Rick Pitino Talks To The Media Following UMKC Victory

A moderately agitated Rick Pitino spoke with the media following Louisville's 90-62 win over UMKC and discussed his frustrations with the Cardinal defense as well as the only player he thought gave an above average performance Wednesday night.

Despite Russ Smith's superb stat line and four other players scoring in double figures, Pitino said he was only pleased with the effort of Chane Behanan, who pitched in 11 points and 11 rebounds.

"I thought Chane was the only player on the team that played real well tonight," Pitino said. "Some guys played mediocre and some guys played ok, but I thought Chane really played well. Regardless of the opponent, I thought he was doing the right things offensively and defensively."

As for Smith, Pitino said it was the senior's own decision for him to come off the bench for the first time this season.

Pitino also noted on his postgame radio show with Bob Valvano that he was so upset with his team's first half performance that for the first time in his coaching career, he didn't go into the locker room at halftime.

Eric Crawford caught the conversation: