What Mike Pegues, Coach K and Louisville Players Said After 74-65 Loss vs. Duke

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kicking off the post-Chris Mack era against one of the top teams in college basketball, Louisville was unable to close down the stretch, falling to No. 9 Duke at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday.

Here's what interim head coach Mike Pegues, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Louisville guard El Ellis and guard/forward Dre Davis had to say following the loss:

Interim Head Coach Mike Pegues

(Opening Statement)

“I'm proud of our team's effort today. I thought that we got punched pretty good early in the game, we obviously tried to start the game with a little pressure, mix some things up. I thought it would be a good way to get our guys going defensively and something that we didn't think Duke would expect. Honestly, it kind of hurt us. It gave them some opportunities and some mismatches. But nonetheless, we got down big early, and our guys fought back, they deserve a lot of credit for that, a lot of teams would lay down against Duke. Duke is Duke but with that being said, I didn't think that Duke was necessarily better than us today. They were tougher than us and that bothers me. Mike (Krzyzewski) is a hell of a coach. He gets every Duke team to be tough. I'm just an interim head coach, but we're going to be tough. They are going to be tougher than that. We gave up 20 offensive rebounds. I'm irate about that. I don't care how tall Mark (Williams) is or what pick Paolo (Banchero) is. We can't give up 20 offensive rebounds. We can't lose every 50-50 ball. We can't lose concentration off the ball. We beat ourselves today, credit to Duke. If we win the effort game, which we talked about prior to the game, we win the game.”

(On cold shooting and shot selection down the stretch of the game)

“I didn't mind the shots. I have to go back and look at them to evaluate them a little more. I thought El (Ellis) had a good thing rolling and wanted to keep the ball in his hands and get him the lane. I think he missed a couple of touch finishes. He was awesome for us tonight offensively. He's got to be a lot better defensively. He knows that. I thought that Sydney (Curry) had a couple plays right around the rim where they made some unbelievable blocks right at the basket. I didn’t think that they were fouls. I thought the referees did an awesome job. We’ve got to be able to convert those plays.”

(On the team’s defensive effort and game plan against Paolo Banchero)

“I thought we did a great job guarding him one on one for the most part. He’s an unbelievable talent. He goes 5 of 15 from the floor but he gets six offensive rebounds. He found a way to impact the game and our team needs to learn that lesson. It doesn't matter how well you shoot; it doesn't matter how ineffective you are offensive, there are other ways to impact the game and he found a way to do that.”

(On the atmosphere in the Yum Center)

“That was awesome. I want to thank everyone personally I'm glad you said that. I'm so grateful to our fan base, have to everything that they have gone through to be here today and support our guys. Even when we were down. And we've been down throughout the entire season. Our record is not respectable. We have to win a game for this fan base. We have to win the game for ourselves. But I am so grateful to our fans, I have some friends in town and obviously I didn't expect to be the head coach when they got here. We went out to eat and I'm not used to all of the attention. In fact, I kind of like to stay out of the way. But people come up to me and say hey, we're with you. We're behind you. We support you. I mean, so heartfelt. I'm so grateful for that. I’m grateful to the fans for showing up today. I would just beg them to teach them to stay with us and can and keep supporting these kids. I'll be fine but the kids, they need that and we need all the support we can get.”

(On putting on the press)

“I didn't have the fans in mind when we put the press. But I thought that they might like it. We got to get better at it, though. You got to get a lot better at it. And we got to find a way to generate some deflections and some turnovers and fix it in the half court and not be on the wrong guy. And when we are on the wrong guy, we got to remember scram out of that and help each other and get our original matchups back because Paolo gets on Jarrett West and you know, we can't press that that expense.”

(On trying to simplify things)

“Yeah, I thought we tried to call a few more set plays today, I was pretty aggressive about getting us out of transition. If I didn't think we had anything early and getting this organized into a set, I probably have to loosen up the reins a little bit and, allow them to play a little more. But I thought that we had some pretty good things going on some set plays and I wanted to keep the ball in certain people's hands in certain spots. We have a flow game that we put in that I liked that I didn't trust as much today because we've only had it in for a couple of days. We'll get reorganized offensively and try to keep that ball in the painting around the basket and in the hands of the guys making plays.”

(On what made AJ Griffin such a tough cover for Louisville in the game)

“He's a big-time player. He looks like a traditional post guy, but he shoots it like a true shooting guard. He's a guy that’s going to make some shots, regardless, but there were a couple of shots where I didn't feel like we were into him the way that we needed to be. And again, it goes back to little things like that. Scouting covered that. You can’t give him open looks; he's an elite three-point shooter.”

(On what started Louisville’s turn-around in the first half)

“I don't think it was anything that I said to be quite honest. I think that our guys probably had a few jitters; it hadn't been that loud and that packed in there in a while. Maybe the transition had a little bit to do with that. I'm sure to do guys had a little bit to do with that. Eventually, I thought we settled down, we started to make some shots, gained some confidence, got a few stops, and started to play better.”

(On Louisville’s effort vs. Duke compared to recent weeks)

“The effort was there tonight, at least in terms of competing and trying to win. I don't do the “moral victory” thing. I'm not doing that. That’s not good enough. We have to win games; that's the standard. We have to compete on the glass. We can't give up 20 offensive rebounds. So, the effort was there, but it wasn't there to the capacity that it needed to be in order to ensure a win. Duke is a really good team, but their talent didn't overwhelm us today. That should be a message to our guys. Duke’s, a top 10 team in the country, talent did not overwhelm us, their toughness did, and that is not okay”

(On the play of Dre Davis)

“Dre Davis played a good game, we need to get the ball in the box to Dre more often. He's got to continue to be efficient down there when he doesn't have a shot. He's got to find a way to spray that ball out to shooters, but I thought he played well. He also made some silly decisions, some silly lackadaisical mistakes defensively that cost him and compelled me to have to take him out of the game. He's got to do it on both ends.”

(On if the play of El Ellis suggests that he needs to be the lead guard moving forward)

“He’s got to be a lead guard, that's for sure. I got some other good guards too that didn't play very well tonight, but El was fantastic and we're going to ride the hot hand. It doesn't mean that he's going to come out on Tuesday (against North Carolina) and play well again. It doesn't work that way. Just because you play well against Duke on Saturday, you're not guaranteed the right to play well on Tuesday. El has got to keep getting better. All these guys have to keep getting better. We need him to be aggressive, we need him to have another game where he has multiple assists and no turnovers. That's got to become the standard. We talked ad nauseam about the inconsistency. I don't know which guys I’m going to get on Tuesday just yet, but I need a greater effort on the glass. We have to win the effort game, and I'm going to trust those guys offensively because I believe in them. They have to believe in themselves and each other, but it starts on the defensive end, and then the toughness areas of the game and we have to do that every day, because the fact that he gets 18 points, that can come and go, but the toughness can’t.”

(On the shot quality the team was getting, especially late in the game)

“In general, I would have to look at it a little closer, and I will later on this evening, but I didn't think that the ball stuck as much. I thought the guys genuinely tried to move the ball and play for each other and we took pretty good shots. There were a few times we took some bad ones, but that's going to be the case every single game. That has to be the exception and not the norm.”

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski

(Opening Statement)

“Before talking about the game, let me just say thank you to the Louisville basketball program for honoring me before the game. They could not have honored me in higher manner then to have Denny here. get emotional, He's one of the true icons of the game and someone that I've admired my entire life when he worked for Coach Wooden and the amazing job he did here. Anyway, that was really special, I hugged him a few times. That was really a great thing, so, thank you. The Louisville program is one of the all-time best, the tradition of excellence and high play is, again, something I've watched for my entire life and obviously on our staff Nolan Smith, this is where he was born, this is how he was raised and his dad being one of the great players in history of the program. It was Nolan's scout, and he did an unbelievable job in preparation. We're all very emotional and proud of being able to win but I'm really happy for him, it was a really neat thing. As far as the game goes, it was what we expected, just a tight, tough game. They never get tired because of their ability to sub. I love (Dre) Davis and he had a heck of a game and Malik (Williams) is starting to really play athletically and the other guys are all really good and they can all go off and (El) Ellis obviously did. We were able to hang in there and keep it either tied or a two-point lead until Mark (Williams) came back in and Mark had been a tremendous influence on the game in keeping balls alive on offense and protecting the basket. Our half court execution was really good, and AJ (Griffin) was terrific. When it was 62-60, he hit a three and then he hit another three, if they don't hit threes, that puts you up for possessions and then we were able to get a stop and then we had two really good offensive executions which took some time, and we were able to stop them and got that margin. I know we won by nine points, but it was a one possession game really, and we're aware of that. We're very proud of our win.”

(On the great history of Louisville basketball)

“The program is bigger than any one individual, no matter what that individual has done for the program, and if you've done enough, if you've done a lot like Coach Crum, like Denny has, then he'll always be a part of it, he's never going to be bigger than it, just like me, I'm never going to be bigger than just basketball. You guys have one of the best programs in the history of college basketball, and an incredible fan base of loyalty. I've watched Louisville forever and I can't remember when it wasn't outstanding. That's what I would say, just move on. Let's give Mike (Pegues), give these kids the support. They fought like crazy today and they played winning basketball. There's a lot of games left and with this veteran team that they have, they have a chance to go on a roll.”

Guard El Ellis

Guard/Forward Dre Davis

(Photo of Mike Pegues: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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