University of Memphis Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
Jan 03, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2010
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Coach Josh Pastner Quotes
Memphis vs. Houston Baptist
On points off of turnovers?
After we were up 10-4, I was a tad bit disappointed with our guys for about 10 minutes of play were we were just lackluster. Maybe that's a hangover for the loss.
I told our guys at halftime, we cannot have any hangover. We've got to make sure that we step up in the second half and challenge ourselves in the first five minutes because we've got to have some momentum heading into Syracuse.
On rebounds?
They were up 19-18 on rebounds. Here's what I told the team. Bottom line is that every rebound they have more than us we're running deep sixes tomorrow. I said, "Will Coleman if you don't have six defensive rebounds by the end of the game you're running. Period." He got five, but he did have three blocks, and played an inspired second half.
On goals?
We wanted to hold them under 40 percent. They shot 33 percent. We wanted to hold them under 30 percent from three. They shot 27 percent. We wanted to win the rebound battle, which we did. We had 21 assists on 34 made field goals, which was good. I think this is the second time this year where we had double-digit blocked shots. We have to keep getting better.
On whether zone recent teams have played will help against Syracuse?
We just need to focus on doing our jobs. Syracuse's best offense is when they get in transition. They run. I mean they really run. All five guys. They don't run a lot of set plays or anything that's too complicated. The second thing is they're offensive rebounding. A better version of Tennessee is what it is. Their best offense is going to be in transition and in offensive rebounding. Against the zone, we're just going to have to make sure we make the right passes, the extra pass, get good looks, and knock it down when we're open. The biggest thing is that we have to do our jobs on the defensive end. That's the bottom line to it all. It's a really important game to make sure we have momentum going into the most important game, which is the start of our conference play against Southern Miss on Saturday. We need to make sure we correct some things that need correcting as we enter conference play.
Houston Baptist Head Coach Ron Cattrell
Postgame Quotes
Talk about the way Memphis increased their ball pressure midway through the first half.
"Well, we knew that was going to be the issue throughout the whole game when they decided to turn on the pressure defensively and get after us with their length and athleticism. I thought we did a pretty good job the first 10 minutes or so of playing with them and executing, but as soon as they started coming after us with traps and overplaying passing lanes, Memphis takes it to another level that we are not capable of getting to right now. I am happy with our effort and the way we played the whole game. I thought some of our guys really played aggressive and hard, but you are up against a pretty tough nut to crack there with the athleticism that Memphis has."
You had several players have good games on the inside, particularly, Mario Flaherty. Talk about the way the key players played tonight.
"I am really proud of the way Mario (Flaherty) played. This is a game that a year ago he probably would have gotten frustrated at some point in time and checked it in, but he didn't do that tonight. He kept playing and plugging, and I think that is going to pay off in the long run in the conference play. I think he is going to be able to fight his way through those situations in the conference games. I thought Fred (Hinnenkamp) played really well when we kept him out of foul trouble. I thought Damian (Lewis) played well down the stretch with all his rebounds. I thought Miles played really well in the first half, but we just have to put it all together."
You were able to keep the game tight the first 10 minutes. What contributed to that?
"I thought our screen and rolls were really good. They did a good job on the sidelines. Anytime we got the ball on the sidelines, they really jumped us so we told our guys to set the screens at the top of the key and take away the extra defender on the sideline. I thought our guys did a good job of that and read what to do with the ball to finish some plays."
Your team had 26 turnovers in the contest. The turnovers didn't seem to be lazy turnovers. What do you think was the factor in the turnovers?
"They are so long and athletic and so quick. They react and have the instinct of how to play defense and how to anticipate on what to do. Their team very much reminds me of our old Arkansas teams and how we pressed and trapped and that kind of thing."
