Louisville HC Kenny Payne Postgame Presser vs. Pitt (1/6/24)
Transcript
00:00 [Ball being hit]
00:17 You know, obviously Pittsburgh is a pretty good team.
00:21 They shoot the ball well, they play with a swagger, they're tough,
00:23 they're a great rebounding team.
00:26 It felt like we started the game the first five minutes.
00:30 They were the aggressor on the boards which hurt us, put us on our heels,
00:35 which didn't set the tone for the way we talked about we wanted the game to go.
00:39 But at the end of the game when I look at our offensive numbers,
00:45 51% from the field, 47% from the three, 86% from the free throw line,
00:52 I go back to what is that?
00:56 What is that?
00:57 I know we're down men, I'm not making excuses.
01:00 I know we missed JJ, I know we missed Trey being on the floor.
01:04 I'm not making excuses.
01:06 But I'm saying, if we shoot those numbers, if we play offense that efficiently,
01:12 how are we not winning that game?
01:15 And so then I go back to 18 turnovers.
01:18 And then I go back to how many times did we foul a three-point shooter?
01:24 You know, it's the mental focus to be able to fight through
01:32 and play winning basketball.
01:34 Yeah, you did some things well, but we all know that winning is hard
01:39 and you got to do a lot of things well consistently if you want to win.
01:43 Questions?
01:45 Coach, when it comes to the 18 turnovers, it led to 28 points for them.
01:50 What are you seeing with the turnovers?
01:52 Are your guys a little too casual with the ball at times?
01:55 That's one thing.
01:57 You know, there are plays that you have to read.
02:00 This is a game of reads.
02:02 So it may be a lob, it may not be a direct pass.
02:05 It may be fake a pass, make a pass.
02:08 We seem to be throwing the ball across our body.
02:10 We seem to be making direct passes
02:12 when we should be making lob passes.
02:15 We seem to be making bounce passes across on the perimeter
02:19 when we should be making and dribbling over and making direct passes.
02:23 Those little things come back and burn you when you're playing a good team.
02:27 And look, some of this is also inexperience.
02:31 But at the end of the day, we work on it, we talk about it, we teach it.
02:35 They got to grasp it.
02:37 Yesterday you said that a big key for this game
02:39 is going to be a contesting shot.
02:41 And you mentioned, you know, fouling on a lot of those threes.
02:43 But I'm just wondering what you saw in terms of a defensive effort,
02:46 you know, and just grading the players in that regard today?
02:51 I thought in spurts we were good.
02:53 I thought they felt us for a majority of the game.
02:58 But I also thought what we gave up, being in the zone,
03:02 being the bottom man in the zone and the ball is on the opposite side,
03:06 you have to sprint out and know that Henson is going to shoot that ball
03:09 whether you're there or not.
03:11 And you better hard contest without fouling.
03:15 Kenny, last year against Pitt, I think in both meetings
03:17 you talked a little bit about letting go of the rope with that group.
03:20 Did you see any signs of that today from what you saw from guys out there?
03:23 No, I did not see them let go of the rope.
03:26 Actually, I thought they fought pretty hard.
03:29 I thought we didn't play very smart.
03:31 I thought that, you know, when you play an offense and you're –
03:36 you know, you catch the ball and you want to process the game
03:39 but after you catch the ball then you're too late.
03:42 So a guy comes off a ball screen and instead of attacking he bags up
03:46 and he's dribbling to see what's open, that's too late.
03:49 You got to know that you got to make that play
03:52 before that ball hits your hand and what's there and you attack it right away.
03:56 We didn't do that.
04:01 Sorry, Kenny, just your thoughts on Pitt's two freshman guards that started today?
04:06 They didn't play like freshmen.
04:07 They were poised, they were under control, they took what the defense gave them.
04:11 They put pressure on us, they competed defensively.
04:15 They were good, they were very good.
04:17 Kenny, as far as what Caleb Glenn got a lot of minutes,
04:20 plus five on the group today, just thoughts on his performance
04:23 and also especially because you're shorthanded,
04:25 do you see his minutes maybe even increasing along the way?
04:27 Of course, look, I just told the kid, I'm proud of you,
04:31 you made a lot of mistakes but if you play hard I can live with your mistakes.
04:35 If you play aggressive, you play with confidence, I can live with your mistakes.
04:39 At the end of the day, I'm looking at him and D-Lo and saying,
04:42 alright, can you guys step on the court
04:45 and look like you're confident in what you're doing?
04:48 Don't look unsure.
04:50 You're going to make mistakes, you can't play this game without making mistakes.
04:54 But if you look like you're confident in what you're doing
04:57 and you're aggressive, you can survive a battle.
05:01 Mike, James had two really good spurts,
05:05 were you running plays for him or what was going on during that time?
05:08 We found him a couple times.
05:11 You know, one time we ran a play, he came off wide open.
05:15 We went back to it, he came off open again.
05:18 I think the last time, you know, one of the guards,
05:22 I think Tyler Scott saw him and found him the third time
05:27 and talked about we should run something to get the ball to Mike.
05:31 Kenny, from a personnel standpoint,
05:33 this isn't kind of the team you expect to be coaching at this point.
05:37 What was kind of your game plan in trying to compensate for that?
05:41 Especially when you have Sky and Branigan early foul trouble
05:46 and have to come and sit out?
05:49 It's why I do what I do.
05:52 And what I mean by that is why I tell every player
05:54 if you got a jersey on your back, you better be ready.
05:57 That's why I'm saying I don't believe that players should feel like they're walk-ons.
06:02 Whether it's my son, whether it's Aiden, whether it's Hersey,
06:05 you better be ready.
06:06 You got a jersey on your back that says Louisville, you better be ready.
06:09 You better be ready in practice, you got to do everything every other player does.
06:13 Be ready.
06:14 I believe in you.
06:15 When you get on that court, it may be under distress
06:19 where we have to play you longer minutes, you better be ready.
06:23 Now, I'm expecting those guys to be locked in and focused
06:28 so they don't get in foul trouble.
06:29 In a million years would I expect the way that Brandon had been playing
06:34 to come out and have three points and three rebounds?
06:36 No.
06:38 I need more from him.
06:39 I need more leadership from him.
06:40 I need more fight from him.
06:43 So it is what it is in that regard,
06:45 but we have to always have a mentality of next man up.
06:49 You know, the last thing in reference to that,
06:53 JJ Treanor.
06:55 What JJ did to come back and be ready to play, he should be commended on.
07:02 He worked every day, two, three times a day to get back healthy.
07:06 Yesterday in practice he got bumped the wrong way,
07:10 had the re-injury of the shoulder.
07:12 Devastating to this program, devastating to this team,
07:16 but he did everything in his power to get back and help us win games
07:21 and I commend him for that.
07:24 Yeah, they had 11 offensive rebounds,
07:26 they seemed to be very aggressive on the glass
07:29 and then they had that good spurt at the beginning of the second half.
07:31 Was that just your guys not matching their toughness
07:35 or their being a more mature physical team?
07:39 I would say, you know, they scored two or three baskets in a row
07:43 off the same play which was the bottom guy has to read you got two people
07:49 and if you go too high, they're going to cut behind you.
07:51 Well, we went too high and they cut behind us.
07:54 They cut behind you one time, okay, but they can't do it a second time.
07:58 You got to be able to make the adjustment.
08:00 You're in the wrong spot if he's able to cut behind you.
08:03 So I'd rather you be low and come out rather than you be high
08:07 and give up a layup where there's nothing or nobody behind you.
08:10 So, look, a lot of this in my notes I got self-imposed damages.
08:18 It wasn't the scheme, it was somebody making a bad mistake,
08:23 a bad decision to go too high when he's not supposed to go there.
08:28 I got in my notes, rebounding.
08:31 We know that this is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference.
08:34 We know that they're going to crash the board.
08:36 We have to hit first or get hit.
08:39 Got in my notes, turnovers.
08:40 Make sure that we don't turn the ball over, take care of the basketball.
08:44 Got in my notes, don't get bad fouls.
08:47 Come on the free throw line.
08:48 Well, we did that.
08:51 Given your personnel situation, is there any point in adding walk-ons
08:55 at this point or is it too late in the year to do that?
08:59 Good question.
09:01 I hadn't thought about it.
09:04 I just found out, you know, JJ yesterday.
09:08 So we're just trying to digest how we fix it, how we get guys to play better.
09:14 I got a great walk-on, it's in my way, I need players.
09:20 With JJ's injury, do you foresee that something where he can try to get that
09:24 medical redshirt to get an extra year?
09:27 I don't know that answer.
09:29 I really don't.
09:35 Do you have any idea of when either Trey or Emeka would be available again?
09:41 I'm hoping, you know, they've been day-to-day for a while now.
09:45 I'm hoping that soon they'll be back.
09:48 I just put a little pressure on them, told them that if you're injured
09:51 and you're hurt, you should be getting treatment four or five times a day.
09:54 We need you.
09:55 You're vital to this team and we need every player to do what they have to do
09:59 to get back on their court.
10:03 Kenny, when you referenced the self-imposed damages that you see on the court,
10:08 what role do you think at all that preparation or coaching plays in any of that?
10:14 I think when you're preparing a team to play a game and you're talking about
10:19 this team, so we talk about when we're in the zone because obviously we can't
10:25 just play one defense against good offensive teams.
10:28 Then you have to talk about what could happen if you do this, if you do that.
10:32 If they run this play, this is what we're doing.
10:34 We watched last year's game and we saw that they ran a wheel action against
10:39 our zone, well to go to the point of two backdoor cuts.
10:43 We talked about that.
10:45 We went over it.
10:47 At the end of the day, self-imposed, I talked about it ad nauseum.
10:54 He didn't get it.
10:55 The player didn't make the adjustment.
10:57 It's still my fault.
10:59 So I'm good with that.
11:00 I can live with it.
11:03 I'm going to do the same thing next game.
11:05 And I'm going to do all the preparation and I'm still going to take the blame.
11:09 In this business, all the wins, kids.
11:13 All the losses, me.
11:16 That's what this business is.
11:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]