University of Memphis Athletics
Postgame Quotes
Jan 08, 2011 | Men's Basketball
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#22/21 Memphis (12-3) 61, East Carolina (8-7) 58
January 8, 2011
FedExForum (Memphis, Tenn.)
Memphis Postgame Quotes
Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
Opening Remarks
We got the win, but to come off the way we played against Tennessee, I knew we would be tight. You have a monkey on your back, and it's just hard with all the negative talk and negative energy that has been around the team. I was trying to make sure that it didn't infiltrate our team at all. I cannot stand negativity, and I did the best that I can, and we did the best we could to not let the negativity take over this team. When you have all of that it is hard because of that monkey on your back. I'll be honest, the criticism that we have received, we earned that right to get that criticism because we didn't play well on Wednesday.
For us to come back and be up 12...they shot the ball, and they got some offensive rebounds. We didn't play very smooth, but we found a way to grind it out. When you're in conference play and coming off a tough game, you are little bit distracted, but we found a way to grind it out and win. It's a new season, and we are 1-0 in conference play.
Talk about the defense in today's game
The starting five didn't do a good job and I had to do a mass substitution. I had to do that twice today, and in the first half we did such a good job. They hit four of four of their shots to start the half, and then I think we held them to one or two field goals. They were making free throws, but we had several opportunities to put the game away.
I'm just telling Tiger Nation out there that you've got to understand that when you miss free throws like we miss free throws, when you miss layups like we miss layups and you give fast break opportunities like we give fast breaks by turning it over, it's just hard. That's a hard thing to overcome because that's just freebies we are giving the other team. We have to be better about that. Twenty turnovers is too many. We won the rebound battle, but they missed 30 shots and a little under 50 percent of the shots were rebounded for second chance. They had 14 offensive rebounds, and that can't happen.
Overall, I am proud of the guys and thought they gave good effort tonight. We played hard on the defensive end and grinded it out to get the "W". That's the whole thing, grinding it out and finding a way to get the "W".
East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening Remarks
We should have won this game. It is frustrating; we had some tough calls go against us. We had some balls in some areas, and we didn't finish. It was really frustrating for us. We had some big offensive rebounds, but offensively we struggled out of the gate. We missed a lot of shots, but our execution was much better. We didn't score a lot of points, but in the second half we really executed well.
I thought we battled hard; the kids battled hard defensively. I thought we were outstanding understanding our game plan and winning on transition baskets. We knew that if we could be back in transition and limit their fast break points, we would do well.
We were bigger than them. Sometimes we didn't react well to the ball, but we did a much better job in the second half. We kept them to 61 points. I don't think anyone they have played to date has held them to 61 points, so we thought we did a really good job.
We can do some things, but we have had a hard time executing some plays late in the game defensively. When it gets to the very end the most important percentage of the plays we haven't finished. We get it right where we want it, and we just can't finish the play consistently. That is something that we can work on and get better at.
About Memphis' youth
They are a very young team. I think they are a very talented team. But this is not the Memphis team they have had in the past, because they are so young.
About the performance of Darrius Morrow
He has been better. I still think that he can finish a little bit better, but a lot of that is just trying to get in better shape and elevate. He's not ever going to be a great elevator, but he got the ball in some positions tonight where he just couldn't quite finish. Overall, I thought he did a very nice job.
He played 33 minutes and scored 17 points. They play behind in the post, and we wanted to establish ourselves there. We got their post guys in foul problems and defended pretty well.
Darrius is a smart guy. Now if we can get his motor running on the same pace as his mind, we will have something there. It is just taking a little time, but he is getting there.
About the performance of your defense
I am proud of that group. We have really made an effort defensively, and you are seeing that pay off. We have played some defense against some good teams. The kids have bought in, and I think we have made improvements there. We are just right there.
There were five or six plays in this game that were not too intelligent. We know better, and it ends up costing us in these types of games. If we could just clean up half of those in games like this, that would make all of the difference in the world.
