Chris's Commentary

With Louisville & Marquette on tap for Sunday, we decided to talk with Preston Knowles. Knowles, as you remember was famous for his heroics on a cold night in 2011 against Marquette. If for some strange reason, you need a refresher, you’ll find that below. Anyway, Knowles addressed a variety of topics; here is what he had to say:

Q: What do you remember most about that Louisville/Marquette game in 2011?

A: “Two things I remember most about that game was before the game, I didn’t feel good or I think my thigh was hurting, I can’t really remember. I was going through the motions during walk through and basically was undecided if I would play or not. Coach P saw how I was playing and he stopped us, and said ‘Preston, Are you going to fucking play or not son? If not sit your ass down somewhere!’ [Laughter] So I decided to play. Second thing was, we were down by a lot and we was sitting in the huddle, I think down by 15 points with 6 or 7 minutes to go, and Coach P said, ‘You might not believe it, but we can still win this game! I know them and they will fold!’ After that we all believed and came out with the victory”

Q. How did it feel just to play so well in the final minutes and lead your team to victory the way you did?

A. “I honestly don’t know what it felt like because my main objective was to bring us back, and win the game. That was all that was playing in my head, WIN THE GAME! On the last possession, when we took the ball out, I looked at our bench and said ‘If I touch this ball it’s ball game!’ But I didn’t score, I passed to Kyle Kuric, but I was right.”

Q. Do you think the Louisville/Marquette rivalry should continue when UL moves to ACC?

A. “I mean…I never really considered Marquette a rivalry game, because we always beat them. But I remember Coach P and [Tom] Crean- when he coached- had respectful battles with each other. But for some reason when we played them, it was always some type of bizarre ending; me bringing us back and Jerry Smith hitting a last second shot and I think there was one other. But I don’t see a problem with them continuing games with each other.”

Q. What do you think about this current team?

A. “I like this current team. They have a very good chance of going all the way this year, and bringing a championship back to Louisville. They need to keep working hard, stay healthy; play together and they will be fine. Yes, they lost three in a row, but something like that always happens to us along the road. But I’m fully confident they will be fully ready come March.”

Q. What is Preston Knowles up to these days?

A. “I’m playing professionally in Greece. I was top 10 in Greece in scoring and steals, but I dropped out because of my last two games…They play me tough over here! Hopefully I will have a chance to play [in the] NBA summer league this year. I didn’t have a chance [before] because of my injury two years ago and last year I wasn’t 100% healthy. I’m enjoying myself for the most part over here but I really miss my Kids!”

Nobody will EVER forget this…