ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Carlik Jones

Louisville Cardinals

Postgame Press Conference

Duke 70, Louisville 56

Q. It's hard to beat a team three times, but what did you think was the biggest difference for you guys tonight compared to beating Duke twice before the season?

CARLIK JONES: I think the first two times we wanted it more. I think we came ready to play, and I think today, kind of like what our coach said in the locker room, they treated this game like a championship and they competed for all 40. They came into the game locked in, and we kind of played the game today in spurts. When you play like that against a good team, it doesn't always work out for you.

Q. Great run to end the first half, Coach Mack just said the message during halftime was duplicate that kind of energy, but it wasn't there to start the second half. Is there a way to explain where it disappears and why it takes so long to kickback into gear?

CARLIK JONES: Honestly, I don't know. That's kind of what I'm trying to figure out as a captain, as a leader and also with the coaching staff, is just trying to figure out why can't we constantly do it for 40 minutes. It's killed us. We've took multiple losses because of it, and I think we need to figure it out ASAP and figure out why we can't do it.

Q. Obviously they were playing a little different defensively against you guys this time around, but at the same time, you guys were pretty hesitant for much of the game offensively. Can you kind of pinpoint why that was?

CARLIK JONES: Honestly, I think they kind of switched up the defense, something we really haven't seen out of them all year. They were just telling guys to stay up, switching and stuff like that. Something we kind of weren't really prepared for.

We kind of figured out the answer to it. We did sometimes, some possessions we did it and it worked. And it was kind of like an example of what we needed to do, we just didn't continue to do it. I can't really tell you why, but we didn't do it. It cost us.

I mean, all we can do is go watch film, learn from it, and hopefully we can get another chance to go out there and do better.

Q. The first game you played them, Williams didn't play. Tonight he was a huge force. How much did that affect you guys both ends of the floor, and how do you cope with a guy who has developed that much?

CARLIK JONES: I mean, I think he played well. He's a big guy, and I don't think it was just me, but he shocked a lot of us. He played hard. Every second he was on the floor, it's like he did what he was told. He was in there rebounding, finishing dropped balls, going hard to the glass on both ends, and I think he outworked us. I think he definitely outplayed us tonight.

Q. When you have a game like this where you're not performing as you would expect in a tournament, is that a matter of maturity? Do you think this is just a young team that hasn't realized what's at stake?

CARLIK JONES: I think it does come in with a little bit of maturity. I don't think a lot of shots were falling for us. I don't think anybody was hot from the floor or anything like that. That's where you say maturity, it's got to come in where we're just got to find a way, and we didn't.

Usually you find a way by at least getting stops on the defensive end and playing hard on the defensive end. And tonight it just seems like we let us not doing well on offense dictate how we did on defense, and it cost us.