Louisville Basketball: Top Rick Pitino Quotes From FSU Loss

We take a look at some top quotes from Louisville basketball head coach Rick Pitino after the loss to Florida State on Saturday.

The Louisville basketball team wasn’t able to overcome an early deficit to Florida State on Saturday, but they were able to make it a ballgame throughout. The Cards just didn’t have enough production from their starters because of foul trouble, but we can’t blame it all on the referees.

Louisville’s bench players were actually the stars of the afternoon, as Tony Hicks, Mangok Mathiang, and David Levitch had performances that we will always be thankful for, regardless of the loss.

With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the top quotes from Rick Pitino in Mike Hughes’ article from 247 Sports:

Jan 21, 2017; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard David Levitch (23) passes the ball past Florida State Seminoles guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes (22) during the first half at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

How encouraged are you that your bench outscored them 40‐11?

“Look, I thought the effort tonight was incredible. I just thought our guys were brilliant from a hustle and effort standpoint. Now that being said they are one of the most difficult teams to guard because they shoot at so many positions. No coach can ask for any more than what I saw tonight. I’m really excited about the effort, disappointed that we lost, but we’ll move on. Great game in the ACC.”

–Mike Hughes from 247 Sports

Quite honestly, this is one of the top takeaways from the game against Florida State on Saturday afternoon. The starters just couldn’t get anything going, but guys like David Levitch, Mangok Mathiang, and Tony Hicks had great games.

It was pretty impressive to see how well each of those guys played, especially since most of them haven’t been the go-to guys thus far in 2016-2017. I guess they had a little more in them than any of us expected.

Jan 21, 2017; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino during the second half of the game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Did not having Quentin Snider affect this game?

“No. No it didn’t, we couldn’t have played any harder or any better. No, because Tony Hicks played great. It helped us tonight to see what he could do. But, you know, injuries are a part of the game. We’re going to get him back in a couple weeks. So, it’s part of the game, they would have beat us with or without him.”

–Mike Hughes from 247 Sports

I do give credit to Pitino for not giving into the pressure of blaming this game on the injury to Quentin Snider, but I think we all know the outcome would have been different. With Snider on the floor, the Cardinals were getting numerous open looks at the basket.

Without him, the offense hasn’t been able to be as fluid as it’s been over the past three weeks, which is why we shouldn’t be surprised at all that Mitchell played so bad against Florida State on Saturday. He is forcing too many shots and trying to create plays that aren’t there.

Jan 21, 2017; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Tony Hicks (1) moves the ball past Florida State Seminoles guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes (22) during the first half at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

40 points off the bench, what does that say about your depth?

“Well I don’t think, on our team, we have a starting five, I really don’t think that. I think that Ray (Spalding) and Jaylen (Johnson) they take turns starting, flipping a coin. Anas (Mahmoud) and Mango (Mangok Mathiang). So it’s really not a bench. We got 9‐10 guys that can play and we are down three scholarships too. So we are lucky they all can play.”

-Mike Hughes from 247 Sports

Again, this was one heck of a performance from Louisville’s bench players on Saturday afternoon. On a day when Anas Mahmoud and VJ King were non-existent, it was extremely encouraging to see these guys fight through the adversity against one of the best teams Louisville has faced all season long.

I know this loss hurts, but the lessons that the Cardinals learned down in Tallahassee will help them greatly whenever Quentin Snider returns. Not only did this give a few more guys experience, but it gave them confidence as well.

Jan 21, 2017; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles guard Terance Mann (14) makes a layup during the second half of the game against the Louisville Cardinals at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

How did you hold Florida State, who plays 12 deep, to one of their lowest totals of the year?

“Look we are a good team; they are a good team. You got two of the better teams in the nation playing each other. They came away with the win, credit to them. Outstanding atmosphere. Outstanding basketball game. I’m a big fan of Florida State.”

–Mike Hughes from 247 Sports

If you go back and look at the final team stats from the game, it’s really a shame that the Cardinals couldn’t find a way to come out with a win. Florida State missed 11 free throws and only hit four threes in the game. That was not a typical performance for the red-hot Seminoles.

Not to mention, FSU actually had a worse field goal percentage than the Cards on Saturday afternoon.

There are so many positive takeaways from this game, with the exception that it was actually a loss. Things never feel the same after getting beat, but trust me, Louisville will get better because of this road-loss to the Seminoles.

Did shooting 2‐13 from three help late in the stretch?

“Yeah, the only weakness I’ll say is, Donovan (Mitchell) counted his misses tonight, again. You know, it affected his defense. But David Levitch is a walk‐on and he was brilliant tonight. I actually, I didn’t want Donovan to lose his confidence; I kept putting him back in.”

– Mike Hughes from 247 Sports

While going 2-13 from the perimeter is never impressive, I will point out the difference between Pitino coaching Mitchell three weeks ago, to Pitino coaching him up now. Pitino actually benched Mitchell before the Indiana game because he was too hesitant, which set Mitchell on fire.