Pitino thankful for all the help fans, media offer, no matter how 'insane' it may be

Richard Pitino was in a happy place Tuesday morning.

He had already posted on social media that while he gets football drives the bus financially in college, the slate of thrilling early season basketball tournament games played throughout the day Monday were “a great reminder that College Basketball is still and always will be amazing!”

And watching some of those games — in particular the three thrilling finishes in the Maui Invitational — wasn’t the only good basketball that put a smile on his face.

“I thought we did a lot of really good things (Sunday night) versus Texas Southern,” Pitino said during a media session with local reporters ahead of the Acrisure Classic tournament on Thursday and Friday in Palm Springs, California.

“I went back and watched — I would even argue maybe one of the more complete games, maybe more than UCLA all around. Obviously, UCLA was a huge win (for the Lobos on Nov. 8), but now you’ve got two amazing opportunities, obviously, with first one being Arizona State, and then the winner or loser of Saint Mary’s/USC. So you got two quality win opportunities right there. So we gotta go take the show on the road and we’re really, really excited about it.”

Then came the reporters’ questions.

And, as his Lobos are 5-1 and coming off back-to-back 20-plus-point wins, it was hardly a combative media session. But Pitino playfully fired back at a few of the regular coaching suggestions he has been getting from well-intentioned fans or inquisitive reporters.

“That suggestion has got to stop between the two of you, unless you want just an absolute disaster, offensively,” was how he started the answer to one question about a possible tweak to the Lobos’ playing rotation.

“I mean, it’s just so stupid, but there’s so many things that I deal with that are stupid on a daily basis that I just got to deal with it all,” was his answer to another question, closing his remark with a good-natured smile.

So, what were the two topics Pitino pushed back on?

Two bigs better than one?Pitino was asked whether 6-foot-10 starting center Nelly Junior Joseph and 6-10 backup center Atiki Ally Atiki might ever play on the court at the same time. It’s the same question he was asked last week when Pitino noted it would create problems with how the team runs its offense if either player was asked to play the “4” in an offense that needs the “4” to be an outside threat at times. (The reporter who asked the question Tuesday wasn’t at last week’s press conference).

After Pitino said the suggestion had to stop being made and that it would “an absolute disaster,” he confessed it wasn’t that bad of a question.

“Seriously, it’s not insane,” Pitino said. “I’ve thought about it.”

Junior Joseph, who didn’t shoot a single 3-pointer last season but has already let two fly this season (both misses), is committed to showing Pitino he can knock down the long ball — playfully talking trash to his coach every time he hits one in practice.

“He wants me to shoot it whenever I’m open,” Junior Joseph said. “... There’s one day (at practice) he asked me to shoot it and I didn’t shoot it. Then (later) I shot it and made it and looked at him and was like, ‘I told you.’”

Junior Joseph is all for playing with Atiki but admitted with his hearty laugh and big smile that the one time Pitino tried in a practice, “it was not looking good.”

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Pitino knows his team has missed some free throws this season.

Sixty of them, out of 159 attempts, for a dismal 62.3% free throw clip, which ranks 336th out of 364 Division I teams right now.

For a team that, by design, will be at the free throw line a lot this season, that is an unfortunate number.

Pitino and his staff know the numbers so when it’s casually suggested, no matter how well-intentioned, that maybe the coach should think about having his team practice free throws, Pitino often bites his tongue instead of responding.

“This is year 13 (as a head coach). There’s nothing to do besides make them shoot ‘em, practice them. ... I don’t have an answer,” Pitino said. “You can’t simulate playing in front of 11-12,000 people. You try to make it about their mechanics as best you can, but other than that ... We shoot them every day.”

Unfortunately for the Lobos, three players that will get fouled with regularity this season have never been 70% shooters from the line in college: Donovan Dent (career 68.0%, shooting 66.7% this season), Tru Washington (67.1% career, 64.7% this season) and Junior Joseph (61.0% career, 56.8% this season).

That’s a harsh turn from the past three seasons when Jaelen House (87.5% at UNM) and Jamal Mashburn Jr. (81.5% at UNM) often had the ball in their hands late in the game.

WITHOUT WALK-ONS: Dylan Chavez, the La Cueva graduate who is a walk-on for the Lobos, was not on the team’s bench Sunday.

“He’s suspended,” Pitino said without elaborating. “I don’t think it’s going to be a long, long thing. It’s nothing substantially serious, by any means, but we’ll revisit it after Palm Springs.”

UNM’s other two walk-ons, also local players in Shane Douma-Sanchez and Deraji Agbaosi, have both had shoulder surgery in the past three weeks and are both out for the season.