Latest News

2009 NCAA Sweet 16 Post Game Transcript: Arizona (March 27, 2009)

Friday, March 27, 2009 , Posted by Christopher Byrne at 10:15 PM, under , , ,

Athens, GA (Mar 27, 2009) - In Sweet Sixteen action from the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball tournament on Friday, Arizona was brought back to reality by Louisville, losing 103-64. This is the transcript of the University of Arizona post-game press conference as provided by the NCAA and ASAP Sports.

BILL BENNER: We're joined by coach Rick Pennell and Arizona student
athletes. We'll open with a statement from coach, then take questions
for the student athletes.

COACH PENNELL: First of all, I'd like to start off and just
congratulate Louisville on an incredible game. They shot the ball
extremely well. Shared the ball extremely well. 29 assists is a great
indicator of how well they moved the basketball.

Unfortunately for us, we just had no answer. You know, I thought we
got some good looks at the basket that didn't go in, then we just
weren't quick enough on our rotations on the defensive end. Game got
away from us.

But, you know, I think there's a reason that Louisville is seeded
No. 1 in this tournament, and I think they showed that tonight.

BILL BENNER: Questions for the student athletes? No questions for
the student athletes, we'll dismiss you back to the locker room and
continue with questions for coach.

Q. If Louisville continues to play that way, continues to shoot that
way, is anybody going to beat 'em?

COACH PENNELL: It's going to be pretty tough to beat 'em if they do
that. They had a little bit of everything going tonight. Their guards
shot it pretty well. Their forwards were on the glass. Clark shot it
well. And really one of the things that we were concerned about was
handling their press. I thought for the most part we did a pretty good
job of that. But offensively they were just really precise tonight.
When they play like that, they're gonna be really difficult to beat,
which obviously I think that's their 31st victory. They've only been
solved five times.

I think it's a pretty good indication of how good they are.

Q. If somebody is going to solve them, what are the keys, what type
of team will give them a hard time as they continue to advance?

COACH PENNELL: I think it has to be someone that has the quickness
to really put pressure on them against their full court press and go
score easy baskets. Yet Louisville kind of preys upon people who try
to do that.

You know, we saw in film in the Big East tournament good teams like
Syracuse, Villanova, some of those teams, would eventually get wore
down. But I think it's going to take some really good guard play, and
then a very underrated part of their game is their offensive
rebounding. They assault the glass. And it's gonna take a team that's
got enough size and enough depth up front that they can keep
Louisville from getting easy second chance points once they do miss a
shot.

Q. Uncertain future for you.

COACH PENNELL: It's pretty certain (laughter).

Q. But as far as looking ahead, are you going to go back and let 'em
know that you would like to continue on in this job? Do you think a
loss like tonight is going to hurt?

COACH PENNELL: Well, you know, I think our season just finished
about 30 minutes ago and I really haven't thought much past my, you
know, postgame talk to the players. This has been an incredible year.
And the guys did exactly what I asked them to do: to put all their own
agendas on hold for 2008/2009. And I did the same thing. What we need
to do is enjoy the season for a day or two and then we'll all move
forward and see where that takes us.

But right now, the last thing I'm thinking about is, you know, any
job than the one I just finished.

BILL BENNER: Thank you, coach.


FastScripts by ASAP Sports...

Currently have 0 comments:

Leave a Reply

Post a Comment