Pittsburgh coach Kevin Stallings shouts 'at least we don't pay our guys $100K' during Louisville game

Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Pittsburgh coach Kevin Stallings had his mind on the Louisville basketball scandal, shouting out a dis during the Panthers' game against the Cardinals.

The Panthers coach yelled "at least we don't pay our guys $100,000" while standing near the bench during the 77-51 loss Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. WHAS 11 Louisville caught the sequence on video.

He was asked about the slight in his postgame news conference.

"Yeah, somebody said something bad about my players, and so I'm just going to stick up for my players," Stallings told reporters.

"Probably said the wrong thing, but I'm not going to let people talk crap about my players. We're down, the game's over with, you don't need to insult kids that are out there trying to fight hard and do their best. Like I said, I probably should have chosen some different words, but I'm not going to let people take shots at our players."

Louisville fired coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich in October, following a wide-ranging FBI probe into corruption and bribery in college basketball. Federal documents allege that Adidas funneled $100,000 to the family of an unnamed player to sign with Louisville at the request of a coach.

Louisville coach David Padgett said he didn't hear the comments.

"First road game we played at, Purdue's student section wore t-shirts that said FBI, so it's nothing that we're going to be surprised by," Padgett told reporters. "We played at Purdue and we played at Kentucky, two of the toughest environments in the country. It doesn't matter what team you are or where you go, you're going to get heckled on the road. Now obviously, I'm sure some schools will have a little bit more ammunition, but we just have to ignore that. Our players at Purdue didn't let it bother them so it's not anything that we're going to even talk about or pay attention to."

"I didn't hear it. I honestly didn't know until you said it happened so, we're just concerned about going 1-0. The rest of it I'm not going to get into, it doesn't matter."

Pittsburgh faces Virginia Tech at noon Saturday at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va. The Panthers and Cardinals have a rematch at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh.