University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Richard Pitino
Opening Statement:
"That was probably our best defensive performance since I've been here, especially that first half. We imposed our will, which I loved. It all started with our guards pressuring the ball."
How did you like to see the effort from DeAndre Mathieu after a rough opening game?
"We told him 'you're 5'9", if you want to be noticed get steals, get deflections and stop worrying about your points. He was really good and I thought Andre Hollins was tremendous. He wasn't even worried about his points which was nice to see."
Was "Imposing the will" a big message after the Louisville game?
"Absolutely, that was our big thing. We needed to get an identity as a team. With our perimeter this year, we've got good defensive depth and this is the way we want to play. We didn't let them run their sets and did a good job of taking (George) Fant out of the game and T.J. Price out of the game."
Do you credit the way you played tonight to the level of competition you played in the opener?
"I'm proud of the way we played (against Louisville). I'm happy we played the game and you find out a lot about your team early and when you play a quality opponent like that, you are going to find out a lot. Our guys learned a lot from it."
Practice ramped up defensively, according to DeAndre, after the Louisville loss. Do you think the same?
"Yeah I think they learned from the Louisville guards. They are very good players but physically no better than our guards. It was eye opening because they are little guards too. They realized that if they want to separate themselves individually, it can't be about points it has to be about other things (steals and assists)."
Senior Center Mo Walker
On returning home after a game in Puerto Rico...
"It felt really good. Especially great to be back on the home floor. We turned up the heat defensively. We learned a lot from the Louisville game and moved on after it."
On the improvements so far...
"We've had a lot of pressure defensively. DeAndre and Andre did a great job guarding the ball. Our guards really heated it up and took the ball handlers out of their comfort zone and forced their offense to start really far out, and that really helped us defensively."
On the style of play tonight...
"Tonight was a night where we showed how well we can play defensively. We put a lot of pressure on them. That's how we want to play. That's definitely how we want to play.
Junior Forward Joey King
On success tonight compared to the Louisville game...
"I think it was all about learning to impose our will. We learned that Louisville imposes their will on other teams and we wanted to take that and translate it to our team's game. We wanted to come in with a mentality like a Montrezl Harrell and other players like that. I think it was important for us to learn from that game and I think it is going to translate to games moving forward for us."
On establishing a low-post offense...
"With our size compared to them, they were pretty thin in the 5, it was really important for us. We love to get Big E and Big Mo going early so that really opens up the floor for our slashing guards so getting those two going early is really important for us."
On DeAndre Mathieu's performance after a tough game vs. Louisville...
"Coach is giving us lessons every single day and he wants us to bounce back so he is giving us all the confidence in the world to go out and make plays the next day. I think he is learning, just like me, to get over things. It's our second year here so there are definitely learning experiences and moving on."
