By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LOUISVILLE — As previously noted, Rick Pitino hasn’t been available for his usual number of news conferences so far this season, primarily limiting then to his post-game remarks, and even skipping a few of those.
But the University of Louisville basketball coach has done occasional radio interviews, and in one of those Monday afternoon he made his first comments on the Cardinals’ looming showdown with Kentucky Saturday in Rupp Arena.
Before that game, No. 16/15 UofL (9-1) has a couple more blowouts to tend to in the Billy Minardi Classic, which is a misnomer if there ever was one. The so-called competition for UofL will start with Missouri Kansas City (7-4) Tuesday in the KFC Center (please don’t ask why anyone would stay out that late on a weekday to watch another ugly mismatch). Then Wednesday night in their final tuneup for UK, the Cards will play Utah Valley (5-6).
Meanwhile, No. 12/11 UK (9-2) has had the week off after last Saturday’s 74-67 upset loss to Ohio State. But Pitino, who is 1-7 vs. UK coach John Calipari in the rivalry, says the difference in rest and preparation time will make no difference one way or another.
“I can tell you, with rivalry games, they could have 10 days off and go beat our brains in or we could go every single day and then go beat them,” Pitino told 93.9 The Ville. “In a rivalry game, you throw everything out. It just doesn’t matter. People try to analyze the game — “well, this guy’s not playing” — everybody picks up their game in a rivalry. You see the best of everybody, and sometimes you see the worst of people that can’t play in a rivalry game.
“So we’ve gone in there and beat them when they were the No. 1 team in the country, and they’ve gone into our place and beat us. Look, you can’t analyze it, as some of their players haven’t played well in some of their other games because it’s not Louisville-Kentucky, it’s not Duke-North Carolina. Everybody brings their best for that night.”
Pitino’s point about rivalries may have been on target, but his history was slightly wrong. The Cards have never beaten the Cats when they were ranked No. 1. Pitino might have been referring to the 2003-04 season when UK was ranked No. 2, but lost to UofL in Rupp 65-56 on Dec. 27, 2003. Pitino’s only other win in Lexington was on Jan. 5, 2008, when the Cards prevailed 89-75 against an unranked Kentucky team.
“I think the most important thing for us as we head into the Kentucky game is to play the type of defense we’re going to play against Kentucky these next two nights,” Pitino says. “If you see close games and we’re struggling and everything else, then you’ll know our minds are elsewhere. So far, with this team, that has not been the case.”
Even though Pitino hasn’t had much success lately against UK — his only win during Coach Cal’s reign being an 80-77 squeaker by UofL’s 2013 national championship team on Dec. 29, 2012 — he insists he’s looking forward to Saturday’s encounter.
“You can’t run away from it,” Pitino says. “It’s Louisville-Kentucky. It’s a big game, it’s a great game. I don’t know how many times I’ll be in Rupp in my lifetime, so I enjoy it. I enjoy going to Michigan State, Rupp. . .I can’t wait to go into Duke and see these environments, because it’s the ultimate in competing.
“When you go into one of these great environments and come away with a great feeling, that’s the ultimate. You come in with a gladiator mentality, and you leave with a gladiator mentality.”
ADEL COMEBACK SET
Tuesday’s game against UMKC was expected to mark the return of 6-7 freshman forward Deng Adel, who has been sidelined for eight games with a knee sprain.
“He’s a little rusty, which he should be, but he played very well the last two days of practice,” Pitino said. “(Monday) I let him go a little longer, so he’ll see some time. With Adel, now if Damion Lee gets into foul trouble, we’ve got somebody who we can put in. We don’t have to play Donovan Mitchell at 6-2.”
STOCKMAN DUE MORE TIME
The game will also be UofL’s first without center/forward and vocal leader Mangok Mathiang, who is out for six-to-eight weeks with a broken foot. Pitino indicated that his immediate solution is to use seven-foot sophomore Matz Stockman as a sub for foul-prone starter Chinanu Onuaku.
“We don’t really have enough time to figure that one out right now, because we’ve got a busy week,” Pitino says. “So we’ve got to go with what we have, and what we have right now is we’re going to have to use Matz Stockman. Because Nanu has pretty much been getting into foul trouble in every game he’s played.
“Down the road we could possibly play (freshman) Ray Spalding at the 5 spot. He is a little small, as far as weight-wise, to play that spot, so he’ll have to use his quickness. We’re going to work on it, toy with certain things, but none of them are going to replace Mangok on the defensive end. His knowledge of what to do, what not to do, his physicality. He’s able to mix it up with very physical basketball players.”
Pitino is hopeful that 7-0 sophomore Anas Mahmoud will recover enough from his ankle sprain that he’ll be able to play against UK, but that is far from certain.
“Anas would solve a lot of problems, but he hasn’t come back yet,” Pitino says. “I thought he’d come back (Monday), but he didn’t. So that’s disappointing.”
HONORING FRIEND “IN RIGHT WAY”
The Minardi Classic is held in honor of Pitino’s brother-in-law and close friend who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Pitino acknowledged that this 14th Classic is clouded by the NCAA investigation into allegations of recruiting violations in the form of parties attended by strippers and prostitutes in Minardi Hall. His comments seemed to indicate that he thinks at least some of the allegations are true.
“We are going to honor Billy in the right fashion, unlike some of the things that went on,” Pitino said. “We are going to honor him the right way. We are very disturbed. What’s true or what many not be true is not important to me. The fact that one thing might have gone on is a disgrace in my book.”