Padgett: "It's Very Impressive What Kevin Has Done With That Team"
Louisville head coach David Padgett met with the media after his team's loss to NC State.
Opening Statement...
Well, we knew it was going to be tough to come down here and win. This team obviously has been very, very good at home this year, and they’ve been playing well.
We just turned the ball over too much in the first half. We had 11 in the first half, and we shot 50 percent in the first half, but we gave them the ball 11 times without getting the chance to score. So, in the second half it seemed that no matter what we tried defensively, we just couldn’t get the stop.
They made some obviously very timely threes and got a couple of timely rebounds that they capitalized on. It’s very impressive what Kevin Keatts has done with that team this year. There’s no question. For them to finish 21-10 and 11-7. I think he has done a very good job, but we give them a lot of credit, and now we’ve got to get ready to go up to New York and try to do some damage up there.
On the turnovers...
I think it was a little bit of carelessness. They got us back on our heels there for a while. We were trying to run our offense darn near half-court. Anas Mahmoud got it knocked out of his hand a couple of times. They stripped us a couple of times, careless, nonchalant with the ball.
And we knew coming into the game that they were going to be aggressive with their hands, slap down hard, try to get deflections because that’s what they’ve done all year. Those 11 in the first half definitely hurt us. We did a better job in the second half, but 11 in the first half were big.
On being frustrated with careless mistakes by a veteran group...
We just, I don’t know, we made a couple of plays tonight that we just normally don’t make on the offensive end of the court, just some turnovers that just were a little bit out of character for us. I don’t know if it was them causing them or us just making mental mistakes, but that can be frustrating.
We tried to chip back, but there in the second half, we just couldn’t get a stop, and then we had a couple rim out on us, but that’s just the way the game goes sometimes. If you don’t defend and you don’t take care of the ball on the roadm it’s going to be tough to win.
On how the team responded after Thursday...
That’ll probably be a better question for them to answer. Thursday night was obviously very difficult, but that’s not an excuse for why we won the game tonight.
We played a very good team on the road on their Senior Night, and we made some mistakes, and they really capitalized on it. It seemed like they really capitalized in the first half off of our turnovers, and then in the second half, a couple offensive rebounds, a couple defensive mistakes and they capitalized on it.
They hit those threes, and those were just kind of back breakers because you get a little bit of momentum, you come down, you make a mistake, and they hit another three and momentum’s over.
On if NC State was on or if it was Louisville’s lack of defense in the second half...
I think a little bit of both. A couple of times we got lodged to where the ball, one of their guys would drive it in the lane, come to a jump stop, and we would turn and stare at the ball, and the guy would move and then got open for a three.
We just didn’t stay alert for the whole shot clock. When you do that against a team like this that can shoot the ball like that, they’re going to make you pay for it. I think we cut it to four or six, and I think they got two or three offensive rebounds in one possession and then scored, so it’s just tough. When you give them that many opportunities to try and score, it’s going to be tough.
On what happens when guys get in scoring droughts...
Honestly, tonight in the first half, it was turnovers, obviously, but in the second half, I thought we got about four or five really good looks, and a couple of them even spun out. I think Deng Adel got a jump shot at the free throw line. Ray Spalding missed a post move inside.
I think we had a three spin out on us. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. When that happens, you have to try and be even better defensively, and we just couldn’t get stops. They shot 52 percent in the second half and got to the free throw line 15 times.
On playing FSU in Brooklyn and where the team is...
Yeah, I mean I told them. I said, ‘Look, have we done enough to get into the tournament at this moment in time?’ I personally believe we have. Unfortunately, that’s not my decision. We finished 9-9 in toughest league in the country, playing a top-20 schedule. We have a couple of very good road wins, and we don’t really have that bad win.
But again, that’s not for me to decide, but what I did tell them after the game was, ‘Look, we can’t leave it up to chance. If we go up to New York, and we can win a couple of games, then all of the sudden we can get to 20, 21, maybe, wins, and then all of the sudden it makes you look even better.’
So that’s just what we have to do. We can’t go up there and get knocked out in the first game and leave anything up to chance. We have to go up there and just battle and try to come out of there with a few wins.
On their rotation in ACC...
Well, your rotation has to get shorter. I used the same rotation the other night and played the best basketball we’ve played all year and the same rotation versus Virginia Tech, so I don’t think our rotation is why we lost the game tonight.
On what they do to prepare for ACC tournament...
Well, we are going to take tomorrow off, but Monday, we will come back to work. Obviously, we played them twice, so we will have some familiarity with them. Each road team won their games. I know they had a good win today against Boston College, and they are a very talented team. We had to come back from a 17-point deficit at their place to get a good win, and they came in and scored I think 80 points on us at home.
We’ve just got to look at it and see where we need to make some corrections and just put together another game plan. We’ve got to go there and compete for 40 minutes because as you guys know, in postseason games on neutral courts, anything can happen.