GopherLady
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game. The trainer will decide when he will be back, not Pitino's call.
Here are the rest of the post-game notes, not verbatim:
Pitino:
• Happy with the win, didn't play great 1/2 court defense. Nate and Dupree were really really good, Dupree may be our most improved player. When you lose a guy like Amir, we didn't' make a decision until 5/6 minutes before the game, he had turf toe, and we weren't sure. We told him if you're in pain, we won't play you. The trainer decides when he plays, trainer says yes or no. Turf toe can be lingering, luckily we have some rest.
• McBrayer has put on some weight, as difficult as the end of last year was, he was playing well. He's playing with great confidence. I was always very excited about him and was excited when I was recruiting him.
• We need to get back to defending more in practice, but the shooting has paid off (on not getting much practice time).
• It's important that Nate and Dupree score. Amir is a great passer and slasher, but it's important that they give us that scoring punch. Nate is out there playing like a junior. We're still really young, it's crazy. We're one of the youngest teams in the country when it comes to minutes played.
• On Curry - I yelled "shoot it" on his 3 made. I'm excited about him, I always have been. He can shoot the ball, him making that 3 was not a surprise. He's a good rebounder too. For a true freshman, he's very impressive.
• They were playing small, played Eric at the 5, and it was pretty effective.
• On Dupree - he had that breakaway dunk against IU, he was coming out of his shell against IU. He had dug himself a huge hole shooting, but came back. He's more confident.
• 11-1 - ready for Big 10 play? The focus now is to get locked into finals. They have papers and exams, in college those things are worth your whole grade. My biggest focus is to get them ready for that, and get them healthy, get Amir healthy.
• On the run - they scored a couple, I held off calling a timeout, I told them to relax, get stops. That's been our identity thus far. Still wasn't great, we let them shoot 51% in the 2nd half, and our rebounding wasn't great.
• On Jerome Frink- that year was pretty special, when we took over there were 3 scholarship players in May, we took a bunch of kids. Jerome was our 1st in home visit, he played for a legendary high school, was a really good freshman for us. I'm proud of him, he showed he was going to be a pretty good player.
Nate Mason:
• The line-up was different without Amir, but we know what Akeem is capable of. Next man, step up. Coffey will hopefully be back and ready to play the next game.
• On shooting the 3 - putting in the work off season, we just put it in our minds that we were going to come back better players. It's good to see both of us excel and see the work pay off.
• Stay focused and getting better. All the good teams in the Big 10, over this little break, they get better. We need to lock in and get better.
Dupree McBrayer:
• On his career high - Feels good, but wasn't really worried about it, I was just playing.
• Without Amir - not pressured to scored, we have a lot of scorers, we have many options
• It all started from the summer, the turning point was the 1st game, I had 18 in the exhibition, I have just building it, the team and Coach keep on saying "keep shooting, keep shooting" - I sometimes don't want to shoot but they tell me to.
Here are the rest of the post-game notes, not verbatim:
Pitino:
• Happy with the win, didn't play great 1/2 court defense. Nate and Dupree were really really good, Dupree may be our most improved player. When you lose a guy like Amir, we didn't' make a decision until 5/6 minutes before the game, he had turf toe, and we weren't sure. We told him if you're in pain, we won't play you. The trainer decides when he plays, trainer says yes or no. Turf toe can be lingering, luckily we have some rest.
• McBrayer has put on some weight, as difficult as the end of last year was, he was playing well. He's playing with great confidence. I was always very excited about him and was excited when I was recruiting him.
• We need to get back to defending more in practice, but the shooting has paid off (on not getting much practice time).
• It's important that Nate and Dupree score. Amir is a great passer and slasher, but it's important that they give us that scoring punch. Nate is out there playing like a junior. We're still really young, it's crazy. We're one of the youngest teams in the country when it comes to minutes played.
• On Curry - I yelled "shoot it" on his 3 made. I'm excited about him, I always have been. He can shoot the ball, him making that 3 was not a surprise. He's a good rebounder too. For a true freshman, he's very impressive.
• They were playing small, played Eric at the 5, and it was pretty effective.
• On Dupree - he had that breakaway dunk against IU, he was coming out of his shell against IU. He had dug himself a huge hole shooting, but came back. He's more confident.
• 11-1 - ready for Big 10 play? The focus now is to get locked into finals. They have papers and exams, in college those things are worth your whole grade. My biggest focus is to get them ready for that, and get them healthy, get Amir healthy.
• On the run - they scored a couple, I held off calling a timeout, I told them to relax, get stops. That's been our identity thus far. Still wasn't great, we let them shoot 51% in the 2nd half, and our rebounding wasn't great.
• On Jerome Frink- that year was pretty special, when we took over there were 3 scholarship players in May, we took a bunch of kids. Jerome was our 1st in home visit, he played for a legendary high school, was a really good freshman for us. I'm proud of him, he showed he was going to be a pretty good player.
Nate Mason:
• The line-up was different without Amir, but we know what Akeem is capable of. Next man, step up. Coffey will hopefully be back and ready to play the next game.
• On shooting the 3 - putting in the work off season, we just put it in our minds that we were going to come back better players. It's good to see both of us excel and see the work pay off.
• Stay focused and getting better. All the good teams in the Big 10, over this little break, they get better. We need to lock in and get better.
Dupree McBrayer:
• On his career high - Feels good, but wasn't really worried about it, I was just playing.
• Without Amir - not pressured to scored, we have a lot of scorers, we have many options
• It all started from the summer, the turning point was the 1st game, I had 18 in the exhibition, I have just building it, the team and Coach keep on saying "keep shooting, keep shooting" - I sometimes don't want to shoot but they tell me to.
