guys, in switches. They struggle to keep him in front. If they play off of him, he can make shots. He gets two assists. I would like to see him at times, without watching the tape, be more of a guy that makes the game a little easier for some other guys at times. By no means do I mean that he was playing the game the wrong way at all. I thought he played a phenomenal game. He's a big part of the reason why we're in the game. He's a competitor. At one time-out he took over the huddle. With everything we've been through, we got a kid that's, in his first year here, he takes over a huddle. How about that?"

(About Matt Cross's career high 15 rebounds, 13 points; about his play against a big, physical team)
"Well Matt is a big, physical kid, too. He's a tough kid. We need Matt to continue to have games like this. He's more than capable. Proud of Matt because he hasn't played this well in a while. I thought he did a tremendous job of competing. He executed the game plan. He screwed up a couple of switches. You challenge them to not screw up one. If they screw up one or two then you're okay. We screwed up three or four, so we got to get a little better with that. But I thought he was really good. Jae'Lyn Withers hasn't played well. He's been taking a lot of heat. I thought he stepped up and played hard and played well. He's another guy that I want to highlight. I think that every guy on the floor, regardless of minutes, did a really good job of executing the gameplan and competing and getting after it. That's a good North Carolina team, we were right there. We'll see them again."

(About El Ellis's play right before the end of regulation, were you asking him to foul there) "No, I was telling him not to foul Caleb Love. Love hadn't missed a free throw all game. I didn't want him to foul him. I was just kind of watching it from there to see—I just wanted him to pass the ball to anybody because he hadn't missed a free throw and he went nine for 10. I just wanted him to pass and then at that point, see if we can get one. But we winded up getting the steal."

(On how to keep the energy with the upcoming road schedule)
"I think it starts with getting the day off, decompressing, getting some rest, clearing our minds and bodies, and getting in the training room with some ice. Hopefully these guys can spend a little time with their teammates and relax a little bit. Nobody has been through more this week than we have. These guys deserve this day off. We want them to be kids, play some video games, hit the refresh button. We will get back to work on Thursday."

(On work with Jae'Lyn Withers this season)
"It has been a rough year for Jae'Lyn (Withers.) He is playing his normal position, which is the four, after playing the five last year. I think it is taking him a while to get used to returning to the four after playing the five, not only that, playing it in an entirely different offense. We have adjusted our offense a little bit and are trying to set plays up and keep our big guys as close to the rim as possible. Jae'Lyn possess a special skill set and he's trying to find that balance on when to shoot, when to drive, when to post, when to get in the lane and how to keep the game simple. I thought he was great tonight. We will keep challenging him and pushing him to keep coming. We need him starting to play his best basketball in February and March, and he's fully capable of that. It has been a collective effort, not just me, but our entire staff, pushing him, showing him film, trying to develop his game on the court, and keep him clear headed."

(On what he learned from his players missing Malik Williams)
"I hope they learn something about themselves. The thing with Malik (Williams) happened, it is what it is. I don't want to talk about that. I want to celebrate our players for the performance that they had, but I knew that we could come out here and win a game against North Carolina without Malik Williams. I knew that. Unfortunately, it didn't happen because of some things down stretch, but I hope they know that now. I hope they know that we are really damn good if we do the little things right and we stay together because it looked pretty good to me."

(On Gabe Wiznitzer's Performance)
"As soon as I get out of here, I am going to give him a big hug. He has not played since NC State. He goes into game and he handles himself like a professional, and he is a big sophomore. He did a phenomenal job of standing between him and (Armando) Bacot. He did a great job of competing and following our scouting report. He's a high IQ kid and to sit that long and then have to go into the game and guard the best big man in the conference is not easy. I am thrilled and excited that he got out there and did the job that his teammates and I all know he can do. I was so proud of him. It takes a lot of character to be able to go out and do that."

(On adjustments to the Louisville's game-plan without Malik Williams)
"We didn't make too many adjustments X's and O's wise. We have Malik normally playing the four or five. Matt Cross knows all the plays from the four; Jae'Lyn knows the plays at the four and five. What made it a little tricky was I didn't want Jae'Lyn to guard (Armando) Bacot as much. I wanted to keep a bigger body on him, but Jae'Lyn proved worthy of being able to deal with Bacot a little bit in the post. He fronted him well. I thought he competed on the glass with him and he was able to give us some mileage guarding Bacot, which I was worried about going into the game."

(On Jae'Lyn Withers' block to force overtime)
"He is so athletic. We don't get to see it much, and we deserve to see more of that. I want to see him get up on the rim, dunk the ball more, block more shots, be more competitive, and make hard plays on the ball. Sydney Curry also had a great block at the end of the game. We made some really good individual plays, hard, and winning plays. We can take a lot from that."

(Thoughts on El Ellis toward the end of the game)
"I was watching the show. He was putting on a show, I like good basketball. He has total carte blanche freedom. He has a leash. Be responsible with it. Find your teammates when they are open, make good decisions. When you have a good thing rolling you roll.

(About the difference from the last two games in comparison to the rest of the season)
"It says a lot about our character. This team has been through more this week than any other team in the country.  To come out and compete against two blue bloods and be right there to win the game says so much about this locker room. Says even more about this program, the character of this team, and our staf. We have a lot of good people in the Kueber Center. We will continue to compete, claw, and fight and whatever else we must do. It will start with an off day tomorrow to rest our minds and our bodies. We need it. We will begin to prepare on Thursday and Friday to get on the road. The Carrier Dome is not an easy place to win. But we must find a way to get on the other side of this thing."

University of Louisville Athletics

Louisville Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs. North Carolina

Players Mentioned

Matt Cross

Sydney Curry

El Ellis

Malik Williams

Jae'Lyn Withers

Gabe Wiznitzer

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