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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2009Keno DavisWeyinmi EfejukuJonathan KaleNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Louisville 73 COACH KENO DAVIS: Obviously, you know, it's disappointing anytime that your team loses, especially in a championship. You're at the Big East. We knew coming in today, that playing, you know, the team that won this conference and arguably, you know, a number one seed in the NCAA tournament, that we were going to have to play at a very high level. But when you look at our shooting percentages today, only going 2-17 and turning the ball over 26 times, that's not a great recipe for winning. But I think what it shows from our team is when you think about those numbers and then throughout that second half the game was an 8, 9, 10 point game, that shows the heart of this Providence team to be able to find a way to stay in the game. We couldn't make a run at them there in the second half, partly because of their great pressure defensively and partly because we couldn't seem to buy a bucket on the offensive end. JOHN PAQUETTE: Questions, please. Q. Keno, did they extend their defense that much at Louisville or was it an extra level Louisville team you had today? COACH KENO DAVIS: Maybe a little bit more today. It was pretty extended down there, too. They disrupted us especially in that second half but I think Coach Pittino can obviously answer this better than I can but similar to us getting ready for DePaul, knowing that they were playing back-to-back days, I think you want to take advantage of that and you attack the other team even moreso and it seemed to be that was their plan and they did a great job of it both halves. Q. Keno, you said yesterday that you thought your team was squarely on the bubble. Is that kind of where you still think you are and how hard will it be? COACH KENO DAVIS: I've heard kind of like everybody else, you listen to a lot of the, you know, the predictions and the one thing that those people that predict have in common is they're not sitting in that committee room and I know that we're going to be a team that they're going to discuss at length in there and I think when you talk about finishing in the top half of the Big East, is that enough? Is finishing 10-8 with wins over Syracuse, wins or Pitt, is that enough? You have to compare it to other teams in other leagues. If any league is going to get half their teams in, you would think with the potential three teams as number one seeds that they would look favorably. As far as this game, I think all it does it just puts us right on the bubble. You know, we'll see what happens. We'll have our fingers crossed on Sunday and, you know, look forward to playing some more basketball. Q. Keno, do you think you should get credit for losses; for example, three, four losses against teams that are number one seeds. COACH KENO DAVIS: I think one thing that the committee will look at or I would hope that they would look at is sometimes you look at, you know, your record against the top 50 or the top 100 I really find it hard to believe that you would -- that it would hurt a team to have played so many teams that are quality NCAA teams, and so you're in another league and you don't have that opportunity to play as many top 25 teams or number one seeds as we do, you know, that's why you try to build up your non-conference schedule but we know that coming in, you know, that we were going to be up against it in the conference. So, yeah, I think you really will get credit. I don't think it's just something you should get credit. I think they look at how strong your schedule is, especially at the end of the year. Q. Keno, did you think fatigue played a role in the low 3-point shooting percentage today? COACH KENO DAVIS: I think fatigue did somewhat. You know, I think a combination of fatigue and very aggressive defense from a lot of players that are going to be playing in the NBA against us. We've got some guys that, you know, are going to try to continue their careers as well. They've got some guys that, you know, might be a little closer to getting there. They came out with great pressure and I think they forced us outside of some of the range but we had some very good looks that just didn't go in today that they did yesterday. So fatigue, yeah, of course, it played a factor but they deserved it because they were in the top -- they had the double bye and we had to play in and it just was a night or day where we couldn't quite knock down enough shots. Q. Keno, just talk about how they took away (Sharaud) Curry today. COACH KENO DAVIS: I'm sure it was nice for them to be able to have a lot of days to prepare, you know, knowing that we would likely be one of the teams they could see in their first round and really took them away from, you know, being able to bring the ball up the court. They had two guys on him the whole time and I think rightfully so after they saw the games he's been playing, especially in the Big East. Not many people picked him out of a lineup as far as being, you know, a difference maker because of coming off that year long injury and really only playing his best basketball once our Big East season has started, but they identified him as a key and they disrupted our offense but I felt like we had kind of controlled it enough that if we could have made some more plays we could have made a run at them in the second half. JOHN PAQUETTE: Do we have any questions for the players? Q. Weyinmi (Efejuku), is Louisville the best defense you've had to go up against all year? WEYINMI EFEJUKU: I think they're the most aggressive defense we have had to face and they're consistently aggressive. For 40 minutes they're in your face, have long athletic players. They might be. They're up there. Q. John, can you just talk about the aggressive nature of the play inside and basically that's most of your offense? JONATHAN KALE: Well, this is how the league is. It's aggressive play all around the court especially down low. Their front line, like coach said, they're all pros so it's tough. You can't really just relax on any possession down low. So it's really tough. JOHN PAQUETTE: Any other questions for Providence? Thank you. Thanks, guys. COACH KENO DAVIS: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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