GopherLady
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Pitino calls Mathieu "almost flawless", talks about win, & bro in chicken costume...
Great locker room today, nice to see these guys get a win. When DeAndre Mathieu was being interview, players kept on yelling across the locker room "GOOD GAME, DRE!" Sid randomly kept on asking Dre about his recruiting, where he had offers from, why he chose the Gophers (twice) and asked Pitino about it too.
Here are my live notes, not verbatim, but you get the jist:
Andre Hollins:
I'm feeling about 90% right now. My trainer has been getting me right.
We've been close in every game. We did a good job, we took care of business.
We are one of those teams that learns from their mistakes really well and it showed today
We were due for one (win), and we've been working hard
We fix our mistakes, we fixed out mistakes from the 1st half.
I think at one point they were 2-13 against our man to man.*
Mo Walker:
On what Pitino told them at halftime: He said to come out confident, contain them off the bounce, and win the loose ball battle.
When Sid asked him if he'd given up - You never give up, every game is a big game for us.
I've got a big body, I try to take advantage of it.*
On the win - It was pretty big for my confidence, coach and my teammates give me a lot if confidence we're on top of the world right now.
DeAndre Mathieu:
We needed this one more than we thought, coach just stayed with us.
It feels good to finally get one (win)
I'm one of those players who loves to take the last shot.
Sid: How do you overcome your lack of height? Mathieu: I have ultimate confidence in myself.
On the Yogi Ferrel matchup - just like the Aaron craft battle, my family talks about it all the time. It's the competitor in me. This is the 1st home game they've (his family) ever been to.
On pressure because if he plays well, we win, if he doesn't, often lose - I love it, I put the ultimate pressure on myself.*
On his family being here: It really got me a little extra intense, the fact that they hopped on a plane for the first time meant a lot to me.* (His little brother took his 1st plane ride, ever.
Richard Pitino:
• That defense was far from atrocious. Our defense was great that's what won us the game. I have to give a lot of credit to our staff they did a great job with scouting.
• Mathieu misses a shot vs. NU and Purdue, but he comes back to hit that huge shot today.
• DeAndre made an unbelievable move to get to the rim, then he comes in traffic to get the rebound, he 5'9" 165 pounds, he believes he's 6'8", 230.
• I thought Elliott was great defensively. I think Mo is settling in to be one of the tougher guys to guard on the block. 7-11, and he's so big and wide and has great confidence right now.
• Mo has evolved - our offense has evolved to a low post threat since the WI game.
• Without Andre Hollins healthy enough just yet, we need to go inside, with him not 100%. Joey King is starting to get great confidence as well.
• Sid: (after calling Mathieu 5'7) did you see him play or just watch film? Pitino: I did see him play.
• On how Mathieu chose the Gophers : It came down for to us and Memphis, and Mathieu didn't want to play back up for the PG.
• If you look back to the 3 losses, Nebraska played great. Then you go to NU, and we had opportunies to win it, just didn't take care of business. I thought the Purdue game was the most together we played all year, we just didn't win it, we deserved it. When we lost a 3 OT game, at practice, they were so eager to play again, they know we're close.
• I believe in what we're doing, not just as coaches, but the players. They have great substance and they don't doubt themselves at all. They think, let's create our own luck. Our defense won us the game.
• I actually think it was more the front court that was better, we got some great stops at the end of the game. We did a great job on Yogi Ferrell, who was one of the great guards in our league. Anytime we needed to make a great stop, we did it.
• Michigan is like the last game of the season, or 2nd to last - I'm only worried about Wisconsin. What I like about our league, we've got great opportunities. We played well against them the 1st game. I know it sounds cliché.
• On his brother in the Chicken costume: That was unbelievable - a side note, he walked into my office 3 minutes before the game and said he needed to change. I asked him what he was changing into. He said a chicken costume and left. Allegedly he lost a bet, I don't know where he got it. I don't want to speculate and then be called a liar, good creativity from him.
• What drives this job is the fans. We have an unbelievable home court advantage, we've got a great college experience.
• I've got so much respect for Coach Haskins, whenever he comes back, he loves this place, he's eager to help in anyway he can.
• What I loved about tonight more than anything, is the fans were there when we needed them. The WI game was probably the best home court advantage I've ever seen.
• On his Dad being here for the win - I'm glad he got the chance to see it, hopefully we can celebrate tonight.
• Mathieu was almost flawless tonight, he was a walk on at Moorhead State 2 years ago.
Great locker room today, nice to see these guys get a win. When DeAndre Mathieu was being interview, players kept on yelling across the locker room "GOOD GAME, DRE!" Sid randomly kept on asking Dre about his recruiting, where he had offers from, why he chose the Gophers (twice) and asked Pitino about it too.
Here are my live notes, not verbatim, but you get the jist:
Andre Hollins:
I'm feeling about 90% right now. My trainer has been getting me right.
We've been close in every game. We did a good job, we took care of business.
We are one of those teams that learns from their mistakes really well and it showed today
We were due for one (win), and we've been working hard
We fix our mistakes, we fixed out mistakes from the 1st half.
I think at one point they were 2-13 against our man to man.*
Mo Walker:
On what Pitino told them at halftime: He said to come out confident, contain them off the bounce, and win the loose ball battle.
When Sid asked him if he'd given up - You never give up, every game is a big game for us.
I've got a big body, I try to take advantage of it.*
On the win - It was pretty big for my confidence, coach and my teammates give me a lot if confidence we're on top of the world right now.
DeAndre Mathieu:
We needed this one more than we thought, coach just stayed with us.
It feels good to finally get one (win)
I'm one of those players who loves to take the last shot.
Sid: How do you overcome your lack of height? Mathieu: I have ultimate confidence in myself.
On the Yogi Ferrel matchup - just like the Aaron craft battle, my family talks about it all the time. It's the competitor in me. This is the 1st home game they've (his family) ever been to.
On pressure because if he plays well, we win, if he doesn't, often lose - I love it, I put the ultimate pressure on myself.*
On his family being here: It really got me a little extra intense, the fact that they hopped on a plane for the first time meant a lot to me.* (His little brother took his 1st plane ride, ever.
Richard Pitino:
• That defense was far from atrocious. Our defense was great that's what won us the game. I have to give a lot of credit to our staff they did a great job with scouting.
• Mathieu misses a shot vs. NU and Purdue, but he comes back to hit that huge shot today.
• DeAndre made an unbelievable move to get to the rim, then he comes in traffic to get the rebound, he 5'9" 165 pounds, he believes he's 6'8", 230.
• I thought Elliott was great defensively. I think Mo is settling in to be one of the tougher guys to guard on the block. 7-11, and he's so big and wide and has great confidence right now.
• Mo has evolved - our offense has evolved to a low post threat since the WI game.
• Without Andre Hollins healthy enough just yet, we need to go inside, with him not 100%. Joey King is starting to get great confidence as well.
• Sid: (after calling Mathieu 5'7) did you see him play or just watch film? Pitino: I did see him play.
• On how Mathieu chose the Gophers : It came down for to us and Memphis, and Mathieu didn't want to play back up for the PG.
• If you look back to the 3 losses, Nebraska played great. Then you go to NU, and we had opportunies to win it, just didn't take care of business. I thought the Purdue game was the most together we played all year, we just didn't win it, we deserved it. When we lost a 3 OT game, at practice, they were so eager to play again, they know we're close.
• I believe in what we're doing, not just as coaches, but the players. They have great substance and they don't doubt themselves at all. They think, let's create our own luck. Our defense won us the game.
• I actually think it was more the front court that was better, we got some great stops at the end of the game. We did a great job on Yogi Ferrell, who was one of the great guards in our league. Anytime we needed to make a great stop, we did it.
• Michigan is like the last game of the season, or 2nd to last - I'm only worried about Wisconsin. What I like about our league, we've got great opportunities. We played well against them the 1st game. I know it sounds cliché.
• On his brother in the Chicken costume: That was unbelievable - a side note, he walked into my office 3 minutes before the game and said he needed to change. I asked him what he was changing into. He said a chicken costume and left. Allegedly he lost a bet, I don't know where he got it. I don't want to speculate and then be called a liar, good creativity from him.
• What drives this job is the fans. We have an unbelievable home court advantage, we've got a great college experience.
• I've got so much respect for Coach Haskins, whenever he comes back, he loves this place, he's eager to help in anyway he can.
• What I loved about tonight more than anything, is the fans were there when we needed them. The WI game was probably the best home court advantage I've ever seen.
• On his Dad being here for the win - I'm glad he got the chance to see it, hopefully we can celebrate tonight.
• Mathieu was almost flawless tonight, he was a walk on at Moorhead State 2 years ago.
