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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2014Joey KingDeAndre MathieuRichard PitinoINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Wisconsin – 83 COACH PITINO: Well, obviously, offensively we didn't have it tonight, and you've got to give them credit. They made us pay. They're a very good offensive team. You know, disappointed with the effort tonight‑‑ just not so much effort, but I just think that we let our offense frustrate us and dictate our defense. But you've got to give them credit. They're a very, very good team. Q. For either of the players or both of the players, how frustrating is it, I guess, when your offense does get off to a slow start like that and you see Wisconsin go on the run they did and then just knowing how tough it's going to be to come back from that? DEANDRE MATHIEU: It's really frustrating because they're a really good offensive team, and they really just controlled the pace of the game. And once they got a big lead, we knew we had to get stops, but we just couldn't get stops today. JOEY KING: I'll just reiterate that it was definitely frustrating. Those runs are just things that we have to put a stop to through our defense, and our offense definitely transitioned over into our defense struggling today. Q. How physical did you think it was in the first half, and some of the calls that you maybe didn't get, how frustrating was that offensively to overcome? JOEY KING: Whether it's a foul or not, those are things that, in the Big Ten, you just have to play through. It's a really competitive game, and those are definitely things that we just have to fight through and not think about. DEANDRE MATHIEU: Like Joey said, in the Big Ten all the games are physical. They've been like that all year, so I mean, whether it was a foul or not, that was the referee's decision. We just had to play through it, and we made a lot of mistakes that went beyond the fouls, and we didn't defend today. Q. Joey, after they went on the initial run and then you guys came back with three three‑pointers in a row‑‑ I don't remember how many points you came within‑‑ but was there a point soon after that that you felt like maybe it started to actually get away from you for good? JOEY KING: We always want to come in and fight, and whether or not people think we can win, we always think we have a chance. Towards the end, it got away from us and we ended up losing the game by double digits, over 20, so that was really disappointing. But for most of the game, we always thought we had a chance to make a run and get back in the game. Q. You guys have a couple more days until Selection Sunday. What's that going to be like, just waiting? You're kind of in that tenuous spot; are you in, are you not? What do you anticipate that being like? DEANDRE MATHIEU: We just hope we can get a chance to get in the tournament, and we're going to work hard. Regardless of whether we're playing in the NIT next week or the NCAA Tournament, we're going to work hard and try to make a run regardless. JOEY KING: Yeah, depending on whatever tournament we get in, we're just going to go home, continue to get better, and just look to make a run in whichever tournament that we play in. Q. Coach, just going into the game, can you talk about just your team's mindset? Did you feel like‑‑ I know in the past you kind of noticed that maybe they were pressing a little bit, the pressure got to them a little bit? COACH PITINO: No, I thought we were getting good looks, especially early. I thought we were getting really good looks. Things just weren't rolling our way at the beginning, and then it just kind of snowballed a little bit. But I thought we were getting good looks, it's just they weren't going our way at the beginning. Q. Coach, basketball has been such a part of your life, and you've seen a lot of different experiences on a Selection Sunday. For the next 48 hours, kind of give us a sense of what your mindset is going to be and what's going to be going through your mind. COACH PITINO: Well, I think the first thing that I'm going to want to do is, I'm going to want to watch this game and kind of clean up some of the mistakes that we made. Because we're always trying to get better, more than anything, offensively, defensively. So we'll correct all those mistakes, give them a little time off, and then regroup. Listen, I hope we get into the NCAA Tournament. I feel that we played one of the best schedules in the country, and that's normally what they want you to do. But with that being said, whatever tournament we are in, I'm proud of the‑‑ we're disappointed tonight, but I'm proud of how hard these guys have played this whole year. Q. When Andre and Austin are struggling offensively like they did tonight, does the team feel that? Do you think that the team‑‑ COACH PITINO: How could they not? It's difficult. Those are our two or three main guys, and Austin has been really scoring the ball at a high level. I thought Andre was getting good looks, just wasn't falling his way. You've got to give them credit; they certainly are a very, very good team. But certainly it's always tough when those guys don't make shots, when they go 3 for 20. Q. Obviously, all Wisconsin starters can score, but how much harder is it when they have guys coming off the bench having production like they did tonight? COACH PITINO: They're a really good team, really good team top to bottom. They don't beat themselves. They're really talented. They have a couple guys on the roster who are potential NBA players. They've got good young talent. They make you pay when you make a mistake, so they've got an opportunity if they win this thing to potentially be a 1 seed. They knew they were a very good team, and we had a lot of respect for them. Q. When Austin Hollins was going through his struggles and overcame that, have you noticed anything with Andre the past couple games that caused him to have a tournament like this? COACH PITINO: Tonight was different, I think, than the last game. He just wasn't making shots today. I'm going to have to go back and look and see if they were good shots or bad shots. But 2 for 14 is extremely, extremely rare for Andre Hollins. Q. You've talked already about thinking how the team has overachieved already, just based on where they finished in the Big Ten and their record, but is it disappointing because you have shown sparks this season to finish this way? COACH PITINO: Yeah, I mean, when you lose, you're always disappointed. But we've got great respect for Wisconsin. They're a very good team. So I think we've all got to clear our heads a little bit, take a step back, certainly focus on the mistakes that we made because we are playing next week. Hopefully, it's in the NCAA, who knows? But we are going to play next week. And wherever we play and whatever tournament we play in and whoever we play, we're going to hope to win because we're fortunate to be able to play this game. We're lucky, and our guys enjoy it, they love it. I enjoy coaching it, so I'm not going to take that for granted. Q. It looked like you and Coach Ryan had some words in the post‑game handshake. I might already know the answer to that, but can you shed any light on that? COACH PITINO: No. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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