Memphis Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes vs Temple

Feb 07, 2015 | Men's Basketball

Feb. 7, 2015

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  Joe Murphy Photo Gallery  |  USATSI Gallery 

  Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner

Overall Thoughts...
"This was a really great basketball game. The guys played great. They competed and fought. You have to give Temple credit. Josh Brown hit a shot. We had the lead. You can't practice that scenario. You practice transition defense and that stuff that was just in the flow of the game. He hit his only shot of the game off the backboard. That's what happens. I knew once it left his hands it looked good.

I'm so proud of our young men though. They did a great job. We held them to 31 percent from the field and 21 percent from three. The biggest thing was we missed some free-throws. We shot 67 percent from the free throw line. 15 turnovers is just too many. The biggest thing is they hit the last shot. That's the law of averages. We hit one a couple of games ago against Tulane and then they missed the final one. That's just the way this year has gone with us. I'm really proud of our guys.

Austin Nichols has a sprained ankle. He's going to get an MRI on Monday. He'll probably be out for the next two weeks and miss the next four games. As long as it's just sprained and no major damage he'll be back shortly."

On Austin Nichols...
"There's no question if he's in the game, we win the game. That's the flow of the game. That happens. Our guys were able to regroup and we had the lead with seven seconds left. They hit a shot at the buzzer to win. There's no question if Austin is in the game that we win. Guys know Austin is our best player and when he goes down with six minutes to go in the game, that's a punch in the gut to this team. They love Austin. We have great guys on our team. It was a punch in the gut when he went down. It didn't look good either. Unfortunately, we couldn't pull out the win there. I was glad the guys were able to rally. It's not easy to rally when your anchor is not there. I'm proud of the guys. This was just a good basketball game. I have peace about everything. We executed our final play. They just hit a shot at the buzzer. That's just the way the season has gone for us. The law of averages will work itself out. We play Tuesday night against East Carolina. We have to make sure we don't let this linger."

On Shaq Goodwin's 23 rebound performance...
"He's really critical for us. He was a monster for us on the glass. He probably could've had 30 considering he had 17 in the first and only six in the second. I would've liked for him to have 30. He hit big free throws for us. I'm just very proud of Shaq Goodwin. When you're starting guards go 1-for-11 from three-point range, that doesn't help. We have some good shooters, they just didn't fall for us today. They had a couple plays where we couldn't get the job done. Foul trouble hurt us in the first half. We had to go deeper to the bench.

We'll bounce back and keep a great attitude. It was a great basketball game. Our guys played really well. You have to give Temple credit because they hit the last shot.

The crowd was excellent. We appreciate the lift that Tiger Nation gave us. They put us in a position to win the game. We have to find a way to win on Tuesday.

  Shaq Goodwin, Forward, Jr., Atlanta, Ga.

On the final seconds of the game...
"I know this game is a game of runs. We went on our run first and then they went on theirs. But it came down to the last couple of possessions. We were able to make a big shot but they were able to make the shot at the end."

Loss of Austin Nichols...
"When you see one of our best players, like Austin, go down the fans are always going to have that type of reaction. But they just made the last big play. That's what it came down to. You have to live with that.

Thoughts after the loss...
"We know we can't dwell on losses. We just have to look forward to our next game on Tuesday at East Carolina. We will start preparing for them tomorrow."

On his rebounding game...
"I guess the ball just found me. It was a magnet today ... but none of that matters in a loss. We just have to get ready for East Carolina on Tuesday."

  Kedren Johnson, Guard, Jr., Lewisburg, Tenn.

On going forward following Austin Nichols' injury...
"It is a question we will have to wait and see what the answer is. I know we have guys in the locker room who are not going to give up. We are just going to keep fighting and continuing to battle"

When asked about the difference in the second half, even before Nichols' injury...
"I felt that even at the end of the first half we let the foot off the peddle a little bit and kind of gave them some hope going in at halftime. They took advantage of it."

On Temple's final shot...
"(Will) Cummings did a good job of not panicking. As soon as I made the shot he got out as quick as he could, got it up the floor and found the open man. Once again, it's just a terrible way to lose."

On his shot to give Memphis a 60-59 lead with less than 10 seconds to play...
"I came off the ball screen and the big didn't stay long enough. I had an open lane to the basket and I took it.

  Markel Crawford, Guard, Fr., Memphis, Tenn.

On the loss of Austin Nichols today...
"Seeing him go down really took a lot of energy out of us. That's one of our best players.

On the game-winning shot...
"That is just conference play. People are going to make big shots. They are going to make the shots they are supposed to make. He just made a big shot.

On the second half...
"The second half, we came out with no energy. We came out lackadaisical. We had some stupid foul. We didn't keep our foot on the pedal and let them get back into the game.

  Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy

That was a good one to bring away...
"Yeah, we're thrilled to have gotten the victory. My only concern now as I look back on it is (Austin) Nichols' ankle. I hope he's okay. That guy's a really good basketball player. He's really a skilled guy, and he plays with a great deal of class. I hate to see him go down. For us, anytime you can go on the road and get a win we're excited."

Adjustments in the second half...
"I think we tightened up our defense to an extent. We gave up one big three to I think (Markel) Crawford in the corner away from their bench that went from one to four, but I thought for the most part we defended their perimeter guys better. I thought we battled a little bit more than we had in the first half. (Daniel) Dingle really helped us. He had a big stick back of a rebound in the second half. (Jaylen) Bond came free a little bit. He got his third foul relatively early in the second half, but the last eight minutes or so, I can't remember when I put him back in, he did a really good job in there."

The game-winning shot...
"I saw the clock and I wasn't going to call timeout because then that gives them a chance to set up their defense. I just trusted in (Will) Cummings that he was going to find somebody, and he found obviously Josh Brown. It was a big time shot by Josh, his only field goal of the game. He's worked really hard. That kid has worked as hard as anybody we have. I was thrilled for his success tonight."