In a radio interview Friday, Pitino suggested that he might alter his team's lineup late in games to avoid the foul-shooting woes that keep hurting the Cards. They were 15 of 26 in the loss to Duke and are shooting 68.5 percent for the season, a number that ranks 233rd out of 351 teams in college basketball.
"The good thing is we've got unlimited time to work on it this week," Pitino said Friday on the "Ramsey and Rutherford" show on 93.9 The Ville. "We may have to go with four guards ... when we get in the bonus. That's something I'm going to toy with a little more this week."
That experimental lineup would include Quentin Snider (72.5 percent on free throws), Donovan Mitchell (80 percent), Deng Adel (76.1 percent) and V.J. King (82.1 percent) and then just one big man. Louisville may compromise some of its rebounding, Pitino said, but they will lose early in the NCAA tournament if they can't make foul shots.
"We were very, very confident (going into the ACC tournament)," Pitino said. "Now we're a little rattled because of our free-throw shooting."
The coaching staff has unlimited practice time with the team this week, so Pitino said he planned to have individual instructions with each player and free-throw-focused workouts with the team.
Mitchell and Adel both said they would encourage their teammates to work hard on their free throws, too, after the loss to Duke on Thursday.
Pitino worried in particular about power forward Ray Spalding and center Anas Mahmoud, who give Louisville its springier, longer frontcourt but have struggled from the foul line. Spalding shoots 52.8 percent and Mahmoud makes 47.9 percent. That's a problem, Pitino said, because both players draw more than three fouls per 40 minutes.
"They both go to the line (and struggle) – we can't have that," Pitino said. "We have to do something about that before we take the court Thursday or Friday. ... We have to get them better."
"The good thing is we've got unlimited time to work on it this week," Pitino said Friday on the "Ramsey and Rutherford" show on 93.9 The Ville. "We may have to go with four guards ... when we get in the bonus. That's something I'm going to toy with a little more this week."
That experimental lineup would include Quentin Snider (72.5 percent on free throws), Donovan Mitchell (80 percent), Deng Adel (76.1 percent) and V.J. King (82.1 percent) and then just one big man. Louisville may compromise some of its rebounding, Pitino said, but they will lose early in the NCAA tournament if they can't make foul shots.
"We were very, very confident (going into the ACC tournament)," Pitino said. "Now we're a little rattled because of our free-throw shooting."
The coaching staff has unlimited practice time with the team this week, so Pitino said he planned to have individual instructions with each player and free-throw-focused workouts with the team.
Mitchell and Adel both said they would encourage their teammates to work hard on their free throws, too, after the loss to Duke on Thursday.
Pitino worried in particular about power forward Ray Spalding and center Anas Mahmoud, who give Louisville its springier, longer frontcourt but have struggled from the foul line. Spalding shoots 52.8 percent and Mahmoud makes 47.9 percent. That's a problem, Pitino said, because both players draw more than three fouls per 40 minutes.
"They both go to the line (and struggle) – we can't have that," Pitino said. "We have to do something about that before we take the court Thursday or Friday. ... We have to get them better."
