UNC-Louisville Quotes

Louisville vs. North Carolina Postgame Quotes
KFC Yum! Center | Feb. 17, 2018

Louisville Head Coach David Padgett

(Opening statement) "I told Coach Williams, I said 'If they shoot the ball like that it's going to take a heck of a night to beat them.' As they always are, that's a very potent offensive to team, especially when they shoot the ball like that. They came out, obviously, just guns on fire. They made eight 3s in the first half, five or six of them were right there in the first three or four minutes of the game. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. We got down too big. It's tough to overcome that against a team that can score like that. Second half, we did a better job defending, but then what happens if you give up offensive rebounds? They had nine offensive rebounds in the second half. We had about five or six possessions where we played good defense, got them to take a tough shot, and they missed. Then we just didn't come up with the rebound, and they capitalized on it. That's a heck of a team. They just played better than we did tonight. With that being said, like I just told our guys, we can't feel sorry for ourselves or anything because, as you guys well know, these next couple weeks it gets harder with every game. We've got to look at the film, see what we need to fix and come back ready to work because, obviously, Wednesday is going to be very, very difficult."

(On the breaking point of the game) "I thought the big one, obviously off the top of my head, was the one where we got them all the way down to one second on the shot clock and then Luke Maye hit that one prayer that went in. I thought that was a big one, but again it never comes down to one play. You just dig yourself a big hole. I think they were up 19 in the first half. It's just going to be tough to overcome that the way they can score offensively, so we just have to overcome a hole like that."

(On whether the team played with the intensity and urgency needed to make the NCAA Tournament) "We don't talk about the tournament, first and for most. We talk about who we are playing next and that's it. There were some nerves, there's no question, it was frenetic there for the first couple of minutes. We got lost a couple of times on defense. It's tough to simulate what they do in practice, as far as how they pass the ball. They are probably the best passing team in the country. They average 18 assist a game, and they had 20 tonight. They came out shooting the lights out, and it's tough to overcome that unless you make as many shots as they do. Even though we shot the ball fairly well, it's tough when they make 12 threes and they get 17 offensive rebounds"

(On Adel's performance after missing two games) "He played well. He came in and gave us a big boost, obviously, but it just wasn't enough."

(On playing a small lineup with only one true big) "We had to tonight because of the way they play. They only have one big in the game as well. I thought Dwayne Sutton came in and did a pretty good job for us. He was active like he always is when he comes in the game. It's just a game by game thing. It was just the of flow to the game. It seems like we would cut it to six or eight, and then they would come down and score. They seemed to counter every single one of our runs with a run of their own."

(On whether the team failed to get the ball inside to Spalding) "Our offense wasn't the reason we lost this game, I think that's pretty evident. Ray had 18 and 12, so I don't think he played that poorly."

(On the schedule for tomorrow and the rest of the week) "We're off tomorrow because of the way the calendar falls. With Wednesday and Saturday (games) we usually have to be off on Sunday. We have to rest up and bounce back on Monday, have two great days of practice and go on the road and get ready to play probably the most talented team in the country."

(On what adjustments can be made to rebounding) "If I had an answer to that question, I probably would have solved it a long time ago, not on February 17. It's a mindset. A perfect example was the one, I can't remember who shot it for them, it may have been Maye in the corner down there opposite their bench, Ray blocked it and you think you're going to get it and all of a sudden here comes Cam Johnson swooping in and lays it in. They were just quicker to the ball in the backcourt than we were in the second half. It's been a weakness of our team all year. Unfortunately, I don't know if there is any easy solution to it. If there was, I certainly would try it by now. It's something we just have to harp on. Ray had 12 and nobody else really had more than five, so that's a problem, we're not team rebounding."

(On the challenging schedule ahead) "It's tough, but I don't know anyone that has an easy league schedule because everybody has to play everybody. The order in which they're in is different but – that team played better than we did tonight and I give them all the credit in the world. Like I told Coach Williams, when they play like that it's going to be tough to beat them, but we have to get ready for the next one because we have four grueling games in the next two weeks and can't look behind and just have look ahead to what's next."

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams
(Opening Statement) "We got off to a great start, shot the ball really well early, gave us a little more confidence. Deng (Adel) came in end of the first half, and for a while, beat us by himself. We had a nine-point lead at halftime and came out made some hoops to keep it that margin. We still didn't do a very good job of guarding the three-point shot, I think they shot 41 percent from three. I thought the two biggest baskets…they cut it to seven and lost Joel Berry dead corner across from our bench and Joel made a three. And then, they cut it to seven again, and Luke (Maye) made a really difficult three as the shot clock was winding down that put it back to 10. Luke was terrible early, he wasn't the Luke Maye that we've watched all year long. But late, he was Luke Maye again, he made three threes, got three offensive rebounds for baskets in the second half as well, and just really did a good job for us. We had five guys in double figures, outrebounded them 44-32. I think our second chance points were 22-6, all-in-all, we really played well. I didn't like our defense, but I haven't liked our defense all year, so maybe we'll get it changed before I turn 90. But, made shots, guys made plays—too many turnovers, carelessly. I think, again, you have to give Louisville credit for that because they just keep coming at you. I thought Deng was really difficult for us to handle…Ray Spalding, was like seeing out freshmen big guys. He just goes to work and ends up scoring baskets for them. I feel very fortunate to get out of here with a W."

(On offensive rebounding in the second half) "Well, we missed two or three dead layups and Luke was there to get it and put it back in. It was big, wouldn't have been as big if we'd made the layups to start with. But, I thought that was important. Luke had six offensive rebounds and he does have a nose for the basketball. He's not the most gifted, most talented, prettiest thing you've ever seen, but he has a nose for the basketball and keeps going to the board."

(On rebounding well with an undersized team) "Well, we emphasize the dickens out of it. I think every coach has got some things that you do pretty well because you emphasize it more than you do other things. With one exception, Roy Williams feels like he's emphasizing guarding a three-point shot, and we're not doing that very well. I've always thought rebounding was the most important. I scream at them every time they don't go. I jumped on Cam (Johnson), he missed two box outs late in the game. I got after guys for not going to the board. If they don't go to the board on one play, I tell them. I think they're buying into it more each and every day about how much more important that is to us."

(On how the team looked in practice and how it translated to tonight's game) "Yes, I thought we were fresher defensively too. I was pleased with what we did defensively, Joe, in the last two practices. I thought, gosh, maybe we were finally turning the corner. I didn't necessarily see it as much today in the game. So, we're going to give them tomorrow off, and hopefully, give them their fresh legs back again and try to do a little practice on Monday. We play on Wednesday, so we would do a few things on Monday to try to give them their legs back."

(On opening up the offense more in recent games) "I think they know that. I think if you look back at it though, in that game (at Clemson), we lost Theo (Pinson) after 90 seconds, and he is the best playmaker that we have, that was part of it, too. Kenny (Williams), I think that was the last game Kenny was struggling a little bit and he got going again after that game. They know that I like having as many guys, I would like to have 14 guys in score double figures, is what I would like. It's harder to guard a team where all five guys can really score. I've always thought that. I didn't have to say too much about it at all, but, we did talk about a lack of movement from other guys, and we also talked about how that Cam (Johnson) and Joel (Berry) were our only offense. But, we lost, so that's important, too."

(On winning a game at Louisville) "No, I told them in the locker room, 'Now, a couple other ones have got one too.'"

(On Joel Berry II's performance) "I know, God almighty guys, that's all he talked about in the locker room. He was yelling "Rim protector!" and all this kind of junk. I got to see it again on tape…he's been going and rebounding the ball on the defensive board. I don't know what he did today. (reading stats) Joel Berry, seven defensive rebounds. He's been getting involved more, doing that for us. He's had nine or 10 blocks for us this year. I don't want him trying to think that, but that was a heck of a play, but, he kind of sneaked up on the guy, too."

(On relationship with David Padgett while recruiting him and now as head coaches) "Well, it was a hard time, not to be too dramatic, but it's true. It was a hard time in my life. I love David Padgett, wanted to coach David Padgett. It had of been not the best of all worlds the last two years I'd been at Kansas. I had some conflict in the department, and it wasn't fun for me. When I didn't go back to North Carolina in 2000, I thought that Matt (Doherty) would be there for 25 years, and I'd stay at Kansas and I sort of wanted to be just at one school. But then, all of the sudden, they call back and offer me the job again. Two things that were the most difficult I'd ever have to do in my basketball career: one thing was calling my team together at Kansas and telling them, because I was going to them face to face. If I felt, if I had known at that moment how dirty I felt, how bad I felt, I couldn't have done it, there's no question. But the other thing was calling Omar (Wilkes), David and J.R. (Giddens), and those guys and telling them what was going on. But, I thought David was going to be a fantastic player for us. He's one of the best runners, and I've always loved big guys that really run. Then, he goes to Louisville and had a great career, First Team All-Big East, he was the leader of their team. He sort of hung around and I knew he wanted to get into coaching. His dad was a coach, a really good coach—mom and dad are nice, nice people. So, I've followed him and see him on the road and I always talk to him. Last summer, we sat beside each other for a whole game and just watched the game, kept our mouth shut while the game was going on, but, during the timeouts, talked. So, when it did happen, it's a hard situation, but we talked a couple of times on the phone and I told him I was very proud of him, but he doesn't need my approval because he's David and he's going to do a great job here. Hopefully, they'll see what he's done with the club and let him stay here for a long time."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Luke Maye

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