University of Memphis Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
Feb 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Memphis Coach Josh Pastner
Memphis vs. UCF
February 10, 2010
First impressions?
"We're glad we got the win. We had to grind that one out. UCF shot the daylights out of it (53 percent from field, 46 percent from 3-point range), and you have to give them a lot of credit. When a team shoots like that, it's usually a recipe for an L. The reason we won the game was strictly free throw shooting. We shot 79 percent from the free throw line. In close situations tonight during key times, if we hadn't made our free throws, we would not have won. We hit some key free throws tonight."
On crowd?
"The crowd was awesome. To have 16,000-plus on mid-week game is awesome. As always, we had great support."
On Doneal Mack and Roburt Sallie having big nights?
"I had to discipline them for a very minor situation and didn't start them, but they stayed positive the whole way, came in, and played great for us tonight. They both won us the game. Our two guns, Wesley and Elliot, didn't score as much tonight, so Doneal and Roburt really picked up some of that slack tonight. Doneal's four-point play late was the turning point of the game. D.J. Stephens also gave us some key minutes, and Drew Barham hit a big three for us early on."
On team getting over some recent off-court distractions?
"We're trying to build a program here. Like I said when I got the job, `We're going to have to take a step back to take two steps forward.' There is no question about that. We want to take the momentum going from the past four years, and also the time under Coach (Larry) Finch, Coach (Dana) Kirk, and Coach (Gene) Bartow. None of those coaches came in and assumed they'd win as soon as they stepped on the floor, and with me it's the same thing. It's not going to happen over night. The bottom line is, tonight the guys played hard. They gutted it out, and defended down the stretch.
Guys know if you do your job, you'll play. If you don't, there's a consequence. Again, I don't use profanity so I'm not a screamer. I like to call it a grinder. We have good guys on this squad. Part of being a head coach is dealing with multiple personalities and egos. Heck, some people say I have multiple personalities and egos."
UCF Head Coach Kirk Speraw
Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement
"It was a good college basketball game. Memphis is a good basketball team. People can say what they want about Memphis not being what they were in the past, but they are a good basketball team. They are hard to guard and have great quickness. They have a lot of people that are shooting the ball exceptionally well and they should have beaten Gonzaga on Saturday."
"Our kids fought hard and competed hard. I am really proud of them for the poise they should in the second half. I don't like the way we came out in the second half, but we got down and held our ground. We got some stops and got some tough buckets on the other end. (Memphis) was really up on us during that stretch, playing outstanding defense early in the second half. It was good for our guys to withstand that and battle back to eventually take the lead. That is a very encouraging sign. I am disappointed that we couldn't make plays in the last two or three minutes of the game. I thought we had good looks, open jumpers, and we executed the offense well. It is hard to get good looks against their defense. We had good looks, but just couldn't get the ball in the bucket. When the game is on the line, if you can't score down the stretch you are in trouble and that's what happened tonight."
Doneal Mack hit a three and get fouled. Talk about that play and the momentum change.
"That was the difference in the game. Give (Doneal Mack) credit for making the shot. That shot is what got them over the hump and settled them down and gave them the lead and a comfort zone. That bucket sucked a lot of life out of us and it's just one of those things."
You were able to cut the lead down to two and had a chance to score with the ball in Keith Clanton's hands. Talk about that sequence.
"Keith had a layup if he takes cares of the basketball and either gets fouled or is strong enough to finish and score the layup, but we couldn't get it down. There will be a day when he is tough enough to make that play and you can count on him to make the play. He is just not ready to do that right now."
