Transcripts: Pitino, Jones talk UNC, Va Tech

Louisville coach Rick Pitino and his point guard Chris Jones spoke at length on Monday about their loss to UNC, Tuesday's game against Virginia and much, much more.

Here's the full transcript, starting with Pitino and finishing with Jones:

Pitino's opening statement: Virginia Tech has been playing much better of late. They were down early to Syracuse but they came back and did a great job. They shoot the three well. They can beat you off the bounce. They're very good in transition. We've got to be alert defensively because they'll play sometimes five guards and they can create a lot of bad situations for you defensively if you're not ready for that.

On Tech's similarities to Marquette: They're playing the same style.

On defensive rebounding issues: I think in that game it was concerning. I don't think our fours and fives did a very good job of rebounding. I don't think the three spot, especially Shaqquan did a very good job of rebounding in limited minutes.

If you break down the game and you watch the tape, I would say that was the number one reason we lost that game. We didn't do a good job of pursuing the ball. We've showed our guys so many … so many clips of Kenneth Faried, the way he rebounds. A defensive rebounder is someone that bends his knees and blocks out and pursues the basketball, either above the rim or away, chasing it down.

Montrezl the entire game stood up with no knee bend at all. He's got to get back to bending his knees from a post-up situation as well as a defensive situation rebounding. Because he wants to rebound. He just had locked legs the entire time and just stood there and did not pursue the basketball, as well as our five men didn't pursue the basketball.

Transcript continues after video:

On rebounding in zone vs. man-to-man: Not really. He just has to bend his knees. Fundamentally, he just has to do it. He didn't do it in this game. He just stood there erect in a straight position. The ball came off. It's his rebound. He's to go get it. It's just a fundamental thing that he's capable of doing if bends his knees. When he bends his knees, he's a terrific rebounder at both ends and defensive player. When he doesn't bend his knees, he's not. And in that game, he did not bend his knees.

On rebounding concerns: I'm really not. Montrezl can make the correction because he's very bright. Wayne, we told Wayne basically to get back. We didn't press that game because we felt they'd hurt us in transition. We sent our one, two and three back. And it worked. We kept them out of the break.

On Harrell's struggles: I think when he bends his knees he rebounds well, plays good defense, plays good offense. When he stands around … you'll watch him (got up and demonstrated)

A post player bend his knees. You can't jump when you're this way. You've got to bend your knees. It's like running a 40-yard dash, standing erect, rather than coming out of the starting blocks.

All great defensive players, all great athletes, play with their knees bent. In this game, he did not. We showed him. He knows it. He'll make the correction because he's very smart. It's just that one bad game where he stood up all the time.

On getting the most out of players: It's building a culture. It really is building a culture. And I would say, look, 95 percent of the coaches get what they want out of their players. The ones that don't, you just have a bunch of guys that just don't have a good work ethic and it's tough to get out of them because of bad habits that they've formed. It's generally the coaches who take over a new program. Guys with old habits. They're used to losing. That's why they make coaching changes. They have bad habits.

On Onuaku's play vs. UNC: I was until I watched the tape. He stood around too much, he didn't pursue. He's been better in that game than he was the prior three or four games But he stood around too much. He didn't pursue the basketball, like Montrezl. The last play of the game, Terry didn't know there was a screen. Terry should have known there was a screen because they're running the same play the whole game. Terry gets clipped. He needed to get off his feet. Terry needed to play the play better. Terry got clipped too much the entire game. But he should have got out there and trapped the guy, moved his feet, made a better attempt to block the shot.

On Harrell's long minutes: I can't do it – unless he's in foul trouble. There's too much of dropoff. We lose too much, especially in a North Carolina game on the road. One of Montrezl's biggest weaknesses is that he's getting no competition in practice so he creates bad habits. It's very easy for him to score almost every time down the floor. Our guys don't make it difficult on him to score. That's one of the reasons. Then he plays against good length he has a difficult time scoring.

On if anyone can push Harrell: I haven't seen it. Anas and Jaylen are the two guys that play him in practice. Now Mangok. Now Mangok if I play him at the four, he'll give him competition.

On Rozier's jumper: He gets great lift on his 2-point shot. He doesn't get the lift on his three-point shot. We tell him all the time. The shot that ... somebody said … Every time you lose a basketball game, people will ask questions, 'Is that the shot you wanted?' If I could diagram a shot to get that wide open for Wayne Blackshear, I would be a genius.

He takes close to 800 similar type shots in individual instruction every week. Every player does. 800 of those shots. He's going to make 60 percent. That was 40. We had a follow up look that almost went in.

Someone said, 'We'd rather have Terry shoot the ball.' Yeah, but you know for a fact that they're going make it difficult to inbound the ball and you know they're going to trap Terry. So Terry is going to end up passing to someone. And I can guarantee you that the pass he's going to make after the trap is not going to be as good a shot as Wayne Blackshear got.

He's your captain. He's one of your shooters. And he's going to make 60 percent of open shots. It's just that was one of the 40 percent, unfortunately for us, but we did get a put back.

More on Rozier's pull-up jumper: He's developed it. He's really good at it. He gets great lift on it. We're trying to get the same lift for every shot he takes. But he's very, very good at it. He's playing good basketball right now. He's having a great year. And so is Chris Jones. Both of those guys are having great years.

On midrange jump shooting: I don't think you see many players with that type of shot. But Terry has it.

On Chris Jones's recent success: I think the bench has a way of forcing you to listen. I think without question … if you're a true competitor. But you have to give him a lot of credit because he's responded in a great way. He's making his teammates better. In the Wake Forest game he got everybody the ball. Then when Terry went out and Montrezl was starting to get played well, he had to take over the game scoring. So he took what was there and he gave the team what was there. That's what a good point guard does.

Both of those guys played great in the North Carolina game. Now Terry didn't play great defense. He was great on the offensive end.

On Anton Gill not playing: I think if you look at his statistics and what he does in practice, I think you'd rather have Terry and Chris in the game. I think if you have to substitute because of foul trouble, you can't be afraid to sub.

But right now, judging from practice and judging from the stats, I'd rather have Chris and Terry on the floor 36 minutes, than substitute.

On film watching after games: Yes. I watch it right after the game regardless of whether we win or lose. I rewind it then I make my notes. I rewind it and make my notes and put down what we want to show the team.

On if he takes more notes after wins or losses: Not really. This team has a lot of things that they can get better at. I think the clips that we show we have a good a bad series of clips. We don't want to show (whole game). It takes too long and their attention span won't allow them to watch a complete game. So we show them good and bad. And the bads have been much more prevalent this year than the last three years. Primarily because you have a young team.

On if he tells his team when they do well: We show them that this is what makes us go offensively. This is how the play should work. This is how the defense should be played. This is how the press is played.

On responding to tough losses: I think this is a team the veterans give you great work ethic every day.

On the state of his team: This is a team, the veterans give you great work ethic every day, the young players don't know how to work. They have to learn how to work. There are certain freshmen, Quentin Snider is very willing to work, he just really struggles at the defensive end, but he's willing to give you 100 percent. The other freshmen just don't know how to give you 100 percent. They've never done it before, so this is new to them, and you've got to bring them along, bring them along until. . .there's a lot of players like that. Gorgui didn't know how to give 100 percent, and then his sophomore, junior years he was very easy.

I would hope everybody would give 100 percent in games, especially when you're playing on TV. They just don't know how to work hard. The way they worked in high school, they thought they were working hard. Now when you get up to the level of Louisville, Villanova, Georgetown, they don't know how to work hard. I'm sure every coach probably could pull that string and say the same things.

This is a very unusual group because they're weak physically, they're weak emotionally and they're weak basketball-wise. So it's a different type of group. Like Nanu isn't weak physically, but he doesn't have a very strong work ethic. If he had Mango's motor and desire, that kid would be one of the best freshmen in the country, but it just takes awhile to build that.

More on Chris Jones: Chris is the type of guy who always has his hands in the cookie jar. and if you allow his hands to go in the cookie jar, he'll take all the cookies. He'll do the wrong things is what I'm saying. So you have to make sure Chris does all the right things. He is a great guy and a lot of fun to coach because he'll bring it every single practice, but if you allow him to have bad habits, he'll have a lot of bad habits. If you don't allow it, he won't.

He plays hard all the time. He gives you great defense all the time, he's a wonderful guy, he has a strong desire to win. It's just that in the past he's been allowed to get away with certain things. It's like, most young people are sitting on a fence. With discipline, education, fundamentals, they'll do great things in life. If you don't give them good discipline, good fundamentals, good teaching, they'll do the wrong things in life.

It's very similar. He's had a background where he's been allowed to do the wrong things. For instance, get thrown out of a Final Four game for having an emotional outburst. Get technical fouls constantly. You can't allow a player to do that, and he's turned into a very dependable basketball player right now because he's not been allowed to act like that. And that's good for the University of Louisville basketball team.

On Dick Vitale's Stuart Scott tribue: I thought that was a classy thing to do. I heard about it afterwards and I thought that was good. Look, he's been my cheerleader, the university's cheerleader, Coach K's cheerleader and Coach Cal's cheerleader. He's everybody's cheerleader; he's one of the biggest cheerleaders in college basketball. I thought that was a classy, classy ting to do. I'm glad he did it for Stuart. I hope everybody remembers Stu, like Jimmy V he was a very courageous figure in the fight for cancer three times. Anything we can do, any way to honor a man who's given a lot and was very courageous in the fight. He wasn't putting Louisville down, he was praising the fact Stuart Scott loved North Carolina. I'm very proud of Dick for doing that.

On Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech is Marquette in the beginning early stages of Buzz Williams. Actually, our fans are very familiar with Virginia Tech and they have great love for Marquette. They shoot the ball very well. He's doing what Indiana's doing this year in the Big Ten. He has some size, but he realizes if he's going to win the game he's going to have to do it with what he calls paint touches -- driving in the lane -- and dishing, getting to the foul line, or shooting the three. He's putting his team in the best situation to win games, and he almost pulled it out with Syracuse. He had a shot at the buzzer to win the game.

On the ACC: I think it's just like the Big East. It's the Big East southern style. That's what it reminds me of. There's enough Big East teams. . .I watched the N.C. State-Duke game yesterday and you saw a great N.C. State team that brought it and they were very physical. It's a league like that.

Now, I'll tell you something right now, I'm as impressed, what I've seen so far offensively and defensively, Virginia is one of the premier teams in college basketball. They are a great defensive team because they. . .you know, basketball is played in triangles -- not Phil Jackson's triangle. Which is great by the way. But it's a strong side and a weak side. Virginia's the only team that plays five vs. two guys all the time. Because he's a great coach. His players have bought into that system. They screen great on offense, they shoot great, they do a lot of fundamental things. He has a great system. His father (Dick) was every bit as great as he is, and I'm sure his mom's great also.

On the ACC vs. the Big East: Yeah, I do, because you witnessed N.C. State yesterday. On any given night Miami can beat anybody in college basketball. Syracuse, and Jim's press conferences are hysterical, you'd think he lost by 50 points. He really has the best press conferences in all of college basketball and sometimes doesn't mean to be funny, but he's hysterical. He's 3-0 now in the conference and you know his teams will get a lot better.

Duke's as good as anybody in basketball, Virginia's as good as anybody in basketball. We're very competitive. I'm sure I'm leaving some teams out at the top. Carolina can beat anybody in college basketball. And then you've got a lot of guys like Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh. Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami, all those teams can beat anybody because the coaches do a great job. At times, they may not have enough offense to get them over the hump, but their defensive scheme is so good.

If I had to compare the two, they've probably got stronger homecourt advantages in the ACC. In the Big East, sometimes you play in professional arenas, like Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. John's plays in the Garden. Although I haven't been to Duke or Clemson, they're smaller places that are very student body oriented. But I think they're very similar conferences.

On what makes Hall of Fame coaches: I think what puts you in the Hall of Fame is consistent excellence over a long period of time and obviously, a resume of having good tournament appearances. So there are a lot of guys that you know going in, because of having that longevity of excellence in what they do, and they've recruited the top players to their programs. Are they different? Yes, they are in styles in many respects, but their excellence is always there.

On how long he wants to coach: I don't, I really don't. I wouldn't trade coaching professional basketball for a thousand wins, I really wouldn't. Not that that's not a great milestone for Mike; it certainly is. But I wouldn't trade because I'm a big professional basketball guy. I always had a strong desire to be a pro coach and I experienced it and I'm glad I did. Growing up that was one of my goals, to be a head coach at the professional level and I got there and I enjoyed it. I learned an awful lot.

I don't even think about it too much, and obviously you're anxious for me to retire. Give me a list of three to replace me and I'll give it to Tom.

CHRIS JONES

On his recent hot streak: Coach P came out and said I always used to fight with him and not listen to him. But he said I listen 70 percent of the time. I still say it's 90 percent right now. He'll probably agree with him. I just listen to him and start watching more film, ask more questions ... When you're struggling, it makes you look bad and you start to hurt your team. I just listen to him more and start asking more questions to make me a better player, and that's what I've been doing.

On how his game's changed since he got to U of L: It's changed a lot. I've gone from an all-scoring guard to finding teammates first. Whatever comes after that comes. I just let the game come to me and I've been just shining, I guess. That's what coach calls it: Just shining.

On his mindset: In junior college, I knew what I could get away with. I could do whatever I wanted to do, with or without the ball, on and off the court, too. That was the biggest change to me. It wasn't basketball. It just those things on and off the court that I used to get away with in junior college that I can't get away with here.

On what happens if he listens 100 percent of the time: A scary basketball player. As you can see, I'm getting closer and closer. By the tournament -- I know by the tournament -- I'll be listening 100 percent. I am now.

On Pitino's cookie jar comment: I don't even know what that means.

On if Pitino always has to keep eye on Jones: He says he does, but off the court, he doesn't. I don't really do anything. I just go here and go to my dorm. Coach P, he's always got something up his sleeve.

Do you have a sweet tooth? Yeah, I do. I got a sweet tooth. Obviously he cut me off of it last year. Don't tell him, but I've been sneaking it.

On playing well despite loss at UNC: Coach really cares about his players. He doesn't even have us watch film on the game. He doesn't want us to feel bad about ourselves. That just shows a coach that is a player's coach who loves his team. We're going to get fired up about that game because we were up 13 points. It's just something to live and learn from. Hopefully when they come here, we'll pull the game out this time.

On his lowest point this year: I used to just go out and try to force things, score first. As a point guard, you can't think that way. As a player, you can't think that way. I can do different things to help this team win and just fit in. I'm all in. Whatever coach wants me to do or whatever the team needs me to do, I'm just doing it ... It got to a point that I was shooting the ball so bad that I wasn't shooting it, and they got mad that I wasn't shooting it.​