Post Game comments by Louisville Coach Chris Mack

Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack

Opening statement 

“Obviously a great college basketball game. Tough for us, the demise of our team was simply our free-throw shooting. Had we rung the bell from the free-throw line, I think the game is different. I think you could probably pick out a few plays where we don’t come up with lose balls down the stretch, whether that’s at the end of regulation or in the end of overtime. Had we come up with a few of those, maybe the ending is different. So,that was it. A couple defensive stops we couldn’t get, simply because of loose balls and offensive rebounds, fouling a few guys around the rim and our inability to hit free throws. We shoot a hundred free throws on every game day. Each guy is responsible for shooting a hundred free throws. As I go down the list, today is as good as it’s been all year. 92(%), 94, 96, 91, 92, I think we had three guys out of 16 guys on the team who shoot mid-to-high 80s (free-throw percentage). Sometimes it bounces like that.”  

On Jordan Nwora’s performance 

“He didn’t play well, so we took him out and played with the other guys that were playing better.”

On how UK was able to take Jordan Nwora out of the game 

“I think he just missed some shots that he normally makes. I think he really didn’t get going on the offensive glass until midway through the second half. It was too late by then. I thought other guys were playing much harder, so we played other guys. Obviously, he wasn’t very good on the floor today.No one puts in more time than Jordan, but he didn’t play very well today.”

On how well UK played during lategame possessions 

“I want to say this in a respectful way, they don’t run a whole lot. They just put what they perceived to be our weaker defenders in runner action and have the two big guys setting pindowns and just try to run of those screens, gain an angle or gain an advantage. I thought they shot the ball better than they have all year, but I thought some of their looks were created because of their quickness and their ability to use those screens effectively. Give them credit. The cross screen for Nick Richards in overtime hurt. That was a little counter they run to that baseline runner that we defended pretty well up until that point. The two or three other times they ran it got our wires crossed, orwe didn’t recognize it quick enough, and he put the ball in the basket.”

On what changed after UK gained a big lead 

“I think that in one of the huddles our guys were a little pissed off. They became a little bit tougher on the defensive end. We let our offensive struggles get Kentucky out in transition and then they broke our back on a couple offensive rebounds, and I think a few of our guys had enough. I thought the response was great. When we evened it up and came back from 12 points and took the lead, we have to be able to do the same thing that got us back in the game to finish off the game. Two teams competing their tails off, and again, I think if we make our free throws and we go 9 of 20 and they go 21 of 25, that’s a problem.”

On how challenging it was to stop Tyrese Maxey … 

“He’s good. We knew that coming in. You know, he’s an explosive scorer. A lot of scorers, sometimes they take difficult shots. But at the same time, we knew he was going to take them. Guys like that don’t lose their confidence easily. He is just a challenge. A couple of the threes he hit, we didn’t do a good enough job in transition of getting back and getting matched up. You can’t play, in my opinion—at least my team can’t, maybe other teams can—an open court game with Kentucky and feel like you’re going to be the victor. So, we did a much better job of boxing them in in the half-court and playing half-court basketball. He’s good. And his pull-up game, his ability to make threes today was better than it’s been. But we knew what he was capable of.” 

On Nick Richards’s performance … 

“He’s good, and he is big as hell. You don’t see that size very often, and he’s good next to Steve (Enoch). Steve is a couple of inches shorter. But I thought Steve played his tail off. I thought he got a deep-post position, and we went to him. He tied the game up, took the lead a couple of times, if my memory serves correct. We were trying to go him, and I know 17 shots is an awful lot for Steve, but you know, outside of a few plays he made, I thought he did the job today. He did what he needed to do. You know, Nick Richards is a good player, we tried to go at him as much as we could, and we give credit for how talented he is.”

On Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble’s performance … 

“I think our backcourt got maligned at times, and I thought that Fresh and Darius (Perry) made some big-time plays, whether its Fresh’s reverse layup or three in the corner, or when Darius hit a big three. I thought both of those players did a pretty dang good job on both ends of the floor against a very talented, quick, athletic backcourt. They grew up a little bit together in terms of confidence and what we need them to be down the stretch.”

On Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble being more aggressive … 

“I think for Fresh, Kentucky really denies passes and that really opens up the court if you can gain a half step on your man. (Ashton) Hagans is very handsy. He’ll try to take the ball from you. Fresh is in his fifth year, but that’s still a challenge, I don’t care how many years you’ve been playing. Hagans is really good with his hands. At times, that leaves you exposed. You use your hands and forget about your feet, and he got in the lane and made some terrific plays today. His ability to finish, he gained a lot of confidence, hit a big-time three. We know Fresh has it in him. I was really pleased to see how our point guards responded today.”

On whether playing a competitive team prepares for conference play … 

“I think anytime you play a team as talented as Kentucky, as well-coached, in their house, it’s going to prepare you for some of the teams we are going to play. We’re going to play big teams, we are going to play athletic teams, we are going to play teams in hostile environments. I don’t know if the team I had last year could have been able to piece together the ability to tie the game, take the lead. I really felt like we had control of the game, if you can say that in one-possession games. We couldn’tmake a defensive rebound, couldn’t make a free throw, and that hasn’t been a problem for this team. But you give Kentucky a lot of credit for battling through some resiliency, as well and showing resiliency like they did. I think anytime you play games at this magnitude in this environment, it’s only going to make your team better. We have a lot of high-character guys in that locker room, so I don’t really worry about them standing together.” 

On if there is a degree of satisfaction with taking UK to overtime

“Well, we expected to win. You know, the 106th team in Louisville history didn’t have to bear the burden of last time other teams didn’t come here and do the job. So, we expected to win, and we are disappointed that we didn’t. But as I said before, the guys in our locker room will figure out a way to make this game make them better. What I saw on the floor wasn’t anything different that I already knew about my team. We just have to get better in certain areas, and a couple of guys have to play better.”

Louisville Student-Athletes

#24Dwayne Sutton, R-Sr., F

On how much Kentucky was trying to take away Louisville’s ability to hit threes …

“They did a great job of pressuring the wings, especially Jordan (Nwora), and I feel like the times they were kind of denying the ball, which made it easier for players in driving lanes to make plays. We just tried to get out into the passing lanes and get Jordan the ball.”

On the surprise that came with struggling at the foul line …

“It was very surprising, honestly. I think in general we’re a really good free-throw shooting team, and I feel like the free throws are the reason you never lose in a game. The opportunity to play here might not get you a win, as you could see today.” 

On Tyrese Maxey’s performance …

“He played tough. I think he had 27 (points). We knew he was capable of doing that, but we didn’t do a good enough job of chasing him off screens and making him play uncomfortable. He’s also a big reason why they ended up winning.” 

On if rebounding is the key takeaway other than free throws 

“I would say yeah. The guys that had one rebound, average out. (Kentucky) outrebounded (Louisville) by one. I think when it was the time to get rebounds, we gave up a three and Nick Richards ended up getting a big and-one and ended up tying the game. After that, we couldn’t get over the hump and ended up losing.”

#23Steven EnochR-Sr., C

On what changed after being down 26-38 …

“I think we started buckling down on defense a lot more and we started talking and communicating all the things we needed to do and that we’ve been doing this year, and we were able to get back into the game and also get the lead. So that’s what helped us.”

On Nick Richards performance …

“Credit to him. He’s an animal on the glass and we didn’t do as good of a job as we could’ve of boxing him out, because that’s where a lot of his opportunities came from. Other than that, I feel like he did what he’s capable of. We just have to do a better job next time around.”

On how fun it was to play this game …

“Personally, this was my first time playing in Rupp (Arena) and I thought it was really fun. As much as we competed, we enjoyed every second of being out there, and we never enjoy a loss, but we always enjoy competing. That’s as much as I have to say about it.”