Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
12/06/2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2005
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<>< pre="">Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney
On The Game
"We had opportunities to win the game. We had 18 turnovers, which Louisville is used forcing, and we missed free throws. I'm proud of our efforts and to come into Freedom Hall, one of the best venues in the country, and play one of the best teams in country. I thought we gave a good account of ourselves."
On The Colonial Classic
"I think we're coming out of here very confident, and we should be. We played very, very well. We played with a great deal of emotion and intensity tonight. We can leave this game with no regrets, the only regret was the Arkansas State game (on Saturday), not the loss, but the way we played."
On Handling Louisville's Pressure
"When you play Louisville, they're going to pressure and disrupt you. We were able to keep that to a minimum, and to do that with our inexperienced guards was very good. You want to feel good and be positive, which we do, but we did commit 18 turnovers and at least four of them were unforced. That shouldn't happen."
On Taquan Dean
"I thought our defense was good tonight. We just couldn't contain (Taquan) Dean. A couple of times we played very good defense on him and he made really hard shots. For the most part our defense was good and it was hard for them to score off of their patterns or offense. It kind of came down to them playing one on one late. For the most part I thought we did a good job."
On Being In The Game Late Against The No. 5 Cardinals
"I never felt the game was over until we were down four and they made two free throws with 16 seconds left. We probably needed to play a perfect game at the stage that we are at if we wanted to be able to beat a Top-10 team like Louisville. We weren't close enough to perfection to give us that little boost at the end."
On The Effectiveness Of Richmond's Offense
"We got very open shots. That's the whole point of our offense, whether it be lay-ups, making post moves or 3s. A big part of our development and progression is establishing a comfort level where we are taking shots kind of when they are supposed to come."
On Richmond's Defense
"Our defense was terrific at times tonight. We just have to understand that we need to play with urgency on every possession. We did make it very hard for them to get anything going, we were stopping everything they drew up and then Dean would get something off the dribble. That's one of the best coaching staffs in the country and our guys were on everything they were coming up with."
On The Play Of Gaston Moliva
"Again, Gaston is not the prototypical player for what we're doing here, be he's becoming an excellent defensive player. He can guard almost any position on the floor, he's becoming a better perimeter player, he contests shots, he steals the ball, he's a very good rebounder. If we can get him to cut his turnovers from four down to two and he becomes a 60-percent free throw shooter, then all of a sudden he's probably some we can't take out of the game."
Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
On Richmond
"This was a great victory against a team that outplayed us 80 or 90 percent of the game. They executed tremendously and deserved a lot of credit and executed to perfection. It's tough when you walk away from the game and you knew you played great and you don't come away with the victory. That's the way I know Richmond feels, but they were great tonight."
On Facing Richmond's Offense
"Getting behind against Richmond was the worst possible scenario on a basketball court. You get behind on a team like them and it's an uphill battle all the way with the treadmill on level 10 in terms of the incline. It was very difficult to come back against them. We had difficult time defending them. We had to go zone and made adjustments in the zone to not give them easy shots."
More On Richmond's Offense
"It's our fault as coaches. Nevermind 24 hours, you need 24 days to prepare for them. If you're forced to help and the center can shoot the 3 - David kept helping on the backdoor cut and stepping out and now you're down and that really hurt us. Then we got hurt a few other times on back door plays. You can prepare in walk though, but unless you're conditioned to play against that type of offense, it's just not going to work. I'm very thankful our zone was good tonight."
On Louisville's Comeback
"I thought we showed tremendous guts and heart down the stretch, making big plays. Andre McGee gave us tremendous lift making pass to (David) Padgett at the end of the game. That was a great play for a freshman and Terrence Williams got some big rebounds for us down the stretch. This was a great victory for us."
Richmond Senior Kevin Steenberge
On Playing In Front Of 18,000 Fans Against Louisville
"This was very important for a lot of our younger guys. They really got a good experience playing in an arena like Freedom Hall against a big name team. This should really give us a mental edge for the rest of the year."
On Richmond's Defense
"I think they got a little confused. I was out on the perimeter and I'm guarding Taquan (Dean). I was even a little confused, but I just tried to get my hand up and contest the shot. I think we threw them for a loop because our defense is so different and so unique. You really can't prepare for it because we practice it everyday and it takes us a long time to get."
On His 3-Point Shooting
"Any game you want to be able to hit a few outside shots early so teams can't pack it in and they have to extend their defense. In the offense I got a couple of wide-open looks, I don't think they thought I had it in me."
Louisville Guard Taquan Dean
On Stepping Up In The Second Half
"I knew we had to fight through it, I knew I had to make something happen, a great defensive stop or something on offense. I've been through the wars, I know what adversity is like. I don't yell at the guys, I just try to lead by example."
On Kevin Steenberge Blocking Him 4 Times
"I'd like to shake that guy's hand. I've never had that many shots blocked before."