Pitino post IL win: Played a complete game, not 38 or 39 minutes...

[GopherLady]

Great to snap that 5 game losing streak on the road! Here are my brief notes from Mike Grimm and Spencer Tollackson's post game interview.

Richard Pitino:
• We responded in a very difficult environment, one of the toughest places to play, we did a good job of keeping them quiet. We made the right plays at the right time.
• On protecting the ball - We do talk about that all the time, when you don't turn the ball over, you'll provide yourself a lot of great opportunities. 2nd half - defended the 3, made the winning plays.
• Good offense leads to good defense and vice versa. We showed some good patience and went inside to Reggie Lynch. They broke through when they needed to.
• We pulled away, they cut it back to 6, and we calmed down and made some winning plays. They played a complete game, we've been darn close, we've played 39 min games, 38 min games.
• Our guys were unselfish, confident, patient and poised.
• On Iowa - One day at a time, right now all we're worried about is the flight back home. We'll regroup for Iowa.
• Do you have the Patriots or Falcons? How do you bet against the Patriots, not that I bet.

 

[Holy Man]

Richard's short history with the program probably keeps him from knowing what a house of horrors Illinois is. Wins at BOTH Purdue and Illinois in the same year is evidence the demons are getting exorcised. We just need a few more gone by the end of the season for a complete purification.

 

[Gogogopher]

Great to snap that 5 game losing streak on the road! Here are my brief notes from Mike Grimm and Spencer Tollackson's post game interview.

Richard Pitino:
• We responded in a very difficult environment, one of the toughest places to play, we did a good job of keeping them quiet. We made the right plays at the right time.
• On protecting the ball - We do talk about that all the time, when you don't turn the ball over, you'll provide yourself a lot of great opportunities. 2nd half - defended the 3, made the winning plays.
• Good offense leads to good defense and vice versa. We showed some good patience and went inside to Reggie Lynch. They broke through when they needed to.
• We pulled away, they cut it back to 6, and we calmed down and made some winning plays. They played a complete game, we've been darn close, we've played 39 min games, 38 min games.
• Our guys were unselfish, confident, patient and poised.
• On Iowa - One day at a time, right now all we're worried about is the flight back home. We'll regroup for Iowa.
• Do you have the Patriots or Falcons? How do you bet against the Patriots, not that I bet.

looked like the crowd was kinda sparse? all road games are tough, the coach speak gets to be a bit much sometimes.

 

[LesBolstad]

looked like the crowd was kinda sparse? all road games are tough, the coach speak gets to be a bit much sometimes.

First sell out of year for Illini. No question very tough arena to win in. Crowd never got into because MN responded to every Illini run. Have we ever won at Purdue and Illinois in same year? Probably have to go back to the 70's.

 

[macgopher]

First sell out of year for Illini. No question very tough arena to win in. Crowd never got into because MN responded to every Illini run. Have we ever won at Purdue and Illinois in same year? Probably have to go back to the 70's.

Good guess. 72-73 season, won at both houses during a 21-5 Bill Musselman season.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

looked like the crowd was kinda sparse? all road games are tough, the coach speak gets to be a bit much sometimes.

Are you kidding me?

Pitino is one of the coaches that uses coach speak the least.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

Some strange stats in this game. Mason with no assists or free throws. Murphy with no field goals. Gophers with only 5 turnovers and 2 steals. Thought Coffey played very solid defense on Hill.