As Louisville's basketball team dropped its only ACC tournament game, a double-digit loss to North Carolina, and received a No. 4 seed to last spring's NCAAs, Mangok Mathiang remembers a key meeting that sparked a run to the Elite Eight.
"We all just sat down and said, 'It's now or never,'" the junior big man remembered Wednesday, months after the Cardinals rallied to win their next three games and push Michigan State to the limit.
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"Everybody came together and did such a great job. For us, we want to do it as early as we can, because you never know when it could be too late."
Rather than wait until next year's postseason, Mathiang -- now the Cardinals' team captain -- will push for the same sort of transformation next month when U of L travels to Puerto Rico.
A team that lost its top-four scorers but adds key transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis from will play as many as six games from Aug. 10-17. Competition includes national squads from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where Rick Pitino's coaching this summer.
Mathiang said the setup is "like AAU -- back to back games, and everybody, whether you played bad or played good, will have to pick it up and go to the next one."
While the redshirt junior is U of L's designated captain, Mathiang pointed out he's not the only player leading on a team "that really, really wants to win."
Sophomore Chinanu Onuaku, another Cardinals player who spoke Wednesday, echoed Mathiang on what he wants out of the trip.
"That we come together as a team and everybody understands coach's offense," Onuaku said. "Just stay together as a team -- share the ball and listen to coach."
Jonathan Lintner
"We all just sat down and said, 'It's now or never,'" the junior big man remembered Wednesday, months after the Cardinals rallied to win their next three games and push Michigan State to the limit.
http://courier-journal.com/featured-newsletter/louisville_sports_headlines/
"Everybody came together and did such a great job. For us, we want to do it as early as we can, because you never know when it could be too late."
Rather than wait until next year's postseason, Mathiang -- now the Cardinals' team captain -- will push for the same sort of transformation next month when U of L travels to Puerto Rico.
A team that lost its top-four scorers but adds key transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis from will play as many as six games from Aug. 10-17. Competition includes national squads from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where Rick Pitino's coaching this summer.
Mathiang said the setup is "like AAU -- back to back games, and everybody, whether you played bad or played good, will have to pick it up and go to the next one."
While the redshirt junior is U of L's designated captain, Mathiang pointed out he's not the only player leading on a team "that really, really wants to win."
Sophomore Chinanu Onuaku, another Cardinals player who spoke Wednesday, echoed Mathiang on what he wants out of the trip.
"That we come together as a team and everybody understands coach's offense," Onuaku said. "Just stay together as a team -- share the ball and listen to coach."
Jonathan Lintner