Louisville Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs. Miami

Miami 70, Louisville 63
February 16, 2022
Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center

Interim Head Coach Mike Pegues
(Opening statement)
"I am of getting in front of you guys and having to talk about what we didn't do right to win a game. It's extremely frustrating. I had a long talk with the guys in the back and told them the most disappointing thing was that we didn't play hard in the first half. I thought we were lifeless, no energy, no pop – and I don't really understand why, because the practices haven't been that way. In practice, guys seemed really excited, competitive, trash-talking, competing… and we didn't bring that to the table in the first half and I really don't know why. We have to be much better in that area. Obviously, we showed that we can compete in the second half, but I'm tired of talking about that, so I'm not going to talk about that anymore. We've got to put a whole game together. We've got to find five guys who want to compete for 40 minutes."

(On the decision to start JJ Traynor and to not play Malik Williams and Samuell Williamson)
"JJ has played well in practice the last few days, he deserved to start – he earned it. We wanted to switch one through five and he's a kid who allows us to do that because he can guard perimeter players. As far and Malik and Sam go, I want to play those guys, I haven't given up on those guys at all. I want them to have a couple of good days at practice going forward so hopefully I can get them in the game on Saturday. Our whole team throughout the year has had an issue with coachability at times… just doing things the right way, handling coaching and, in addition to that, productivity – those are the two most important things to me. I'm a novice at this, obviously it goes without saying, I admit that. Just throughout my background as a player and a coach – respect, being coachable, listening, doing your best every day, not having answers, maybe you have questions, but you don't have answers. You let the coaches coach, that's who you've got to be, and on top of that, you have to be productive, you have to go in the game and make things happen and so, I've been searching for guys to bring both of those things to the table all year long. I was searching for that tonight and I'm sure it showed.

(On whether certain issues are recent or more season long)
"They have been the whole season. We are not the only coaches or program that goes through that. I think the better programs that are predicted to be in the Final Four or are consistently good to be constantly good deal with it too. If any program would struggle with that it would be ours given the season with staff turnover and Coach Mack not being there for the first six games and then he comes back and we are where we are now, so there has not been a real sense of stability this season. That is no excuse for our players to not come in, work every day, listen, be coachable, yes sir, no sir, and be an everyday guy that is competing, fighting, without things to say, and on top of all of that, be productive. You can see why some of the issues are there given this season, but I would like to see us not have these issues going forward. Let's patch that hole. Let's come in and work. I know I am not the permanent head coach. I am not a Jay Wright or an established head coach with a culture that has been there for 20-plus seasons, but let's come in and be about the right things every day and see what happens when we do that."

(On end of game execution in recent games)
"I don't think it is coachability in those moments. I think that I have to do a better job of trying to get our guys in an action that gives us an advantage. I think that in the last couple of games we were expecting a coverage that we didn't get; a team may switch a ball screen or Miami tonight for instance, when we had a bigger guy on their guards, we were able to get in the lane and create a play. The situation down the stretch, a couple of times that wasn't the case for us. We have to get more guys being able to take advantage of that switch and exploit their guy that's on the ball and create a better opportunity. I am going to take some responsibility for that as well. I haven't been in enough of those moments to give those guys the right answer, but sometimes the right answer is that you have to make a play. You have to make a play and exploit the mismatch. It's twofold."

(On the team only having six assists on 27 made field goals)
"Well, I will take some responsibility for that as well. We had to implement a new offense in the last few days that we felt like it allowed us to post the ball. We didn't run it very well. Three days isn't a ton of time to get that going. Miami presented problems for us defensively because of their pressure in the passing lanes. They don't want you to reverse the ball. They are one of the top tier teams in steals and it became hard to reverse the ball so we couldn't really run that as much, so we wound up running set plays. There are four individual players to play out of a post primarily and we want to use a ball screen, so Dre (Davis) is down on the block and he's trying to operate and they're not really doubling so now he's a one-on-one player. Jae'lyn (Withers) has shown that he can play better, we were trying to post him as well. We were running some more isolation plays, trying to get the ball in the paint. There was a huge emphasis going into the game to try to get the ball in paint, post it, drive it, get offensive rebounds. I take responsibility for that, our offense has been something that's been transitioning throughout the year, trying to constantly find ways to play to our guys' strengths. We made some adjustments to it. It's going take us some time to get better at it, but I do feel comfortable with what we're doing. We have to get better at it."

(On a lack of energy and if players are getting discouraged)
"I think so. I think that's natural, right? They are young kids. I'm an adult and I'm discouraged. The fans are discouraged. Everybody's discouraged. Come in, be coachable, get back to work. Let's get better. Let's find a way to figure it out. So, we don't have to be discouraged, let's encourage each other. Let's flip it. Let's help each other. It may sound corny, but that's what we've got to do because everybody runs up against hard times. It's a hard time for our kids and for our staff, but we can't quit. We can't crack. We've got to push through."

(On Sydney Curry's lack of minutes in tonight's game)
"Miami presents a unique situation with Sam (Waardenberg) not being a traditional big. If that was North Carolina and Armando (Bacot), Sydney would have played a lot more. It was hard to play our bigger guys against Waardenberg in the way that they play on offense. I thought Sydney and Roosevelt (Wheeler) did some good things when they were out there. They did some things they weren't as good too and we have to get back and watch the tape and figure out where they went wrong. We've got to fix it and we have to be better."

(On stagnation of the offense)
"Sometimes you want El (Ellis) to make plays, but he can't over dribble. With the leash that we're giving El (Ellis), he has to be more responsible with getting in the lane and blowing by guys. Just keep it simple. Less is more. Take a couple of dribbles and find a way to get in there. If not, move it and let somebody else have an opportunity to see if they can get into the lane. The ball is sticking too much on offense, which is the product of good defense and switches. We have to be able to attack those switches the right way. That's not all on El (Ellis), that's on us as a staff as well, in terms of trying to give him a better idea of how we want to attack switches and different coverages."

(On if the team understands what's expected in the upcoming games)
"We'll find out. Time will tell. Tomorrow it would be tough to do a lot. It'll be more of a mental day. Our guys have to get used to our offense more. We will have an easy practice and run five on zero. We also have to get used to and familiarize ourselves with Clemson. We won't be as active in practice tomorrow, that'll pick back up on Friday. It's easy to nod your head in agreement after the fact, but who are you in those moments, when a coach addresses you for not doing something right? Who are you when things aren't going your way when you're having a bad day? Can you snap out of it in the moment and be coachable, and do what you're asked to do, and not do it begrudgingly, and not pout about it, and not suck your teeth about it? This is Power Five college basketball. Guys come here and become pros. You can't do that. We don't have guys that are elite enough for a coach to take that. High character, elite players, are coachable, they're extensions of the coaching staff. We need more of that. Our guys are capable of doing that. I'm not trying to paint the picture that these guys are bad people. They're young, and to your point, they're discouraged, and it affects their behavior and their coachability. Even though it's a hard time, you still have to adhere to what the coaches are trying to instruct you on, and we have to be able to accept it grow and get better."

(On the energy in the locker room)
"I think that at the end of the day, our players still want to win. I don't think that was necessarily the case in the first half given our effort. It did not look like it and I told those guys that I was disappointed in the fight and the way that we came out. We didn't come out swinging the way that we talked about, but nonetheless, the reason it's frustrating is because we have done it in practice. When we go red and white, we compete and go at each other. I feel like we go at each other harder than we do our opponent, which I really don't understand. The energy is good in practice, so we have to bring it to the game floor."

(On reaching a frustration boiling point given the current state of results)
"It is a fair question, but we got to move on from these games. We have to learn from this game tape and then figure out who Clemson is, what they like to do, and take it away. We got to come back to work tomorrow, Friday, and then come out here and have a better performance Saturday with the energy that we talked about. It has to show up from minute one. I would like to see that, and our players have to know that it has to be the case against Clemson."

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Sydney Curry

JJ Traynor

Malik Williams

Samuell Williamson

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