University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs UConn
Feb 19, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes |
Joe Murphy Photo Gallery 
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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner |
Overall Thoughts...
"What a great win. I'm so proud of the guys. We happened to go on that scoring drought again. It wouldn't have been that close if we had made free throws late and if Austin knocked down some of those open shots late. He's a little rusty though. This was his first game back after being off for two weeks. He was a warrior. He played 38 minutes and I wouldn't want anyone else taking those shots. Usually he would make those, but we went on some of those droughts during that stretch. It was a great win. We gutted it out. I was so proud of our guys. What a great win. This was a great win for the Tigers. We did a great job guarding Boatright. I thought the zone worked well."
On playing zone...
"We were in the box-and-one for about two possessions and we were in man the first possession of the game. They scored on us both times so I got out of it and played zone the rest of the way. I said in pregame if we got 75 points, we would win the game. We only had three turnovers in the first half and six in the second half. We had 16 assists on 26 field goals. We executed late and we made threes. Kedren Johnson was outstanding. As good as he was against Cincinnati, he was tremendous today with 21 points and six assists and only one turnover. He hit big shots. We finally got off the schneid against UConn and Cincinnati. It was nice to get those two wins and get that off our back."
On fouling on the last possession...
"We discussed fouling, but I didn't feel comfortable on the free-throw line box out. As much as I didn't want to go to overtime because of the foul trouble, I knew if we did the home crowd would get us through it. We debated and talked about it, but I didn't feel comfortable with the free throw line box out. That was the only thing. The way they space the floor, they could hit a crazy three that could cost us the game. Things are going to work in our favor over time thanks to the law of averages. We lost one earlier at the buzzer. I'm proud of the guys. This was a great win. We continue to improve. We've made a lot of strides from the beginning of the year. We've come a long way."
On the recovery of Austin Nichols...
"You have to give a lot of credit to Austin's trainers. Brad Austin did a great job of getting him healthy and getting him back quickly. The Daniel Hamilton kid is going to be a heck of a player."
On rebounding...
"We're the number one rebounding team in the entire league, but we've been in man the entire year. If you're going to be in a zone, it takes more than two days in practice to master the box outs and the rebounding assignments. That takes weeks and weeks to work on the proper assignments. We have to keep working on that and spending time with that. Points off turnovers was a big key area as well. We only had nine turnovers and gave up 11 points off those. The crowd was great tonight. This was a great win for the Tigers.
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Junior Guard Kedren Johnson |
Are you excited about where this team is right now?
"Absolutely, we are having fun and we are not worrying about the things we cannot control. We are just playing to the best of our abilities and play with as much effort as we can."
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Sophomore Forward Austin Nichols |
You guys made a statement tonight.
"Definitely. I still think we are on the upward climb. We have been playing great ball, but we can play even better ball. We just really want to make a statement on Sunday and just get ready for conference."
What are your thoughts overall in the zone
"Well, in practice we started really going over it this past week in practice. I was actually really surprised at how well it was tonight honestly. (Ryan) Boatright is a great player, and Markel did a great job on him."
I know you said three days ago that you would play, but did you expect it to go the way it did tonight? You had a huge contribution tonight playing 38 minutes.
"I did not think I would start clicking again that fast. I had a talk with Coach Pastner a few days ago, and he said that he was starting me. I told him, `I'll be ready!' As far as the ankle goes, there is no tear or break. It was all a mental thing and I just had to get over the discomfort."
How does the ankle feel right now?
"It is sore, but I need to get some ice on it, get some treatments and I'll be ready to go on Sunday."
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Freshman Guard Markel Crawford |
On the game...
"All year we have been playing some good basketball, but this is our chance to keep moving forward and getting better."
You guys rotated between man and different zones.
"Basically kept the zone to keep (Ryan) Boatright from getting shots. Luckily he missed some."
It was one thing to keep Boatright from scoring but you also held him to six field goal attempts. What was the key for you specifically tonight?
"Just doing my roll, playing my defense and doing whatever I need to do to get my team to win."
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Sophomore Guard Avery Woodson |
Not only did you guys not let Boatright score, but he only took six shots, so that means that you guys were covering him up to the point that he could not even shoot.
"It's all about communication and knowing where he is on the floor. We did a really good job communicating."
There have been some games this year where you guys have fallen behind, but tonight you were able to build that lead early. Did it feel a little different; was it easier to relax knowing you had that cushion?
"No. There is no relaxation in this game whatsoever. It is a high emotion game; it's a high focus game. If you slip-up up one second that could be the difference between winning and losing. I just like the way we maintained our focus during the whole game."
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UConn Head Coach Kevin Ollie |
On starting the game off bad....
"We just didn't focus in. They had a couple of shots, and we didn't get back in transition. The guys hung in there though. Down 15 with 13 minutes to go, and we got it down to a one possession game. It was a bad start, but I think that they just stuck in there. We got it down to halftime and it was a three-possession game. I'm proud of my guys and how they fought."
On Ryan Boatright's performance...
"They were playing a box-and-one on him, so he's going to take bad shots the whole night. I didn't want to help them do that. They weren't focused on Daniel [Hamilton]. He had a tremendous game and Amida [Brimah] came in and played tremendously. They had three guys on Ryan [Boatright] most of the night, so you don't want him forcing shots. We had to get them out on the fast break and hopefully we can get them loose."
On defensive plan for second half...
"We just played to our assignments, but they still made some easy flex cuts that we went over. We wanted to switch, but it was a lack of communication. We gave up some easy three-point shots and some dunks. We have to do a better job. Second half was more our defense. Phil [Nolan] came in and played an absolutely wonderful job against [Austin] Nichols and made every catch for him difficult. That's what we need is guys stepping up when they are called upon to contribute."
On Daniel Hamilton's performance...
"He had a tremendous game, almost a triple-double. He rebounded well, had some turnovers but he got in that four hole and was aggressive shooting. He still had a great vision with seven assists. We need him to keep playing like that, and hopefully [Ryan] Boat[right] can come back and play his type of game. Amida [Brimah] played tremendous too, getting to the free-throw line and offensive rebounding and playing his game."
On Josh Pastner and the Tiger program...
"Josh is a wonderful coach, and they have great talent. They beat us tonight, and hopefully they continue to play well. We'll see them back when we get them to Storrs.
