University of Memphis Athletics
Post Game Quotes
Mar 05, 2011 | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2011
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Head Coach Josh Pastner:
Head Coach Josh Pastner
What did you say to the team after the game?
Well, I don't want to get into too much detail because, obviously, some of that stays with the team. But, my thing was, and again, I'm not going to give you all of it, that the plane leaves Monday, and we're going out there (El Paso) to win three games. Obviously, we're going to take it one game at a time, but if you're not there to win, don't get on the plane. Obviously, I was a little more fiery with team and included some other things, but that's what it came down to.
Talk about the end of the game when Tulane's player hit the really deep triple?
Yeah, I don't know if anyone saw me, but I was jumping up and down on the sidelines. I was doing a circus act - screaming, jumping, flying. I thought I was the sixth player there for a second because I was screaming to get up because I knew he was going to shoot it. And, that was one of our things in our gameplan, to take the three out of the game. And, they hit a couple of threes right in our face with our hands up. We said it all during pregame, we said it all day yesterday: 'Take the three out of the game. The second they cross half court, they're in range. You have to have a hand up in their face. You have to give them credit, though. They hit 9-of-18 three point shots and came out like a house on fire going up 6-0. But, bottom line, we were able to get it done because we scored. We had 20 assists on 26 made field goals. That was terrific. We only had four turnovers in the first half; nine in the second half. The big thing was that we made free throws down the stretch and did a really good job of going inside to Tarik (Black).
Talk about your players' performance.
Tarik really stepped up, he played well. He came through for us big. You know, Will Barton had a great statline, too. He had 15 points, shot 50 percent from the field, including 6-of-9 from two's. But, he had 15 points, five boards, six assists, three blocks. He gave us good minutes, as did Chris Crawford, who hit a big three. Plus, (Crawford) had seven assists. Joe Jackson didn't get a lot of time in the first half. Second half, I put him in and he delivered. He sparked us and hit a big three. Defensively, Tulane actually had to switch their point guards because Joe (Jackson) was giving them so much trouble bringing the ball up. I was really proud of Joe; he came in and helped us win a game.
Tulane Head Coach Ed Conroy:
Unbelievable effort from your team, you have to be proud of them.
I love coaching these guys. They’re a great group and they represent (Tulane) in a great way and I feel for them right now. I thought down the stretch, even though we missed a couple of threes that kept it close, we got as good of a shot as we could have.
How big was that steal at the end of the game?
I thought we played great defense. We threw a press at them which had been really effective. We locked in and made them work for the possession, and they felt the pressure and turned it over. When we got it back, there were about 17 seconds left and Jordan (Callahan) found Johnny (Mayhane), unselfishly. Unfortunately, we had to use all our time-outs early and couldn’t get a set-up.
Did it look like Johnny (Mayhane) drew contact? He shot because he thought he did, it looked like.
It was tough from my angle, so it was hard to tell. I feel like he would’ve gotten it off, or if he went to the line for three, as hot as he had been and with his competitive nature, I had all the confidence in the world he would’ve knocked it down.
The most impressive thing today was you coming into a place where Memphis just doesn’t lose, your team not only took Memphis’ best, but had an answer.
I told them in the locker room that I was proud of them and that this isn’t the end; every time we take the floor, we’ve got a chance.
