University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn vs Louisville Coach Calhoun Quotes
1/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2011
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January 29, 2011
Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun
"Congratulations to Louisville and Coach Pitino. They certainly did a terrific job mentally as much as physically. Even when they were down eight, and five late in the game, they came back and truly beat us….They won the game. They won the game."
"They shot 48 percent and we've only had a few teams shoot 48 percent against us. And that's all you really need to know."
"I think the crowd was great, and I think it was a great atmosphere for us."
"Honestly, from the opening tip, I didn't like the feeling of our team. And I don't like the feeling of our team right now - I'm talking about when the horn went off, not necessarily when I get into the locker room. It's an incredibly disappointing loss because we had the game won twice - in regulation and then in overtime. We come down, up eight, and cast up a three with five minutes to go for no apparent reason except that it seemed like a good idea at the time. We made those kinds of mistakes."
"We didn't make foul shots down the stretch the way we're supposed to and can and have all year."
"When you have leads late in games - and this team has played in a lot of tight games - the way we didn't do things…and let's assume some of those shots didn't go in. All you have to do is take away two or three layups at the end, and a three-point shot…We had that five-point lead and that dissipated in 38 seconds. You can't give a three up, and you can't give a layup up, and we did."
"Louisville took it from us. We made it much easier for them, certainly. But they took it from us. We didn't give it to them, but we certainly gave them some great advantages."
"I don't remember an offensive rebound we got where we just went back up and in. We normally kicked those back out and the guards scored. I've never had a team where it's hard to throw the ball inside, or hard to get an offensive rebound and then not score. But we're struggling with that right now."
On Siva's inside scoring:
"Easy. I have no explanation for it. None. If I did I would have tried to solve it. I tried to use different centers, but they both got out of the way to make sure he had a clearer view of the rim. And, obviously, we shouldn't be getting beat that easy at the top, either."
"It was definitely a winnable game but Louisville stuck with their stuff and were able to be the one to get the victory."
What was Coach's message after the game?
"He was just mad that we lost. WE could have won. There was an opportunity for us to win, but we just couldn't pull it off."
How physical was it?
"It was real physical. We just couldn't find any good shots."
On the defenses against you "They're throwing a lot of guys at me and I'm not thing good shots. I have to do a better job of getting better shots."
On the shot on the last possession of the game
"He slipped and I was open. I just missed. It looked good, but it didn't go in so it doesn't matter."
On the shot at the end of regulation
"I drove baseline. They sent three guys at me. I just tried to get a shot up. I was a little behind the backboard but it almost went in."
What happened which allowed Siva to get some open looks and layups?
"It was just pick and roll. He executed real well on the pick and roll. We just have to get better on the pick and roll defense. It's a five man thing. It's not just the guard or the big man. It's everybody."
On Louisville's defense on Jeremy Lamb in the 2nd half
"They just made sure whatever side he was on they played him tight."
"When it was time to get stops, sometimes we got lazy and gave up shots. When it was time to knock down shots, we missed little shots. I just think they hit some big shots and we didn't."
How much did their match-up zone give you problems?
"It gave us little problems. We were trying to rush stuff too much and we didn't get into our offense. It definitely affected us. But I think if we could have moved the ball a little more, we would have been able to get more shots."
What changed in the second half for you?
"In the second half we stopped moving the ball as much. I forced some shots. Everybody forced some shots. It was had to get easy buckets. over"
"It was a tough loss because we kind of defeated ourselves. The majority of the game we controlled the whole game, but we just defeated ourselves."
"We felt like we had it sealed up. With 7 seconds left, there was a miscommunication. He was wide open for a layup. So, we had it won twice."
"Louisville played a wonderful game. They are just terrific. They just kept on running us and running us and we got real tired at the end. Those picks that they set at the end, we just didn't play enough defense. And that showed how tired we were. We were just kind of being selfish at the end."
On the offense's troubles today
"We weren't running it efficient and that ended up killing us at the end of the game…We just sat out there like robots. We were out of our game."
On Kemba's last shot
"No matter what, we want the ball in Kemba's hands at the end. We were out of timeouts. I looked at Kemba and he was guarded. I was going to take it, but then Payton (Siva) slipped and his shoe fell off. So I was like, I'm going to leave it in the captain's hands, the person I know who wants to take the shot. I always want to take the shot but, at the end of the day, we all know who to give the ball to. He took a tough, contested shot. If it falls in, he's the hero once again. In my eyes he's still the hero because he took that shot. He wanted to take that shot, and that's half the battle right there."
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"This was a tremendous effort. We were totally physically outmanned on the glass, but we had to go small because we could get some mismatch situations where we could get threes. We played great defense the whole game, but gave up second shots."
"This is one of the gutsiest teams I've ever coached. I'm really lucky to coach this team. This was not an easy victory in double overtime on the road shorthanded."
On Siva's dunk at the end of regulation
"It was a great play. What we were looking to do is do it fast and isolated."
On Siva's play overall
"He did a great job. He was exhausted and I was on him like a new suit to try and play defense because he couldn't breathe. I couldn't go with the other guys, so he had to gut it out."
"It was a tremendous, tremendous run, especially at the beginning of each overtime. We told our guys we do not want the clock to run out, go three overtimes, and be offensively aggressive. Come out and just make sure you attack the rim. You can't win on the road unless you attack the rim. And they did a great job. Came out in both overtimes really, really looking to attack it."
"Everybody played really, really well. A gutty performance with a very short-handed group. I'm really proud of them - with very little preparation."
"I can't say enough about our guys. I thought I saw it all with Marquette, saw it all even with the last game. But this game, for me, is the capper of the season for us right now. Now we have to get Georgetown."
On defense
"We did a great job in our zone. It's a zone, but we play mostly man. We really go away from the basket, we switch, we get out into the passing lanes. And once they get into their offense we're really playing man to man."
Defense of Walker
"It's tough, but we didn't try to do it with one person… We weren't afraid to trap him, make the rotations. We did a very good job on their interior people. Took away the interior play. And when you put all that pressure on the outside, you're going to give up offensive rebounds. Normally, I'm upset at the rebounding…but if you take away certain things, you have to give up certain things."
