Here’s what Chris Mack had to say about Kentucky’s overtime win over Louisville
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Game day: Kentucky beats Louisville in OT
Click here to read all of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s coverage from Saturday’s 78-70 University of Kentucky men’s basketball overtime victory over Louisville in Rupp Arena.
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Here’s everything Louisville Coach Chris Mack had to say after U of L’s 78-70 loss to Kentucky on Saturday:
Opening statement …
“Obviously a great college basketball game. Tough for us, the demise of our team was simply our free-throw shooting. Had we rung the bell from the free-throw line, I think the game is different. I think you could probably pick out a few plays where we don’t come up with loose balls down the stretch, whether that’s at the end of regulation or in the end of overtime. Had we come up with a few of those, maybe the ending is different. So, that was it. A couple defensive stops we couldn’t get, simply because of loose balls and offensive rebounds, fouling a few guys around the rim and our inability to hit free throws. We shoot a hundred free throws on every game day. Each guy is responsible for shooting a hundred free throws. As I go down the list, today is as good as it’s been all year. 92(%), 94, 96, 91, 92, I think we had three guys out of 16 guys on the team who shoot mid-to-high 80s (free-throw percentage). Sometimes it bounces like that.”
On Jordan Nwora’s performance …
“He didn’t play well, so we took him out and played with the other guys that were playing better.”
On how UK was able to take Jordan Nwora out of the game …
“I think he just missed some shots that he normally makes. I think he really didn’t get going on the offensive glass until midway through the second half. It was too late by then. I thought other guys were playing much harder, so we played other guys. Obviously, he wasn’t very good on the floor today. No one puts in more time than Jordan, but he didn’t play very well today.”
On how well UK played during late-game possessions …
“I want to say this in a respectful way, they don’t run a whole lot. They just put what they perceived to be our weaker defenders in runner action and have the two big guys setting pin downs and just try to run of those screens, gain an angle or gain an advantage. I thought they shot the ball better than they have all year, but I thought some of their looks were created because of their quickness and their ability to use those screens effectively. Give them credit. The cross screen for Nick Richards in overtime hurt. That was a little counter they run to that baseline runner that we defended pretty well up until that point. The two or three other times they ran it got our wires crossed, or we didn’t recognize it quick enough, and he put the ball in the basket.”
On what changed after UK gained a big lead …
“I think that in one of the huddles our guys were a little pissed off. They became a little bit tougher on the defensive end. We let our offensive struggles get Kentucky out in transition and then they broke our back on a couple offensive rebounds, and I think a few of our guys had enough. I thought the response was great. When we evened it up and came back from 12 points and took the lead, we have to be able to do the same thing that got us back in the game to finish off the game. Two teams competing their tails off, and again, I think if we make our free throws and we go 9-of-20 and they go 21-of-25, that’s a problem.”
On how challenging it was to stop Tyrese Maxey …
“He’s good. We knew that coming in. You know, he’s an explosive scorer. A lot of scorers, sometimes they take difficult shots. But at the same time, we knew he was going to take them. Guys like that don’t lose their confidence easily. He is just a challenge. A couple of the threes he hit, we didn’t do a good enough job in transition of getting back and getting matched up. You can’t play, in my opinion— at least my team can’t, maybe other teams can — an open-court game with Kentucky and feel like you’re going to be the victor. So, we did a much better job of boxing them in in the half-court and playing half-court basketball. He’s good. And his pull-up game, his ability to make threes today was better than it’s been. But we knew what he was capable of.”
On Nick Richards’ performance ...
“He’s good, and he is big as hell. You don’t see that size very often, and he’s good next to Steve (Enoch). Steve is a couple of inches shorter. But I thought Steve played his tail off. I thought he got a deep-post position, and we went to him. He tied the game up, took the lead a couple of times, if my memory serves correct. We were trying to go to him, and I know 17 shots is an awful lot for Steve, but you know, outside of a few plays he made, I thought he did the job today. He did what he needed to do. You know, Nick Richards is a good player, we tried to go at him as much as we could, and we give credit for how talented he is.”
On Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble’s performance …
“I think our backcourt got maligned at times, and I thought that Fresh and Darius (Perry) made some big-time plays, whether its Fresh’s reverse layup or three in the corner, or when Darius hit a big three. I thought both of those players did a pretty dang good job on both ends of the floor against a very talented, quick, athletic backcourt. They grew up a little bit together in terms of confidence and what we need them to be down the stretch.”
On Kimble being more aggressive …
“I think for Fresh, Kentucky really denies passes and that really opens up the court if you can gain a half step on your man. (Ashton) Hagans is very handsy. He’ll try to take the ball from you. Fresh is in his fifth year, but that’s still a challenge, I don’t care how many years you’ve been playing. Hagans is really good with his hands. At times, that leaves you exposed. You use your hands and forget about your feet, and he got in the lane and made some terrific plays today. His ability to finish, he gained a lot of confidence, hit a big-time three. We know Fresh has it in him. I was really pleased to see how our point guards responded today.”
On whether playing a competitive team prepares for conference play …
“I think anytime you play a team as talented as Kentucky, as well-coached, in their house, it’s going to prepare you for some of the teams we are going to play. We’re going to play big teams, we are going to play athletic teams, we are going to play teams in hostile environments. I don’t know if the team I had last year could have been able to piece together the ability to tie the game, take the lead. I really felt like we had control of the game, if you can say that in one-possession games. We couldn’t make a defensive rebound, couldn’t make a free throw, and that hasn’t been a problem for this team. But you give Kentucky a lot of credit for battling through some resiliency, as well and showing resiliency like they did. I think anytime you play games at this magnitude in this environment, it’s only going to make your team better. We have a lot of high-character guys in that locker room, so I don’t really worry about them standing together.”
On if there is a degree of satisfaction with taking UK to overtime …
“Well, we expected to win. You know, the 106th team in Louisville history didn’t have to bear the burden of last time other teams didn’t come here and do the job. So, we expected to win, and we are disappointed that we didn’t. But as I said before, the guys in our locker room will figure out a way to make this game make them better. What I saw on the floor wasn’t anything different than I already knew about my team. We just have to get better in certain areas, and a couple of guys have to play better.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 9:15 PM.
