LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville men’s basketball program has finally snapped their six-game losing streak, taking down Florida State 101-92 for their first 100-point outing since 2018.
Here’s what head coach Kenny Payne, guard Ty-Laur Johnson, forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and guard/forward Mike James had to say following the win:
(Opening statement)
“First of all, I thought Florida State was one of the teams, one of the two or three teams in our conference, that refuses to allow you to run plays. What they do is they play past the lanes and deny everything and force you to play out of your comfort zone. I thought when Ty-Laur (Johnson) went into the game, it totally changed the dynamic of the game. He put them on their heels. He got us in the lane and created offense for us. This is evidenced by what someone told me earlier, that he is the first player ever to get 27 (points), 11 (assists), and six rebounds. That says a lot about his talent and who he is and what he is capable of being. He makes all of our lives easier if he is that type of player. We need more of that from him, both on and off the court. He is capable and a dynamic little player. Also, what Tre White did today, even though the numbers don’t say it, the way he got those seven rebounds and how he defended down the stretch of the game – we are not winning that game if he didn’t come down with those big rebounds. Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield) had another very good game but he still has more that he can give us. But he played well. Mike James drew 19 fouls and went to the free throw line 19 times. When we play like that, we are going to put teams on their heels. We have to continue to do that. By no means am I satisfied because there were mistakes made at the end of the game where we were – I don’t want to say rushed or panicked – but we weren’t composed. We worked on the press for two or three days in order to be composed. We will learn from it and try to get better.”
“First of all, I thought Florida State was one of the teams, one of the two or three teams in our conference, that refuses to allow you to run plays. What they do is they play past the lanes and deny everything and force you to play out of your comfort zone. I thought when Ty-Laur (Johnson) went into the game, it totally changed the dynamic of the game. He put them on their heels. He got us in the lane and created offense for us. This is evidenced by what someone told me earlier, that he is the first player ever to get 27 (points), 11 (assists), and six rebounds. That says a lot about his talent and who he is and what he is capable of being. He makes all of our lives easier if he is that type of player. We need more of that from him, both on and off the court. He is capable and a dynamic little player. Also, what Tre White did today, even though the numbers don’t say it, the way he got those seven rebounds and how he defended down the stretch of the game – we are not winning that game if he didn’t come down with those big rebounds. Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield) had another very good game but he still has more that he can give us. But he played well. Mike James drew 19 fouls and went to the free throw line 19 times. When we play like that, we are going to put teams on their heels. We have to continue to do that. By no means am I satisfied because there were mistakes made at the end of the game where we were – I don’t want to say rushed or panicked – but we weren’t composed. We worked on the press for two or three days in order to be composed. We will learn from it and try to get better.”
(About Ty-Laur Johnson not starting)
“It was my decision, simple as that. I liked the way we played the last game down the stretch. We were big and strong when we had Tre (White), and Mike (James), and Curtis (Williams) in there and they played well so we tried it again.”
(About Ty-Laur Johnson not starting and that motivating him to have the game that he did)
“If we could figure out that young mind, we would all be geniuses. So, I would hope that it would inspire him, but whatever it did, 27 (points), 11 (assists), and six (rebounds) speaks volumes. But not just his numbers, but in his impact of the game.”
(About the difference in the Virginia game a week ago and tonight’s game)
“I would tell you that young people, you can’t predict when they are going to do what they are going to do. You just have to keep grinding and pushing. No matter how bad it gets, you can never give up, you have to keep fighting. Because the second you give up, they feel it. Regardless of what anybody else says, and I say this every game, I believe we are going to win. I believe in my team. But we have to get experience, we have to continue to learn and get better. That is the reason you don’t give up on guys. We beat a very good team tonight.”
(On the contributions of Curtis Williams and Mike James)
“I thought Mike James played hard. I thought that he was a force to deal with, he drew fouls, he drove the ball hard to the basket. His jump shot wasn’t going, he shot one, with the floor spaced and I said, ‘Mike, why are you doing that? We just made three in a row driving it. You’re going to have your success by driving that ball, putting pressure on the rim, putting pressure on the lane, making their team collapse, and if they’re not there, finish the play.’ I thought Curtis was very good. He’s got to get better handling the pressure of the press, but overall, the shots that he made, the defense that he played – he’s a winning basketball player and he has to grow from this game.”
(On the defensive effort)
“The first thing I will say is that they shot 51 percent for the game, but we forced 18 turnovers – that may have been the difference in the game. When I look at it, I want us to get stops. I would rather them shoot 35 percent as opposed to 51, but we also were in gaps and we did some good things defensively that forced them into turnovers. Eighteen turnovers, that’s usually what teams are doing to us, and we were the aggressors today and we were in gaps, we were helping each other and we created steals and turnovers.”
(Ty-Laur Johnson is not the biggest guy in the world, but he’s not afraid to go and attack the big guys, where does that come from?)
“I think when you look at Ty-Laur’s history, you figure out that he’s not afraid. He’s one of those guys that believes he can attack anybody, no matter how big, how small. There are times in practice when I say, ‘How tall are you?’ [He’ll say]‘I’m six-feet.’ ‘No, your 4-3, so at 4-3 you go in there and challenge people and they’re blocking your shot or you can’t get a pass, you have to make sure you get the spots on the floor.’ And he comes back and says, ‘Coach, I’ll show you.’ And he’ll block Brandon [Huntley-Hatfield’s] shot, he’ll go up and try to dunk on somebody. He’s one of those kids that is fearless, but he wants to show you that he can handle anything you throw at him, or any height – it does not matter to him.”
(About fighting back at the end of the game, how did you get the team to slow down?)
“I talked about, do you really want to win – ‘do you really want to win, guys?’ in the huddle with six or seven minutes to go, then you’ll play with more poise, you won’t look erratic. You’ll be more under control than what we are doing. We get a fast break, we just scored three times in a row, we got three stops in a row. Let’s take our time and get a good shot. Let’s not play too fast. Let’s not make mental mistakes. If you want to win, you give them one shot, we get the rebound, we go down, we control the game.’ That’s how we tried to finish the game. Sometimes it was good, other times we were a little erratic, but overall, we won the game. It says volumes for what they’ve been though and how we accomplished this game against a very good team.”
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