LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – After Louisville finally pulled out a win in Puerto Rico on the team’s fifth day there, head coach Rick Pitino spoke highly of the things his team will take away from the trip.
“If we didn’t have this, I’d be really worried going into the season,” he said. “We’re ahead of where we need to be now, and we’ll be on target for practice. We know some offenses, and we know some defenses, and we’ll be way ahead of the schedule.”
However, Pitino wasn’t as thrilled with the way his team played Friday night.
“Like I told the guys, you want to learn from your mistakes in victory, but last night they played a good team. Tonight they played a much lesser team and they played very poor basketball, except for the end,” he said. “I’m a little disappointed with the way they played tonight and very happy with the way they played last night. But like anything else, they needed a victory tonight more than anything else.”
Pitino’s focus has been working new players into his system.
“I’m trying to get Damion Lee and Trey Lewis to understand that if they just live with the jump shot, they’re not going to be effective basketball players. They’ve got to paint touch and create passes as well as shots – and finally in the fourth quarter they did that.”
He praised Mangok Mathiang’s 19-point, eight-rebound game Friday night and talked about wanting his other players to learn from him.
“Mangok is the only one that I was really pleased with,” Pitino said. “[Mangok] also never gets down. If Matz had his attitude, he’d be a dominant basketball player.”
Lewis led Louisville with 21 points on 7/12 shooting. The Cardinals sneaked out the win despite committing 19 turnovers to just 15 assists.
“If we didn’t have this, I’d be really worried going into the season,” he said. “We’re ahead of where we need to be now, and we’ll be on target for practice. We know some offenses, and we know some defenses, and we’ll be way ahead of the schedule.”
However, Pitino wasn’t as thrilled with the way his team played Friday night.
“Like I told the guys, you want to learn from your mistakes in victory, but last night they played a good team. Tonight they played a much lesser team and they played very poor basketball, except for the end,” he said. “I’m a little disappointed with the way they played tonight and very happy with the way they played last night. But like anything else, they needed a victory tonight more than anything else.”
Pitino’s focus has been working new players into his system.
“I’m trying to get Damion Lee and Trey Lewis to understand that if they just live with the jump shot, they’re not going to be effective basketball players. They’ve got to paint touch and create passes as well as shots – and finally in the fourth quarter they did that.”
He praised Mangok Mathiang’s 19-point, eight-rebound game Friday night and talked about wanting his other players to learn from him.
“Mangok is the only one that I was really pleased with,” Pitino said. “[Mangok] also never gets down. If Matz had his attitude, he’d be a dominant basketball player.”
Lewis led Louisville with 21 points on 7/12 shooting. The Cardinals sneaked out the win despite committing 19 turnovers to just 15 assists.
