Memphis Basketball Quotes vs Houston

Dec 31, 2014 | Men's Basketball

Dec. 31, 2014

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  Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner

Opening Statement...
"Really proud of our guys. It was a good win. Houston is a good team. Coach Sampson has won over 500 games. That team can really shoot the ball. We were fortunate to get the win today. I'm really proud our guys. It's nice to ring in the New Year with a win. I thought Avery Woodson hit some big threes and couple of them went in and out on him as well too. Austin Nichols had another double-double and was really good defensively. D'Marnier Cunningham gave us some good minutes too coming off the bench. Pookie didn't play as well as he's been playing, but D'Marnier gave us some good minutes. I thought Calvin Godfrey gave us some really good minutes too and made some hard-nosed plays. Shaq started for us because Nick King suffered a sprained ankle in yesterday's practice. Shaq struggled early but then he got going on the glass and finished with nine rebounds and three blocks. I'm really proud of our guys."

On not allowing deficits to get the team down...
"They got up on us early, like 13-6 or 13-4. We couldn't score. The first shots we took were jump shots instead of attacking the paint. They were bad shots, which led to Houston getting transition baskets. It was just one of those things where our shot selection was poor, and it led to baskets by Houston on the other end. That's what it came down too. We stayed the course and were able to get back in the game. We had a two-point lead going into halftime. We started the second half well defensively and went on 18-1 run that helped us win the game."

On what you like about your team going into the second season (conference play)...
"We've been pretty good defensively, but we are doing a better job on the offensive end in recent games. We're scoring the ball and making shots. That's a big thing for us. We just have to keep it going and staying the course. I keep saying, `Our best defense is our offense'."

  Sophomore Guard Avery Woodson

On his shooting night...
"I have to give the credit to my teammates like Pookie Powell. They were able to find me in rhythm."

On Houston's use of ball screens...
"Houston is a good team. They run a lot of good stuff and have a lot of good players. We have to play them again, so we have to put this one behind us and be ready to play them again. But our focus right now is Tulane who we play at 5 o'clock on Saturday."

On the second-half offense surge...
"We were just moving the ball, sprinting on offense. We were penetrating with the ball and then finding the open man. Just simple basketball."

  Sophomore Forward Austin Nichols

On getting past the early deficit...
"After Houston got off to an 8-0 run and we called timeout, Coach (Josh Pastner) just put emphasis on the fact that basketball is a game of runs and for us to calm down. We needed to work to get back on defense. I think in the second half we did a much better job on defense."

Team's play on offense during the second half...
"We were just clicking. Avery (Woodson) was hot and we just got him the ball. Everything he threw up, he made. When we realize that one of our teammates is on fire like that, we just got to get him the ball and let him take care of it."

  Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson

Opening Statement...
"We didn't play very good in the second half. Simple as that. First half we were ready to play. We had a lot of passion and emotion and energy. When we play like that, we have a chance. When we don't play like that, we have no chance. That's not an opinion; that's a fact. We just didn't have enough juice.
Not every kid is tough enough to play either. Now, we have some guys that are tough enough to play. A lot of people get intoxicated with talent. Talent without toughness is nothing. We have some talented kids, but we have to get tougher. You go on the road and play in games like this; this team was a tough match up for us because of their size.
This is a big team. They are probably one of the biggest in the league. They are going to highlight areas that we are going to struggle in. We are going to struggle against teams when that ball is above the rim. When that ball is on the floor that has nothing to do with size. We've got to get tougher there.
I thought they beat us to some loose balls the second half that they shouldn't have. Then our turnovers, I felt like was a game that we could win. I still feel like this a team that we can beat. We had 16 turnovers, and I think 12 of them were live ball turnovers. Now the difference in live ball turnovers and dead ball turnovers is when it's a dead ball turnover, they have to take the ball in bounds, in bound it and then go attack us. Live ball turnovers they just pick it up and go score. They scored 19 points today off of turnovers that were all live ball turnovers. That was 19 points that we giftwrapped and gave to them.
Then fast break points and transition defense, this is something we're still fighting here. We are trying to get our guys to understand that when we shoot and miss, the conversion from offense to defense is what starts our defense. Half court defense is what starts with transition defense. We aren't doing a good job of identifying shooters, stopping the ball and getting all the way back. Now this team got it going a little bit today. If I would've had 10 more time outs, I would have called them all."
On trying to stop the Tigers momentum...
"Obviously they are a good team. They have done a good job over time putting this team together. Trust me, over time we are going to do the same thing with Houston. The team we have today though, I don't expect us to play perfect, but I do expect us to play smarter and don't make so many mistakes out on the floor. When the ball was in the paint, we had a lot of great looks. I think out of every time out and even in transition, we got the looks that we wanted. Devonta [Pollard] drives the ball. He got some shots blocked, but sometimes when you're playing against size, you may want to try a shot fake or penetrating and kick it out. We can still get better. We lost by 19 and we shot 18 percent in the second half, turnovers and the offensive rebounding points.

A lot of things that we can do better in, but I didn't see any body quit today. They all fought and we'll come back tomorrow and get ready for Tulsa."