Richard Pitino
- Nate Mason is day-to-day. He went through an individual workout yesterday but mostly just put up shots. He'll be evaluated again today. If you ask Nate, he thinks he's going to play. After the injury happened, he went out to eat with his family and he just kept on checking his phone because he was concerned for Nate.
- Dupree is doing well. Hopefully both can play. He just needed a break, the trainer looked at the schedule and thought a break would be good. The infection is always going to be there.
- Tells Isaiah Washington to stop shooting bad shots. He can really go by anybody, but sometimes just working the offense is a good thing. Shooting 13% from three is not a good thing. Thinks the last couple games have been better in terms of shot selection. A lot of his problem is that he can just go by people at will but he needs to tone it down a little bit. It takes time. He doesn't understand slowing down and working the clock a little bit but really thinks he'll get there. He loves the game and lives for basketball. Watched film with Isaiah Washington personally. He really likes Kyrie Irving so they'll watch Kyrie film and Pitino will point things out about how he controls the game.
- It's important the backcourt moves the ball well because they call can score it, so it's important they share. When Michael Hurt was in the lineup, the ball moved better.
- It's been hard for Dupree to find his rhythm because he was out for the summer ans has just struggled to get healthy.
- Harvard has four top 100 kids. Harvard is talented, well-coached, and play hard but they just haven't been able to make shots for whatever reason, even though they're a good shooting team. They're young. The key to scheduling games is to schedule teams who are going to win a lot of games and that's what he sees in Harvard, even though they're 4-6. Sees them as a top 100 or top 75 team. Harvard is a good team that can beat us. They played Kentucky tough at Kentucky.
- The last two games were good for us. Michael Hurt got valuable minutes, and it seems like Davonte Fitzgerald is developing more confidence. Bakary, Gas, and Jamir Harris have all gotten minutes. We've had good practices.
- I don't know if Fitzgerald is an x-factor but he's a wild card. We need him, and when he's healthy and confident, he can be a great rebounder, defender, and shot blocker. Thinks he'll give some really valuable minutes but he's sat out for two years and there's a confidence factor with his knee so it's taking some time.
- Having a quick break over Christmas helped set his mind free about his leg and talking with family gave him perspective.
- The leg started to hurt at the practice sometime around the Drake game. The training staff wanted to sit him to take precaution and then sat out the next two games because it kept hurting.
- Playing in the Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden will be fun. Some people try to show out when playing at home but that's not him and he just wants to make the right plays. First time playing at the Garden.
- From the bench you see things differently, and Eric Curry has said that too. Eric has said he sees why Coach yells and tries to get you going, so when he had to sit with injury he saw it as well.
- Told Isaiah Washington that he was in his shoes two years ago and that his shot wasn't falling. Showed him that in the middle of the season his freshman year is when he started to do better and that if you put in the work, the results will come. Pitino talked to him too.
- Different experience to step into a leadership role in the backcourt with Nate and Dupree out when Nate went down with the injury.
- Don't see too many teams that can play with us when we're 100%.
- The early schedule is kind of weird with when games are, so having a rhythm with Big Ten games will be nice.
