Head Coach Chris Mack, Guard Charles Minlend Talk Georgia Tech

(Photo of Chris Mack: Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Coming off a road loss to the Clemson Tigers in which the Louisville men's basketball program suffered cold shooting from all areas of the floor, the Cardinals (10-4, 5-3 ACC) are now hoping to avoid losing their fourth game in a five-game stretch.

Next up, they will return home and host Georgia Tech in a game that was rescheduled one week ago after having been previously postponed. Tipoff is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 1 at 2:00 p.m. EST on the ACC Network.

Before the Cardinals face the Yellow Jackets, head coach Chris Mack and graduate transfer guard Charles Minlend took time to meet with the media. They discussed their upcoming matchup against Georgia Tech, the individual matchup with Jose Alvarado, their recent practice habits, takeaways from the Clemson loss, and more.

Below is the transcript from their press conference as well as the video:

Head Coach Chris Mack

(On the matchup between Carlik Jones and GT's Jose Alvarado)

It's gonna be a terrific matchup. I think Jose Alvarado is one of the best offensive players in the conference. He has a ton of confidence. Though that's a very similar trait that both of those players share, and that they they're extremely confident, they do play a little differently. If I did a music comparison, I would say that Jose is is heavy metal music, and Carlik is a little bit more jazz. But they both have an ability to get by their man, make teammates better. I love the intensity of which Alvarado plays, especially on the defensive end. He's a winner through and through.

(On what Georgia Tech's senior-laden group brings to the table)

I think a lot of challenges that we face, really none greater, than the intensity in which their team plays with. I think that guys like Moses Wright, Jordan Usher, his intensity, we saw it firsthand a year ago. You mentioned Alvarado, Michael Devoe is a very talented player, (Bubba) Parham brings something to their team. They've got a very experienced team. But the intensity of which their team plays is a credit to Josh (Pastner), his coaching staff, and the players, obviously, themselves. It's going to be a big challenge. Just from a from a talent standpoint that they bring, an experience standpoint that they bring, and, again, we've got to match that emotional fire that I know Georgia Tech brings every time they play.

(On how you generate said 'fire')

I think that sometimes, to me that's a skill. Something that you can develop, playing hard, you can develop it. Kids coming out of high school don't play nearly as hard as what's demanded at this level, Our team, certain players are learning that for the very first time. They're so young, they've never had to be consistent. We're still inconsistent. It's something that we have to continue to try to improve on in practice. I think when you play teams like Georgia Tech, they can bring out the best in you. We've got to be better than we were against Clemson, and we've got to be continue to try to get better than we were against Duke. Teams like Georgia Tech are going to force us to do that.

(On if he expects another lineup shake up against Georgia Tech)

I really don't know, that's the thing that you get when you have very young players that, quite honestly, are inconsistent. Both with their effort and their play. We're trying to put the best team out that we can. I'd love to be a coach that has sort of a rhythm like, 'hey, these are the five starters, these are guys the are gonna come off the bench'. I think Sam (Williamson) has responded in a very positive way. I think his play the last couple games, his practice habits. We may not be solid in terms of every night rolling out the same lineup, until we get consistent. So it's chicken to the egg. Maybe a vague way to answer your question, but quite honestly with a young group, I don't know. Sometimes, that's what causes coaches to lose their hair, as you can see it's happened to both of us. We'll see what happens as we move forward.

(On Clemson's defense on Carlik Jones & David Johnson)

Well, as I said before, they got they got thrashed today. But, at their best, they're a really, really good defensive team. Against us, they really forced those two guys into making some decisions that we've got to be able to capitalize on. We've got to be able to hit a couple of shots. We have to play at a faster pace, hard to play against on a faster pace sometimes against Clemson. But I thought what Clemson does, they did extremely well on Wednesday night. They tried to take the ball out of David's hands, they tried to try to take the ball out of Carlik's hands. While their pressure didn't force any turnovers, it forced guys to bring the ball up with a man in their back pocket the entire game. Again, we've got to be able to get some guys to make a few shots, and then the ones we missed, we got to do a better job on the offensive glass. Now, I was proud of our group in the sense that our offense was deplorable. Bad. But we had every ability and every opportunity to win the game had we done some things differently down the stretch. With a young team to hang our hat on our defense on the road and give ourselves a chance to win, I'm disappointed by the loss, and we've got to learn from it, but it's what I've told our team all along. If we can defend at a high level, we give ourselves a chance to win. Having said that, we broke down the last three or four minutes, and because of that, it wasn't a one possession game. We lost the three point shooter at the top of the key, we left our feet on a shot fake and gave up a pull up jump shot, we made some mistakes down the stretch. We got button-hooked around the basket by Aamir Simms. Those were key possessions that hurt us outside of that the first 35 minutes. You could point to a play here or there, but for the most part, we gave great effort on the defensive end, and just weren't very good on offense.

(On if David Johnson's turnovers were a result of Clemson's defense or his decision making)

Like I said that night, I thought Dave sort of reverted to some of the things he did as a freshman. I thought he got sped up, you could see it on a couple traveling violations where it wasn't like he traveled on at the end of his move trying to step around or lose a pivot foot, it was a start of his drives a few times. I thought Dave put himself in a really bad position by spin dribbling. Again, if you put your back on the defense, it might be okay on the man guarding you, but you lose vision of the players on the side of the floor that you're spinning blindly towards. And that hurt him, and that cost him. We need him as a sophomore to play like an experienced junior or senior. The good thing about Dave is, he's humble enough to accept those things as they are - mistakes - and try to get better and learn from them. He didn't play very well. When David doesn't play very well, Carlik doesn't have a great game, it's gonna be hard for us in this league against some of the teams that we're playing to win games. I think that was evidenced the other night, especially on the offensive end. Tyler.

(On what he's noticed out of the two starts by Quinn Slazinski)

Quinn has given us some good moments, and some not so good moments that he has to improve from. What I really like about Quinn is, he understands what's happening on the floor and communicates that to his teammates. On either ends of the floor. If defensively, he recognizes an action that the other team is running, he's generally smart enough and loud enough to make sure the rest of his teammates know what's happening. That gives great comfort to guys on the floor. Offensively, I think he's a really good ball mover. He's shot the ball from three much better in conference than he did before conference play. Much better, and we need that. But having said that, he hurt us to begin the second half. He hurt us defensively, and that's always been a challenge for Quinn. We need him to toughen up individually, be able to block out and not get ducked in around the basket. I think for the most part, he's done a much better job over the last six to eight games, but he didn't do a great job of coming out second half. That's why we put them out of the out of the game so quickly in the second half. But there's a lot of good things he's bringing, and we just need that more consistency out of him.

(On where he expects Charles Minlend to be heading into February)

I think when Charles gets to the point where we saw him before the injury, I'd like to think that he'd be a guy that can knock down shots from the perimeter. With Carlik and David's ability to get in the lane, his ability to knock the three point shot down - not at a Ryan McMahon level - but to really honor him. I think that he'll also be a guy that can exhibit some poise for our team. He's been in college basketball now going into fifth year, he should be able to exhibit some poise for our team. On both ends of the floor, that recognition I talked about with Quinn. Charles is a guy that'll do anything that he can to help the team win. I still don't think he's all the way back where we need him to be, but he's much better than he was when he first got in at Wake Forest. So I'd like to think that as the games continue to roll out, he gets more and more comfortable in practice, more comfortable with extended minutes, that we can trust him even more on the floor.

(On if he thought Samuell Williamson might play better coming off the bench, of if his benching was 100% due to practice)

Well, as I told you guys, I wouldn't be a truth teller to my team if I said, 'hey, the most effective players in practice are going to start', and then just roll out the same lineup if those players weren't the most effective in practice. And Sam wasn't that week. That's why I put the five that I did on the floor. Coaches don't care who plays. The media, I don't think you guys care who plays. Fans, ultimately, really don't care who plays. They want to win games, just as the coaches want to. We're gonna judge what we see in practice every single day, and put the best five that we can on the floor. Having said that, I love Sam's response. You can either pout about it, and not improve your play, or you can sort of look inward and say, 'What can I do to show coach and I should be one of those guys?' He's done a really good job. Again, back to the previous question, who knows what we're gonna do in terms of who starts, who comes off the bench. Ultimately, the minutes shake themselves out to the best players. Sam just has to continue to be who he's been the last couple games, both in practice and with his performance,

Guard Charles Minlend

(On his opinion of Jose Alvarado, and if he believes David Johnson will have a bounce back game)

To answer the first question, Alvarado is a spectacular player. He's been playing lights-out all season, and he brings a ton of energy. That's something that we definitely admire, and definitely want to add even more of as we continue our season, and everything. To answer the question about Carlik & Dave, we got a tremendous backcourt right now. During the course of the season, games like that are going to happen. Clemson is a great team, and they guarded us really well. But I never doubt those guys. Those guys are special players, and they're gonna they're gonna bounce back.

(On how significant his first points of the season, a three-pointer, against Clemson was)

This has been probably one of the hardest years of my life if I'm being honest. It's been extremely tough mentally, physically, and it still is. I'm obviously working to get back to the full form, back to myself and everything. It's a challenge. It's a challenge, and everyday just trying to make sure I'm staying positive with my teammates, and making sure that I'm doing everything that I can. Joining a team as good as this, this far into the season, while still nursing an injury, is not an easy thing to do. I'm aware of that, my coaches are aware of it. They've been really understanding, but still pushing me at the same time, which I really appreciate. Because I feel like they still have faith in me, and I feel like my teammates have faith in me. I'm just trying to stay strong, mentally, physically and just keep keep pushing. I know things are gonna turn around, but it was a good feeling definitely to kind of get that monkey off my back, for sure. But, I mean, that's kind of something I do naturally, so it wasn't really like the hugest problem for me, I hadn't put any up before that shot, so that was the first one I put up. It was just one of those things where, as I get more minutes and stuff like that, and I earn some more time and everything like that, just doing things to help my team win. That's just the thing that I care about the most.

(On what has been the toughest part of the adjustment and acclimation process)

I think trusting myself physically is a really tough thing, especially when there are some complications. Obviously, I was locked out longer than I wanted to be, and out longer than what people expected me to be out for because of some complications with the injury and everything like that. So, just trusting myself physically has been a struggle. Also, just getting that feel back, because we had COVID for however long we had that for, and then not playing, then guys having stops and starts and stuff like that. Then getting an injury, having stops and starts again, it's like figuring out your speed with a new offense and everything. There's a lot of things that you have to juggle and figure out, bur I've been doing this for a while, so I have faith in myself, I really do. It's just one of those things where I just gotta just keep working, keep working and eventually it's gonna work themselves out. But I kinda have to play my part too.

(On if it's difficult to still feel part of the team, especially during game situations)

Yeah, definitely. It's just one of those things where, as much as - I'm trying to answer this question as honestly as possible - you always want your team to do well for sure, no question. But also, when you see them doing as well as they have been doing, it's also just like, 'how am I going to carve a role out and still help my team?' And still be able to play well myself, which is obviously something that everyone wants to do. It's a lot harder to come to grips of that reality when the team's playing really well. That was like a thing that it's - you're not in every single huddle, people talk to you a little bit different, all that kind of stuff. You pay attention to it, it's noticeable. It's very noticeable so. I think having to deal with that, it's tough, but it's part of the game. This is what we all signed up for, and we know that, when we say that we want to play, this is one of the things that is a possibility that comes with it. It's a tough thing to come to reality with, but it's part of the game. I love the game, so I can't complain.

(On if he has a good grasp of what Coach Mack is talking about, and if he tries to impart that on his teammates in some way)

Yeah, definitely. We are a really young team, and we have a lot of things that we still need to learn. But with that being said, we still have a lot of room for us to grow. I think our ceiling's pretty high, especially once we - we really started turning a corner during conference play, we had a good little stretch in our conference. Once we kind of turn the page and get a little gear going, I think we're gonna be really hard to stop. Just having the right kind of guys and leadership, older guys talking like Carlik & Malik, guys like myself, who have kind of been through those wars, it helps. It definitely helps, because it kind of gives the guys a little bit of guidance in terms of what they want to do and how they - what kind of direction they need to go in terms of how to be a really good team.

(On how much of a help Malik Williams has been in terms of dealing with his injury)

It's been huge. Malik's a great guy, and he's one of those guys that everyone on the team looks up to. I didn't know him before this year, but I can tell that he's definitely put in time into the program, and equity and everything like that. It's paid dividends, because for somebody to not have played this whole season, and to have the guys listen to him and look at him the way that they do when he's talking, you can tell that he's he's been a huge presence for the team and he's really helped in more ways than just stats that he puts on the court. I have a lot of respect for him. Just seeing how much of a leader he's been able to be while still being out of commission has been a really admirable thing. Definitely helped me a lot in terms of just like, making sure that I'm doing my part and trying to stay as positive as I can. Yeah, just kind of just doing whatever I can to help the team. It's a tough situation, it's not a situation that anybody wants to be in. But we deal with the cards we've been dealt, no pun intended. But, yeah, that's just kind of how it goes. So I'm just trying to roll with it and see, make the best out of your choice

(On when he will know when he's back at full strength)

For me, I think it's my motor, in terms of like, up and down the court. My last school, my motor was pretty insanely high, and I was really, really good at getting to the basket, and scoring around the rim, and stuff like that. I didn't really get tired when I was on the court, and I had a really good presence on defense at the same time while still being able to run around, and stuff like that. I think once I get that going to the point where I feel comfortable, and I feel like I can get to the rim and penetrate and help kick out for other guys who get to the rim and get to the line, stuff like that. I think it'll be visibly evident on the court that I feel like I'm back to the point where I can kind of just do what I want on the court.

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI

Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI and Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @GeneralWasp