University of Minnesota Athletics
quotes
12/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Richard Pitino, Minnesota head coach
Opening statement
That was as good of a passing display as we've had since I've been here. Everybody did a great job of sharing the ball. DeAndre (Mathieu) was phenomenal. Nate (Mason) was great. Carlos Morris was great. Mo (Walker) establishing that low post presence early was really good. I thought our focus top to bottom--we're talking about a 40-minute game--was tremendous. I thought we took a major step forward as a basketball team today.
On Maurice Walker's "mean streak"...
We need that. I always joke like, `What do you need me to do, punch you right before you walk out or something to wake you up?' We need that. He understands it. Andre (Hollins) always gets on him. (He and Andre) are very close. They always get on him about it. He had that today. Twenty-three minutes and 22 points, seven rebounds, three blocks--that was pretty good.
On instilling that "mean streak" in Walker...
He has that laidback, reserved personality, and that's fine. Be yourself. But on the court, you've got to compete, and you've got to be mean, and you've got to be tough. I think he's developed that a lot at times in practice.
On the Gophers' depth...
I think we've got a nice rotation. (Charles) Buggs has got to get healthy. That's the biggest thing. He's the one guy, if we can just get him healthy--it's that knee from a previous surgery. Let's get him healthy, and I like our rotation a lot.
On his performance tonight...
I was trying to play aggressively right from the start. The guys kept giving me the ball and my shots were falling. It feels good to see the ball go in the hoop consistently. We did a great job as a team sharing the ball tonight, so it was a great team game tonight.
On getting to the next level as a "Big Man" in the Big Ten...
That's the goal for me. My teammates are pushing me every day and telling me I can play at a higher level. That motivates me to play harder especially going into a short break. I want to play well now and keep this momentum going.
On focusing on his rebounding...
It's still one of the major focuses for me. During the offseason I said I wanted to improve at rebounding. It's still a process for me and I want to advance at every game so I can continue to build.
On distributing the ball and scoring tonight...
I didn't think it would take me this long to get ten assists. I want to continue to get guys good looks and they'll continue to score so I hope to have fifteen assists this season too. In earlier games I was just passing and passing. Now I'm taking more shots and they keep falling.
On being more comfortable as a shooter...
When I played at junior college my role most of the time was to score and pass and I'm familiar with that system. Sometimes I want to take the ball and shoot and I've been getting more comfortable doing that on a consistent basis.
