Pitino post game presser: I don't really like calling a timeout in the play...

[GopherLady]

I like opening up the court. - which is what he said about not calling a TO that last play.

Here's the rest of my notes, and ones from Eliason, Walker, Hollins and Mathieu as well:

Richard Pitino
• Obviously, that one stings a little bit. I think we did a great job and showed a lot of heart coming back. You've got to give them credit, they're a very good team. I was impressed with the way our guys guarded Russell in the 2nd half. You just need to rebound, get back to work, and stay positive.
• They showed great character and heart, they did a great job on a very good player in Russell, so I thought that was really good. Defensively, when we needed to get some stops, we didn't. I'm proud of our guys effort. 0-3 is difficult going on the road, but we need to stay positive.
• On calling a TO - I don't really like calling a TO in the play, I like opening up the court. I thought they were getting stops in the half court, and I wanted to open it up. It's not DeAndre's fault, he played a really good game.
• I feel for Joey too. I like their effort, I'm still positive we're heading the right direction.
• We did a lot of good things on Russell in the 2nd half, that was tiring them out, but they made one more play than we did.
• Sid: What does this team need to win a game? Pitino: We've got to go on the road now, and beat a MI team. It's a long season still.
• Nate Mason did a phenomenal job on Russell, it was him, DeAndre and Andre.
• We were trapping all ball screens, being aggressive, and denying, trying to get them not to catch the ball…but sometimes, that opened up the court a little bit. We told them deny and don't let him catch the ball.
• Gaston can play, but he's not ready. He's got potential, he's a good player, but he needs practice.
• It's tough to win on the road in the Big 10, we just need to break through. Every game, once you get in conference, every game is very difficult.
• We really showed a lot of character and a lot of heart. We need to find a way to win.
• Russell is pretty darn good, they run a lot of good stuff, well coached all around.
• To win at Michigan- we need to come out more ready to play. 1st half, we can't get ourselves into that hole. We're headed in the right direction. I
• A little bit of a lack of depth, but it is what it is, we aren't changing that.
• On the black out - it was a good crowd, certainly. I know there was a little resistance with it. We're not going to change the colors, it was a fun environment, the fans were great. We're all disappointed with the loss, but got to move on.

Mo Walker
• On the loss - It stings.*
• It's a grind, every night is a tough night, if we don't play the full 40 minutes we aren't going to win
• On what they need to do at Michigan - Play the full 40, defend for the full 40, get stops, rebound when we need to and make plays.
• Have you seen the players this disappointed? Not really, no.
• On if it's a bitter sweet win, because he had a good game. It's not sweet at all, all bitter, I just want to win, my play doesn't really matter to me. I wanted to win.
• On Nate Mason - He stepped up at a crucial moment, he made big plays down the stretch, did a great job guarding Russell in the 2nd half, he's going to be a great player.
• It was a goal of ours to protect the home court, you see it on the board there (it says "Protect the Home Court") and we fell short today.

Elliott Eliason:
• It's pretty hard, such an amazing crowd, so many people here. With all these guys here, they worked so hard. You lose by the slightest of margin, it's tough. It will sting for a night, but you have to get past it tomorrow or things can just snowball.
• What did Pitino tell them after the game? He talked about a lot, he still believes in us, we just need to keep working hard. It's a tough league and things don't come easy.
• Worried about confidence? We've got 5 guys that have been here a long time and know how to pull out of it.

DeAndre Mathieu:
• As someone that takes losses hard, how tough is this one? Yeah. I'm getting better at that, going home and seeing Elijah (his son) makes it better. Losing by 2 points, 1 or 2 plays here, that really hurts.
• The last play didn't go my way, I feel like it hasn't gone my way these last 3 games. I tried to make the play to Joey.
• We'll be fine, we'll go back to work*tomorrow in practice, and continue to improve every day. I don't think that guys are too down this early, we'll be ready.
• You can't worry about your last*game
• On defending Russell in the 2nd half - We didn't let him catch, he is a freshman, he hasn't played a road Big 10 game and we gave him too much respect on the 1st half, backing off of him, so we tried to make him uncomfortable.
• Pitino at halftime: He challenged our pride, challenged us as seniors and be better on D, he said we weren't intense enough. He told us we were really close.

Andre Hollins:
On how he responds to criticism: I don't really listen to what other people think. I know what I am to the team, and what I bring. I haven't been scoring the ball well. Overall, I've been playing defense. I don't really care what outsiders think, I'm with my team.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I don't really care one way or the other about the timeout. It's coaches preferences and plenty of great coaches let their players play through in that situation.

I do believe that letting Russell tear us apart was a result of poor coaching/planning. Andre Hollins left Russell all alone to provide help defense on multiple occasions and left Russell wide open for threes. In the second half, they had him or Nate Mason on his hip the entire time. They didn't leave him alone for anyone. Andre needed to be in Russell's face from the get go and we let him run free for 20 minutes. We played him great in the 2nd half but the damage had already been done.

 

[GopherJake]

I do believe that letting Russell tear us apart was a result of poor coaching/planning. Andre Hollins left Russell all alone to provide help defense on multiple occasions and left Russell wide open for threes. In the second half, they had him or Nate Mason on his hip the entire time. They didn't leave him alone for anyone. Andre needed to be in Russell's face from the get go and we let him run free for 20 minutes. We played him great in the 2nd half but the damage had already been done.

I agree with bold. Everyone in the building could see that Andre couldn't guard him. I told my friend at the under 12 timeout of the first half that if Rich Pit doesn't switch up assignments, Russell's going to score 50. It turns out he did do that, but why not in the first half?

Also, our transition defense was horrific.

All that said, I do have to give the guys credit for never giving up. They really wanted to win and gave it everything they had. This was no Tubby/Monson fold job. To that I salute them.

 

[EG#9]

I agree with bold. Everyone in the building could see that Andre couldn't guard him. I told my friend at the under 12 timeout of the first half that if Rich Pit doesn't switch up assignments, Russell's going to score 50. It turns out he did do that, but why not in the first half?

Also, our transition defense was horrific.

All that said, I do have to give the guys credit for never giving up. They really wanted to win and gave it everything they had. This was no Tubby/Monson fold job. To that I salute them.

Effort was somewhere between bad and atrocious in the first half and early in the second half (watch the Gophers loaf in transition D after the initial scoring burst to cut in to tOSU's lead to start the 2nd). The team pulled a fold job in overtime. That's the time where a home team should absolutely win a must win game against an Ohio State team that had not won on the road yet. Overtime started with Andre Hollins travelling, then we had an Andre Hollins airball, then a Mo Walker turnover, then a DeAndre Mathieu turnover, then a Joey King almost turnover and finally the inability to get a shot up with 5.6 seconds left in the game. The team didn't give everything it had for 40 minutes (more like 15?) and it also folded/choked in overtime at home. Not a performance worthy of praise on any level.

 

[maxwellsmart]

[/B]

Effort was somewhere between bad and atrocious in the first half and early in the second half (watch the Gophers loaf in transition D after the initial scoring burst to cut in to tOSU's lead to start the 2nd). The team pulled a fold job in overtime. That's the time where a home team should absolutely win a must win game against an Ohio State team that had not won on the road yet. Overtime started with Andre Hollins travelling, then we had an Andre Hollins airball, then a Mo Walker turnover, then a DeAndre Mathieu turnover, then a Joey King almost turnover and finally the inability to get a shot up with 5.6 seconds left in the game. The team didn't give everything it had for 40 minutes (more like 15?) and it also folded/choked in overtime at home. Not a performance worthy of praise on any level.

Yeah, I normally give our team and coaches the benefit of the doubt, but tonight I can't shake the negative vibe and am pretty much sharing your outlook.

 

[1997vacatedfinalfour]

Andre Hollins:
On how he responds to criticism: I don't really listen to what other people think. I know what I am to the team, and what I bring. I haven't been scoring the ball well. Overall, I've been playing defense. I don't really care what outsiders think, I'm with my team.


I love ya Andre, but cmon....Your entire game has been awful...You got lit up on D all night....This was YOUR year to be a leader on and off the court.....Hard to think we will even match last years b10 record of 8-10 after this start.

 

[jimmyvalvanoguy]

I don't really care one way or the other about the timeout. It's coaches preferences and plenty of great coaches let their players play through in that situation.

I do believe that letting Russell tear us apart was a result of poor coaching/planning. Andre Hollins left Russell all alone to provide help defense on multiple occasions and left Russell wide open for threes.

Lessons learned for the Young coach...how can you let Lill Dre create a play at the end when his decision making and consistency has been in question all year? Hind site is 20/20 and he should have called TO.
The play to JK was pathetic. There are better options and to draw up a play obviously could have only had a better result. His in game adjustments cannot wait until half time. Pitino's inability to make in-game adjustments is just inexperience. He will improve as the years go on. At least we don't have to worry about some "Bigger" program taking away our young and talented coach. He was schooled by Thad tonight....

 

[ruppertflywheel]

Some players are leaders; some are not. Andre is not.

 

[Bad Gopher]

[/B]

Effort was somewhere between bad and atrocious in the first half and early in the second half (watch the Gophers loaf in transition D after the initial scoring burst to cut in to tOSU's lead to start the 2nd). The team pulled a fold job in overtime. That's the time where a home team should absolutely win a must win game against an Ohio State team that had not won on the road yet. Overtime started with Andre Hollins travelling, then we had an Andre Hollins airball, then a Mo Walker turnover, then a DeAndre Mathieu turnover, then a Joey King almost turnover and finally the inability to get a shot up with 5.6 seconds left in the game. The team didn't give everything it had for 40 minutes (more like 15?) and it also folded/choked in overtime at home. Not a performance worthy of praise on any level.

I think that's all fair and, as usual, good analysis.

For all the bragging Richard did about his matchup zone defense, I was very surprised he didn't pull that out in the first half when they started to get torched by Russell. And I apologize if they did and I didn't catch it. Ultimately Nate did a nice defensive job on him, which bodes well for the future. He and Dorsey will give us our best defensive backcourt since Jackson and Harris.

I have no problem at all with not calling a timeout there at the end. I wouldn't have either. The players just need to make a play.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I feel like right after losing at home in the Big Ten is the wrong time to tell reporters that it is tough to win on the road in the Big Ten. OSU did it last night. Iowa did it to OSU. Its cliché, and it makes for a nice soundbite, but lots of teams find ways to win on the road in the Big Ten.

I know I've said this elsewhere, but agree with Pitino not calling the timeout.

 

[SelectionSunday]

I thought Mathieu was looking to the bench for a TO call instead of just playing. That's what happens when players have become so robotized by over-coaching (not picking on Pitino, just saying that most college hoops coaches are total control freaks). ... constantly looking over to the bench to see what to do instead of just playing. That's what I saw in the final seconds. Why else wouldn't Mathieu be going toward the hoop?

And like bleedsmaroonandgold, I was fine with not calling the TO there. It didn't work out, but I like our chances a lot better in the open court than trying to run a play vs. a set defense.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I thought Mathieu was looking to the bench for a TO call instead of just playing. That's what happens when players have become so robotized by over-coaching (not picking on Pitino, just saying that most college hoops coaches are total control freaks). ... constantly looking over to the bench to see what to do instead of just playing. That's what I saw in the final seconds. Why else wouldn't Mathieu be going toward the hoop?

And like bleedsmaroonandgold, I was fine with not calling the TO there. It didn't work out, but I like our chances a lot better in the open court than trying to run a play vs. a set defense.

That might be an advantage for a team who's tuned their coach out and are just doing whatever out there.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

No TO is fine as long as the players know what to do with a few seconds on the clock. #4 got in a bad spot and turning his back on the D was the result. Game over.

Who knows what the result of a TO would have been but I can't imagine anything worse than what transpired.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Having witnessed the Gophers getting beat by last second shots on a number of occasions, most of them have the following characteristics:
1. A mid range jumper or 3-pointer
2. Getting the ball up the court quickly using passes rather than dribbling
3. Striking without hesitation while the defense is still getting organized or is still out of position
4. Not calling a timeout, which would let the defense get set

Of course there are exceptions to this, eg Tyus Edney's coast to coast drive. But if I were coaching, I'd practice situations like this incorporating the above elements.

 

[tjgopher]

I thought Mathieu was looking to the bench for a TO call instead of just playing.

I just re-watched the play to check on this because I generally agree with your sentiment about all of the over-coaching that happens in college hoops (which is why I am in the camp of no timeout in that situation). But, after watching the several angles and replays they showed, Mathieu never once looked to the bench. He hustled up the floor on the left side and mistakenly allowed Shannon Scott to redirect him to the middle of the floor. You could see King yelling to Mathieu that he was behind him and DeAndre just turned without looking and tossed it Joey's way. I somewhat blame Joey for asking for the ball there as he was NOT open, but DeAndre simply cannot let Scott shift him. Get to the rim, that is what Mathieu had to do.

One other interesting thing, after rewatching the play (I was at the game last night, so hadn't watched on TV), was the fact that Mason's last ditch shot from half court was close to going in (it was exactly the right distance, but off to the left by a foot or so). But, Mason's shot also came after the buzzer. It would not have counted had it gone in, which I didn't think was the case watching live and in person.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Every situation is different. But there has to be a master plan where the guy with the ball and those without it need to know where to go and what to do.

I have no problem with Mathieu trying to get penetration, take it all the way or dish but turning your back on the D is a death warrant.