Rick Pitino: “We Didn’t Press To Steal, We Pressed To Fatigue SU”
After a blowout on Sunday, head coach of the Cardinals, Rick Pitino said that he pressed the Orange to fatigue them. What could this mean for the future?
When you’re in school, you’re taught not to say certain words. In Syracuse schools that is the F word. No no, not that one, “F-A-T-I-G-U-E”.
In case you didn’t know, I’m apart of the Bud and the Manchild show on ESPN Radio in Syracuse under my nickname “Boy Green”. Something Syracuse.com columnist Bud Poliquin hates is the term fatigue.
He has lamented that there is so many stops in play in the game of basketball that it’s a physical impossibility to be fatigued. While he makes some good points there are some facts that he simply can’t deny.
Andrew White III has played north of 40 minutes in five straight games. While averaging on the
More from Inside the Loud House
- Syracuse Football: Cuse boils Purdue, turns attention to Army on Saturday
- Syracuse football only team in country with top-5 scoring offense, defense
- Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Elijah Moore not in top 100, and I don’t get that
- Syracuse basketball 4-star west-coast recruit, in new rankings, into top 20
- Syracuse basketball is hitting D.C. market hard in pursuit of 4-stars, 5-stars
season nearly 37 minutes a game according to ESPN Stats and Information.
The last three games have all occurred within seven days of each other. While SU’s other star, Tyler Lydon, is in the same boat. Five straight games of 40 minutes plus while averaging nearly 36 minutes a game.
After the game we heard quotes from both sides of the fence speaking to the fatigue factor. Louisville did something they didn’t do in the first matchup, they pressed. But they didn’t press for the usual reason of creating turnovers, they did it for a different reason according to head coach of the Louisville Cardinals Rick Pitino.
"“What we wanted to do tonight was press them, but not to steal. We wanted to just press to fatigue, because we realize that some of their guys play a lot of minutes. So that’s all we were trying to do. A lot of times if you can just get them to speed-dribble, it takes a lot out of you.”"
While SU went with the traditional sense of going to the press to create some turnovers. Can you blame the Orange? It has worked effectively during three to four minute stretches exactly when they’ve needed it during critical junctures of the season. Head coach Jim Boeheim spoke about the press and attempting a comeback in his post-game presser.
"“We were fortunate to have some success with the press, but they’re a very good basketball team, they adjusted. People have asked me why don’t we press more and this is why. We got the lead down to 11, but ultimately we missed a few shots that we couldn’t miss in that situation.”"
As a Syracuse fan I’m tired just watching this team, I can only imagine how they feel. This team has made a propensity of starting out slow and are always trying to dig themselves out of a hole. To their credit, more times than not they’ve been successful with their comeback attempts.
Next: The Key For Amba Etta-Tawo Is The 40 Yard Dash Says One Scout
In our last piece, Syracuse Basketball: Have Teams Figured Out Andrew White?, we talked about what Pitino said after the game on Andrew White. This is another one to chew on, with the success the Cardinals had, will other teams try to press the Orange and push the pace and fatigue them?