University of Memphis Athletics
Postgame Quotes
Dec 23, 2010 | Men's Basketball
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#10/9 Georgetown (11-1) 86, #16/17 Memphis (9-2) 69
December 23, 2010
FedExForum (Memphis, Tenn.)
Memphis Postgame Quotes
Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
Opening Remarks
In the second half, even the whole game, we shot ourselves in the foot missing so many short shots and a couple of layups. We would come down the floor and bounce the ball off our foot or miss a layup or two, and then they would come down and score instead of us making a swing and a run. When you're open and have an open opportunity you have to convert. That is our biggest thing. We have to convert on the fast break, and if somebody is open on the fast break, we have to throw it ahead. We have to make plays to finish the short shots.
Georgetown is a very good team, and we knew that coming in. They have veteran guys, and they can flat out play. It just shows you that they shot the heck out of it today. You're not going to beat a team that shoots 57 percent from the field. We went zone and got hurt, so went back to man and we tried to force more difficult shots and better defensive matchups, but they just shot the daylights out of it. It's just one of those games they deserved to win tonight. They were the better team tonight, and there was no doubt about that.
Our crowd support was fantastic as always. I apologize to Tiger Nation for not getting a "W" and not making Christmas, but we will get back to work for our next game a week from today. I assume that next week after the top 25 comes out, we will still be ranked as I told our team. There will be no finger pointing, and we have to stay together with the long season ahead and a lot of games to be played.
The most important thing is now we have to really start getting better. We made some strides against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, but we just have to get all the guys playing on the same page. Everyone we need to play well or score for us need to be good on the same night. That would be really good for us. So far, we have had a guy or two be good and another guy or two not as good. We just have to get better and we will continue to work at it.
Talk about your decision to start Wesley Witherspoon tonight.
He had practiced really well the last two days and said he wanted to go, and Tarik (Black) was still having flu like symptoms and said he didn't want to start tonight and come off the bench. (Tarik) had to get IV fluids at halftime, and I could have probably given him some time early in the second half, but I was told he was unable to play. A little way into the second half, he said he was ready, so he played. It was hard having Tarik out just because of the flu, so we went with Wesley, and it wasn't one of his better games. He will get the rust off and be just fine.
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III
About halftime adjustments
It wasn't a huge tactical change. You just come into halftime and challenge them (the players). We have to do what we do better, than what they do. I think our guys did a good job of doing that in the second half.
About the atmosphere
We are sitting here, and now the real games start. Hopefully this schedule, the venues that we play in, will help us in the end because it is going to be like that every night on the road. We started off two of our first three games on the road. Hopefully this game, the Temple game, the Missouri game and the Old Dominion game will prepare us, not only because of the opponent, but also the venues. They (the venues) have been extremely difficult and the opposing team's fans have been extremely supportive of their teams. So we are used to it.
How much of an advantage is it to have experience on your team?
Well, last time we came here it wasn't pretty. They (Memphis) have a very good team, a very talented team. They are as talented as any team that we have gone against. Does our experience being seniors help? Absolutely.
Why is your team consistently able to get good shots?
You are trying to jinx us going into conference play. We give you these answers, and you hear them, but you don't hear them. I say that because we have some really great offensive players in the locker room. We have a group of extremely unselfish players that have done a very good job of getting each other open and getting each other quality shots. If we do that, we are going to get good shots, and when we do that, those shots are going to go in. These guys believe in what we are doing, how we are doing it and believing in each other. We are going to hopefully, knock on wood, continue to get good shots.
