Rick Pitino looks great in maroon and gold!
Great tidbits from today. Here you go:
Richard Pitino:
• Good win for us, I think that SDSU played really well especially in the 1st half. I think we got much better today, especially on the glass, Austin had 14 boards, and Elliott was great. We’re handling the ball well, we are good right now on defense, we’ve got to get better.
• We’ve got to continue to improve. I don’t think anyone is really weak, technique wish, we’ve got to get better. We gave us a couple of 3’s at the end of the game. I think we’re good, I just don’t think we’re great (defensively).
• I love Oto and I love Joey, they are good kids and try hard, but they’re not naturally gifted rebounders. We’ve talked about looking ourselves in the mirror and looking at our weaknesses. Austin was the guy we looked at, and he had to get 7-8 rebounds a game. I thought he could give us better than we got last year, he’s got long arms, he plays well, he’s physical. I wanted to be realistic, if they averaged 3, got get us 6, if you average 5, go get us 8.
• On Austin Hollins – He was awesome, I thought he was so good tonight. 0 turnovers, he’s so athletic. I don’t think Austin Hollins gets enough respect. I think we have 2 faces of our program, Andre and Austin. He’s such an easy kid to coach, it’s almost disturbing. Coaches sons are very smart (laughing).
On a day to day basis, Austin gets it. He understands the big picture. That has to do with his father, but his mother as well.
• On Rick Pitino being there – He was there? (Laughing). He was trying to come to the FSU game, he wasn’t able to make it. I didn’t know he was going to make it until I walked on the court, and saw my idiot brother yelling. I brag about this place so much, I wanted him to see it, and I’m glad he saw it. He looked good in that maroon and gold, I think if one of our guys gets a job, we can just slide him into the assistant coach spot – he owes me, I coached for him for 3 years.
• We had great chemistry, substance, we were humble – if we can do the same, we can get better. The difference between our guys and his guys is that they believe their lottery picks. We need to build that confidence.
• Their focus was good this game, I don’t think they let up with their mentality at all. We were much more business-like this game. Now what we have to do – we don’t play until next Friday, and that’s the worst thing in the world, so we need to get them ready.
• Andre Hollins was being a jump shooter too much, he needs to get to the line more, he can do that 7-8 times.
• If you could put Elliott and Mo together, you would have one hell of a player. If they can push eachother, they can make themselves better players, competition is the best thing for that.
Joey King:
• We don’t think we played as hard as we should of against New Orleans, but we’re feeling a lot better about this game.
• On meeting Rick Pitino – It was a great experience, it was nice experience, it was great to meet him. He holds a lot of knowledge, there’s a lot to learn from him.
Austin Hollins:
• On 1000 points – It feels good, I knew that was at stake I wasn’t too worried about hitting it.* It means a lot, this is my senior year, it’s been a long journey. I didn’t know throughout the game.
• Minnesota has great fans, they have always been very supportive
• On Rick Pitino – He said it was a great milestone, he did congratulate me.*
Elliott Eliason:
• I feel a lot better (after being injured), getting a double-double
• I feel like my ankle was 100%, having time off really helped and doing treatments with Ben, our trainer.
• On Austin Hollins – He came out and stole a couple of rebounds from me (joking). He’s always had the athleticism, he just had to have that mentality to go get rebounds.
• On Rick Pitino being there – I didn’t realize it until halftime, then I looked over, we didn’t know he was coming.*
Malik Smith:
On what Rick Pitino told them – He told us that the sky is the limit, keep working hard, it’s all about our focus.
He said that our team is as talented as his team this year. He said he was proud of us, he watches us pretty much every game and always roots for us.