3 takeaways from Pitino's Pitt preview

Louisville coach Rick Pitino spoke to the media on Tuesday for about 17 minutes, previewing U of L's Wednesday night game against Pitt and looking back at Saturday's loss at Virginia.

Before you get to my three takeaways from the press conference, check out this update from Pitino's radio show, in which he says Louisville and Indiana are working on a three-game series.

Now, for some quick hits ...

Pitt's improvements. Pitino said twice on Monday -- during the ACC coaches teleconference and again on his radio show -- that Pitt has improved a lot since Louisville beat 'em two weeks ago. He reiterated that on Tuesday. But how has Pitt improved? Statistically, the Panthers' offense has found a rhythm, shooting 50 percent in its last two big wins over Notre Dame and Syracuse. In scouting Pitt, Pitino said the Panthers added some wrinkles to their offense and are knocking down open jumpers.

Related:3 story lines ahead of U of L-Pitt

"Their forwards are playing really well," Pitino said, referring to Pitt bigs Jamel Artis and Michael Young. "They're not as tall as (Pitt's bigs) in the past, but they're equally as dangerous ... (Pitt) is executing their offense better."

Vomiting. Yes, vomiting. Twice in the past week, key Louisville players admitted to vomiting during their games. Montrezl Harrell did it at Miami. Then Chris Jones did it at VIrginia. What gives? Pitino said a stomach virus has been traveling around the team, which has had a few players feeling a bit under the weather.

And after Louisville made just four shots in the first half at Virginia, "I threw up, too, at halftime," Pitino joked.

Mathiang and the bench. A rather telling moment came up Tuesday when Pitino was asked if he was still confident that someone beyond Chris Jones, Terry Rozier, Wayne Blackshear and Montrezl Harrell would emerge as a scoring option for Louisville. He had a quick answer: "I'm not." He said the six freshmen on the team have bright futures, but they won't contribute much this year by way of scoring.

He also added to his comments on Monday about Mangok Mathiang, a player suffering through what Pitino calls "a sophomore jinx." Mathiang, Pitino said, thought he finished so well as a freshman that he didn't need to keep working hard to improve, and because of that, he hasn't made enough progress. "He thought he'd made it," Pitino said.