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NIT SEASON TIP-OFFNovember 28, 2014Andre HollinsJoey KingRichard PitinoNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK MINNESOTA – 66 Q. What did you say to each other as a team as you're going down the stretch, and obviously you played a similar type of game at the end against St. John's, what did you guys say to each other in terms of trying to not let that happen again? JOEY KING: Well, in the huddles, with the five of us out on the court we were talking about how it was time to grow up and start making winning plays and stop fearing losing. Q. Talk about the free throw shooting down the stretch. COACH PITINO: Made a big one, too. Why you being so negative? Andre, you answer. Missed 11 of them. ANDRE HOLLINS: I'm not sure how to answer. JOEY KING: Well, if you look back at last year we missed a lot of free throws at the beginning of the season. It's probably just some nerves we work out through the first couple games and we clean it up a couple games into the year. Q. First half, Charles gave you nine points; how much was that lift to give you guys a halftime lead? ANDRE HOLLINS: It was huge. He gave us great energy off the bench. Knocked down some key shots. That's one of the reasons we went up in the half. Q. What would you say is the biggest contributing factor in the last couple games, losing significant leads? ANDRE HOLLINS: I want to say just not doing the little things, not beating ourselves, not careless turnovers, not blocking out, just little things. Q. Andre, how would you identify the collective strengths of this team, maybe one or two things you take away most? Right now, who is this team and what are you guys? ANDRE HOLLINS: As far as identity‑wise, we talk about it a lot. We're going to be hard‑nosed defenders, pressing the ball all the time, just have a lot of character. Never give up. Don't be afraid to lose. Just leave it all out on the floor. Just work as hard as possible and stay together. Q. You guys have another road game coming up at Wake Forest. How meaningful is it to be able to pull out a win after a loss like that, just because you don't get to go back home yet? COACH PITINO: We just won. Q. Yes, that's what I'm saying. COACH PITINO: After what loss? Oh, you mean the St. John's loss. Not my turn. You guys, go ahead. JOEY KING: Yeah it was really important for us to bounce back for this game and pull out the win because we knew we were capable of getting this win, and it's hopefully going to transition over to Wake Forest on the road, just with our mental and physical toughness, it's going to be important that we come in prepared to play on the road. Q. Joey, the three‑point shooting first half and second half, during Georgia's run‑‑ talk about that. JOEY KING: Yeah, they knocked down some important shots in the second half. Kept them in the game when we were really trying to make a run, and that's just credit to them. They stepped up, made big shots. But I think it was really important that we stopped their runs and made a run back of our own every time they made a push. Q. So a game like this where they lose a big lead again, are you more happy with how they were able to hold onto it at the end, or are you more disappointed that they put themselves in the same situation? COACH PITINO: Probably a little bit of both. I don't know what exactly our biggest lead was, I think 16. But found a way to win, certainly. We wouldn't like to lose a lead but the rebounding part of it, I think them getting some crucial offensive rebounds, turning them into threes; you've got to give them credit. They made some good shots. That's a good team. So to be up 16 is great. We knew they would make a run. They held off the run, which we didn't do certainly versus St. John's. Q. They came in averaging only 11 turnovers a game but you forced‑‑ what did you see defensively from your guys? COACH PITINO: Yeah, I think we did a really good job in the first half. I want to say they had 13 turnovers in the first half. A lot of it was just being aggressive. Our matchup zone was really good. We just put that in a couple days ago. I think that's been good for us, a different look that we haven't done all year, just because of certain leads and difficult circumstances, we've got to play guys out of position. Moving forward, hopefully we can continue to get better at that. But we want a high number of steals and we want to turn teams over; that's got to be our identity. Q. I'm curious as to your thought on how your team both played and was focused in light of the news so close to game time. How do you feel you guys reacted on the court and in general as a group of young men? COACH PITINO: I think they did a pretty good job, and I think that there was good focus during the St. John's game. It's a road game, too. They made a run. St. John's made some really good plays off of some silly mistakes that we made. I mean, we had a collection of just ridiculous plays, technical foul, throwing it away, four‑point play. But I think their focus has been really good. I'm not going to act like it didn't certainly throw us all for a pretty big loop. That shocked all of us. But I think their focus has been really good. Maybe because we were here last year, I'm not sure, but I thought they were all locked in and we just lost to a good St. John's team and we just beat a good Georgia team. Q. Can you talk about what you see from Andre Hollins out there? Is the ankle still bothering him or is he just‑‑ COACH PITINO: No, I don't think it's bothering him. I just don't think he played great tonight, but he did some good things defensively. The five turnovers, I think three of them were just weird turnovers. But he still did some good things. He's bringing a lot defensively, playing 35 minutes, and we press on every possession. Our guards are at the front of the press, so he may not do a lot that shows up on the box score tonight but did he great things and showed great leadership. I think he's healthy. I don't think he's hurt at all. Q. The three‑point shooting definitely contributed to the big lead, and you shot well in the first half versus St. John's. What do you attribute that to? COACH PITINO: Probably personnel. Joey can shoot; Buggs can shoot; Nate can shoot. The guys that made it‑‑ just personnel. We like to have ideally four guys on the court that can shoot at all times, and I think we were get something pretty good looks, too, on pick‑and‑rolls and they were switching and doing some things, and we were moving the ball probably a little bit better than we did versus St. John's. Joey hit some big ones. Certainly Charles gave us a lift off the bench hitting some big ones, as well. Q. How much more important is it for your backcourt to stay out of foul trouble with just the shorter rotation and the kind of weird positions you have to start putting guys? COACH PITINO: Yeah, huge. It's difficult right now, just coaching‑wise, figuring some things out. We just need practice, and the biggest thing we said is don't get in foul trouble. Deandre gets in foul trouble last game; it's a short rotation of four guys. And Nate's playing a backup one, two and three; Andre is playing the backup two and three. Deandre can't play the backup two and three because he's too small, and then Squirrel (ph) can probably play the backup two and three, but he can't play the point. I think as we get going a little bit more, we'll be a little bit more comfortable with the rotations but so crucial not to get in foul trouble. It was a little better today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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