What Chris Mack, Malik Williams Said After 62-55 Loss vs. DePaul
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Thanks to poor shooting and a blazing hot night from DePaul's David Jones, Louisville was stunned by the Blue Devils 62-55, snapping a 10-game win streak in the series.
Here's what head coach Chris Mack and forward/center Malik Williams had to say following the loss:
Head Coach Chris Mack
(Opening statement)
"Give credit to DePaul, especially 32 (David Jones). He just took over the game. He wanted the game more. He came up with 50/50 balls that really hurt our cause. He was a one-man wrecking crew. We had no answer for him, whether it was his iso drives getting to the rim and finishing or whether it was the cherry on top at the end shooting threes. He made some big time plays coming up with loose balls and breaking our back. Our offense can't shoot three free throws in a game. We have to figure something out. Three free throws is ridiculous. We have to be able to play through contact and when we get bumped, we have to be able to hang on to the basketball and quit turning over the damn ball when a guy knocks into us. The easy thing to do is to say we aren't shooting well. We have to get the ball in the paint. Period. It is my job to figure it out."
(About the passing or pressuring the defense being a problem)
"There are a lot of issues. Issue number one is they went into a 2-3 matchup that they haven't shown all year. We didn't handle it very well but without watching the film, for us, we have to get ball in the paint. We have to finish around the basket and draw fouls and that will open other stuff up on the perimeter. Right now, we are too perimeter oriented.
(On Jae'Lyn Withers and Samuell Williamson struggling over the last couple of games)
"They're not playing a whole lot of minutes right now and they'll play more minutes when they play better. They're both talented players and we need more out of them and they're just as frustrated as we are for them. We go with the guys that we feel are effective and no one was very effective other than Malik (Williams) tonight."
(On when to use timeouts to slow down DePaul's runs)
"I used the timeout when I wanted to use a timeout. That's my philosophy."
(On DePaul's defense)
"We've played against zone. It quickly morphed into switching man-to-man, so we just continued to run our man stuff. We got some looks that we need to finish around the basket. We got our shots blocked, we have to be able to make decisions when a shot blocker gets in the air, whether that's drawing a foul or dumping off to his man, and we didn't make those decisions. Give DePaul a lot of credit, they played big around the basket. We didn't crack the lane nearly enough to put enough pressure to get to the free throw line."
(On getting the team to give full effort on both ends of the court)
"I think, on the offensive end, just hesitancy and just a lack of toughness with the basketball and decision-making of getting in the lane, again, to draw fouls and to collapse the defense and we're not doing that well enough. We held them to 36 percent from the field and 21 percent from the three-point line, give DePaul credit. Like I said, David Jones was the guy that got two or three offensive rebound put backs when I thought it was 50/50 ball and it was in his hands and it was in our hands, and we've got to come up with that one. We ran into a player that wanted it more. I thought David Jones was by far the best player on the court."
(What were you trying to do to get David Jones out of rhythm?)
"That's a good question. It didn't look like much. Again, most of the baskets that he got were downhill drives. He's got really good wiggle. He's a strong kid. We had, for the most part, our fives in the lane, so it's not like he was finishing one-on-one with our fives outside the lane, guarding the 3-point line. He was right there, in the thick of it. One time he did miss, they got a heck of an offensive rebound tip-in that hurt us. I think it put them up two. He's a really good player. He plays a little bit like some of our guys need to play in the lane, and that's through contact."
(On Matt Cross, Noah Locke and Jarrod West – how do you get their confidence up?)
"It starts with the ability to get the ball in the lane. I know I sound like a broken record, but that's when shots… you've got to take the open shots. We had several open ones that we missed and we're going to continue to tell them to shoot the ball, but it has to start with our ability to get the ball in the lane. That has to be recognized a little bit more both by our coaching staff and our players. We've got to get in there without getting it knocked out of our hands and without getting knocked over ourselves."
(Does getting the ball into the lane start more with the point guards? Are you happy with what Jarrod West gave you?)
"Yeah, Jarrod has been playing really well for us – didn't play well tonight on the offensive end. He did a great job on Freeman-Liberty who ends up getting eight points. I thought Jarrod dogged him all night, but Jarrod didn't play as well tonight. But he's been a guy that runs our show, gets in the lane, makes guys better. He'll have better nights."
(On what can be done in practice to encourage physicality in games)
"There is definitely stuff that I have to do because just talking about it isn't going to fix it. We have to be able to get on the floor and put guys in situations where they have to finish through contact, then hopefully it becomes a little bit easier, a little bit more instinctive when we get in the game. But right now, that is my fault."
(On walking the line of being able to be physical in practice)
"We just have to play legal. You can't hold, you can't grab, you can't shove guys down to the floor, but we are going to be a physical team. We need to be a physical team on the defensive end. We need to be physical on offense and be tough with the ball."
Forward/Center Malik Williams
(Photo of Malik Williams: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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