1-on-1 Q&A with U of L coach Rick Pitino

Louisville coach Rick Pitino held a 10-minute Q&A with The Courier-Journal on Friday to discuss his team's 70-60 loss to North Carolina in the ACC tournament and what's next for the Cardinals.

Here's what he had to say:

Rick Pitino: We had a three hour and 15 minute practice (on Friday) ... We lost the game for two reasons, and it's an age-old problem: We ran our offense to perfection in the first half. We had great ball movement and took good shots. But when the game got close and we had an important possession in the second half, we stopped doing that. We were 2 for 12 on challenged shots, and eight of them came in the second half in situations when we needed to score.

The second reason is (freshman center Chinanu Onuaku) in two games has not blocked a shot or gotten an offensive rebound and a putback ...

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In order for us to make a run in the NCAA (tournament), we have to stop taking challenged shots when the game is on the line. If you're not a great shooting team, you can't take challenged shots. (Sophomore guard Terry Rozier and freshman Quentin Snider) were the major culprits in that game. And the second thing is -- Chinanu is the only person capable of blocking shots and getting offensive putbacks and scoring, and he's not doing it.

(Freshman Matz Stockman) is physically ready but not mentally ready to play. He doesn't remember all the plays because of the language issue. (Freshman Anas Mahmoud) is not strong enough to play major minutes.

So I had a long talk with Chinanu, and I told him, 'If you don't block shots and get offensive rebounds and putbacks, then we're playing 4 on 5.' He agreed with me. Effort-wise, he's playing about 60 percent of the game. When you're 6-10, 250 pounds and you're not a scorer, if you don't block shots and get offensive rebounds, then what good are you? So I said, 'If you don't step up and do this, then we're going to get knocked out. The onus is on you. I don't need you to score -- I need to get scoring off offensive rebounds, and I need you to block shots.'

Q: Is there a specific stat line that you want to see from him?

Pitino: He had the opportunity to block 10 shots (against North Carolina) and didn't go after one. (On offense) we want him to go after 80 percent of missed shots. He went to the offensive glass 40 percent in that game.

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He's got to be the guy. If he does his job effort-wise, then we can make a run. If he doesn't, we'll have a quick exit. And Terry and (Snider) have to stop taking challenged shots.

Q: Has Mangok Mathiang made progress? Can he help?

Pitino: Mangok helps big time, but he's a bench player. He's got to finish the game for us. If he starts the whole game, he's going to be in foul trouble.

Q: You said you were considering a change at center. Have you thought about going small?

Pitino: Well, we've done that before with Kyle Kuric. The only thing when you go small is it's probably (freshman forward Jaylen Johnson) and Montrezl (Harrell). If you go small -- you know, (freshman wing Shaqquan Aaron) and (sophomore guard Anton Gill) aren't playing very well. I've gone long enough with Anton, trying my best to be patient ... I've gotten to the point that I'll go with David Levitch.

Look, everything's thrown out the window. This is NCAA time. (Onuaku) has to step up.

Q&A continues after video

Q: (He mentioned at the start of the call that Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell were given the practice off.) Did Wayne Blackshear practice today?

Pitino: Wayne practiced but only because he had two days off last week because of a toe issue that made him miss practice.

Look, I place absolutely no blame on Quentin Snider because he's been thrown into a situation that nobody deserves to be thrown into. It's not Q's fault. He was coming in to be a backup point guard and learn.

We've been practicing great. We've been playing great. We had a bad half (against North Carolina). We took one challenged shot after another. When we go cold, it's not because we aren't good shooters. To take challenged shots is shooting yourself in the foot. We've been practicing great, but we reverted.

If I'm looking for a blessing -- I'm devastated that we lost because I wanted to win that tournament -- but we need practice, and we can get more practices now.

Q: Do they help more than games?

Pitino: Well, games are one thing, but the problem with games is all the guys who don't play are out of shape. We have six guys who don't play. Practice allows everyone to work. We're not gonna get a great seed, but so what?

Q: Where do you think you'll be seeded?

Pitino: Well, Joe Lunardi says today we're going to be a 4 seed. I'm gonna go by what he says. I'm not all that familiar with that stuff.

Q: You have your party with Friends of the Ville on Sunday night for the Selection Show. What's that entail?

Pitino: We'll have that get together, find out who we are playing and all that, and then we'll practice right after that.