Louisville Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs. Virginia

Virginia 71, Louisville 61
March 5, 2022
Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center

Interim Head Coach Mike Pegues
(Opening Statement)

"I will start by saying that we didn't get the win. Unfortunately, that's too common of a theme for this team and this year, but I will acknowledge and recognize the fact that I thought our guys showed more fight today than they had in the last few games. We didn't start the game down 17-2 and our starters gave us a chance to be in the game. Virginia competed on the defensive end and we couldn't really score the ball in the first half. I believe it got down to what we call the 'fourth war' around the eight-minute mark, where it's 14-14, right? It was a typical Virginia game, low scoring, and then they go on a 22-3 run. Our inability to score affects us on the defensive end, we could not get stops and that is too deep of a hole for us to dig ourselves out of completely. I thought in the second half, we gave ourselves a chance with some pretty good defensive possessions here and there, but I thought it was spotty and not consistent enough. The good teams that are going to win games and give themselves an opportunity to compete for an ACC tournament championship and NCAA championship, are teams that are going be consistent on both ends of the floor. They are going to get stops, going to be connected on every possession, offensively, get the ball in the paint, run their plays, and get quality shots. We did that at times, we got 44 points in the second half against a very good Virginia defense. Our consistency and ability on the defensive end to finish every possession hurt us and that is where I thought the game was lost."

(On Sydney Curry's performance)

"We want to play through Sydney (Curry), I think that he's given us a guy that we can go to throughout the game. If he came in at 258 pounds at the start of the season, we could have been going to him day one, but credit to him for getting a lot better throughout the season. We have revamped our offense to play around him and to get him the ball inside. Virginia is a big post trap team and I saw Tony (Bennett) call it off a couple of times because Sydney (Curry) did an admirable job of taking care of the ball. He recorded three assists, and even though he had three turnovers, he did a great job of scoring the ball around the basket. He is a high percentage guy on the block, particularly the right block, but he did a good job on the left block as well today. It is good to see him offensively playing the way that he did, he gets six offensive rebounds, that's phenomenal. The area where Sydney (Curry) has to help us is on the defensive end, he knows that, and our coaching staff has to continue to help him understand. I think he exerts so much energy on the offensive end that he has to leave enough to defend, and he's got to find a way to find that balance."

(On shifting focus to the ACC Tournament)

"We are 0-0 heading into the ACC Tournament and everybody else is and we will take it one day at a time. It looks like the odds are we will play a team on Tuesday that we beat, whether it's Boston College, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, or NC State. We have beaten all those teams at least once this season. Hopefully that emboldens us and gives us a boost. We need to understand that it is a brand new season in Brooklyn, everyone is excited around tournament time. We get an opportunity to go win a ball game on Tuesday against a good team, but a team that we will have most likely played and beaten before. We will see what happens from there."

(On Malik Williams' performance)

"I thought he was solid and that he did some good things out there. Malik (Williams) is an experienced guy so he adds an element that some other guys just can't bring, particularly on the defensive end, where his best basketball is usually played. Hopefully, we can get the same energy, commitment, and investment, tomorrow and Tuesday. I believe that he's a kid that wants to win the game on Tuesday and go one day at a time. If Malik (Williams) is truly committed to that, which I think that he is, then he will help us by being on the floor. He's a guy who's been out there before but we all as a program, in particular our players, have to do the right things. We have to communicate with each other the right way. We have to respect one another. We have to be about the right things the next two days. We have to refamiliarize ourselves with whoever we play on Tuesday. It will be more of a mental day tomorrow and then we will get after each other a little bit on Monday and then we will head to Brooklyn and see what happens."

(On keeping the players invested in the program as an interim coach)

"That's a tricky question. Honestly, I am just worried about the present. I care about the program. Louisville has been great to me, the city, and the University. Josh Heird is a phenomenal athletic director. I hope they don't get that one wrong. I hope they retain Josh Heird. I'm not concerned about myself in any of this. I really believe the promotion comes from God, and I'm a good guy, and I'm invested in what I'm doing. I'll land on my feet somewhere. I want what's best for these kids, whether that's here or elsewhere. I want what's best for them. I just want to be totally consumed with Brooklyn right now. Whatever happens after that happens. I hope that people make the right decisions. I hope that anybody who's here wants to be here, and they invest with everything they have. That's certainly what I plan on doing wherever I am."

(On playing in the ACC tournament)

"I'm excited about it. The last tournament we were in, we won. Here's the thing, you get to go to Brooklyn, and you get to compete in the ACC tournament, are you kidding me? I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. I want to find out who we play right now. I want to get home and find out who that is and get to work; get caught up on who they are offensively and defensively. I want to get with our staff and figure out how we can scheme and tweak some things in the tournament. Coaches usually game plan a little differently and they throw some wrinkles at you that you haven't seen. I'm excited about that. I'm living the dream. It's a rough dream, sometimes it's a nightmare. I still never expected to be here. I am going to get every minute out of it, every single minute."

(On if coach will start prepping for the ACC tournament tonight)

"I will get a meal, have a bourbon and a cigar and then I will get right on that laptop."

(On what changed offensively in the second half and scoring 44 points in the second half)

"I thought we moved the ball pretty well. We executed some of our sets. Virginia is a really tough team, in particular their ball screen defense. They do a good job of hedging hard. I thought that our guards made some plays, we got the ball to the short roll, and we threw the ball inside to Sydney (Curry). We executed a couple of set plays that we recently put in. I thought we did some good things. When we did get stops, we were able to run a little bit. We missed a couple of transition threes, and we could have easily had over 50 points. We had some really good looks that didn't go in. Hopefully those go in when we competed in Brooklyn."

(On how the offense changed to go through Sydney Curry)

"Honestly, just a few set plays that get him the ball in his sweet spot on the baseline or the block. The right block is where he is best because he gets to get to his left hand. He can be really effective on the left block as well going to the baseline. He's a tough cover and a strong kid. When you want to wrestle with him, it's probably not the best idea. When you when you trap him, he's also shown that he can pass the ball. When he gets on the offensive glass the way he did, good things happen for us."

(On the character of the team as a whole)

"I am proud of the kids for our character and fight today because it has wavered at times. Right after the transition for this team to compete the way that we did against Duke and North Carolina twice. A lot of close games with the exception of the last two, and the Syracuse game. I think that that does say a lot about our kids and their character. I want that to be a constant every single day. That has wavered. When you go through something like this, it's easy for doubt to set in. It's easy for your confidence to drop. It's easy to point the finger at the guy next to you. That's human nature, and I've challenged him as best I can to resist that, to resist the temptation to be normal. Let's fight. In our worst moment, this team has gone through more than any other team in the country and it's so true. No team in Louisville basketball history has gone through what this team has gone through, but we have stood in, fought, and competed to be at our best in the worst moments. That's the challenge to our team and that's what I want until the last minute."

University of Louisville Athletics

Louisville Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs. Virginia

Players Mentioned

Sydney Curry

Malik Williams

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