Pitino demands defense, players respond or else

The only sure conclusion from Louisville’s 55-54 win over West Virginia is that Bobby Huggins and Rick Pitino will get every ounce of energy out of the players at their disposal, shorthanded or not.

They expect their personnel to ignore adversity, to deny it exists. They use adversity as a motivating factor. Disappoint them and your life as a player will be miserable.

Pitino told his players at intermission that they were going to play defense in the second half. This wasn’t a suggestion or a motivational technique. A demand bordering on a threat, coming from a man who has an innate ability to scare the crap out of people.

The daggers in those eyes, the low pitch in his voice, the silence between sentences. Pitino is not a kidder when a game is on the line. Disappoint him and you will pay.

This reality explains the night and day difference between the way U of L played defense in the final 20 minutes. Why Peyton Siva suddenly resembled Andre McGee shadowing his man on defense. Why West Virginia’s Joe Mazzula, with a career high of 18 point in the first half, didn’t come close to scoring in the second.

UofL’s defense was so intense, in fact, that West Virginia would go over 14 minutes without scoring a field goal. The Mountaineers would manage only four field goals and 17 points in the second half.

Practice on Thursday may actually be bearable, at least in Louisville. Morgantown, not so nice.

And here’s that game winner: