University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Basketball Postgame Quotes
Dec 18, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2004
Memphis Head Coach John Calipari
"What I liked about tonight was that when we got down, we showed some fight. We fought and found something against a team that's going to be fine. But, we also figured out that we don't know how to finish a game. Because when you're up 12 or 13 points, it's time to make it a 20-point game, but we didn't. We made some bad decisions down the stretch. That's all stuff we can work on. That fire and emotion -- there's nothing I can do with that. We had it today, especially in the second half when we needed to make a couple of stops."
"I knew that a team like Austin Peay that plays hard, is well coached, and is not going to beat themselves, is exactly what we needed to make us fight. We've got to play a whole game with great intensity and we also have to learn to finish these games. After the game I said `I loved your fire but you've got to learn to finish the game.'"
"We made some great strides this week. Now, Louisiana Tech is the next step up. They've got a player on their team that pro scouts are coming to watch, so we better be ready."
Austin Peay Head Coach Dave Loos
"We played at a good level tonight, not technically well, but from an effort standpoint. We played hard, and we have continued to do that throughout this rough start. We stepped up another level tonight against a really athletic team, so I appreciate that. We still aren't playing well enough. We are still struggling to score. We just have to keep working on it, and if that is going to be the case, we have to rely on our defense."
"I thought our defense was good, and I thought we managed to get some good looks on offense. We made some critical errors in the second half, especially when we didn't get some rebounds on free throws, and that hurt us. There were a few occasions where we just didn't block out, and then there were a few times where (Rodney) Carney just went up over the top of us and got the rebound, and that hurt us."
