Memphis vs. Gonzaga Quotes

Jan 26, 2008 | Men's Basketball

Jan. 26, 2008

Memphis Basketball Post-Game Quotes
January 26, 2008
Game 19

Gonzaga (15-5) - 73
#1/1 Memphis (19-0) - 81

Memphis Head Coach John Calipari We need every game to learn from. What we found out today is you're playing a Sweet 16/Elite Eight team. If that's neutral, we probably could have lost how we played down the stretch because it would have been closer. Derrick (Rose) has not been in that situation, so he thought it was and one time. He didn't know that one steal and a dunk and all of a sudden the game changes. We miss some free throws and all of a sudden this thing is not 11-10, it's three. But he's learning.

The second thing I'll tell you is any time you make mistakes and you break down versus good teams and you break down defensively, they finish it with a basket. We played Tulsa; they did not finish it with the basket. I showed this team 11 wide open threes that Tulsa shot and missed. They were somewhat covered on four of them. The other seven we weren't near them. They just missed them. This team if they were open, which a good team does, they're making them. And so every time we break down, we were up 16 we break down twice and all of a sudden it's a three and a three. How about the shot that (Steven) Gray makes. We break down. We hit a screen and stop with a second on the shot clock and they make a three, and that's what good team's do. So we needed this.

What a great environment. Again, when I say it takes a village to do this what we're doing, it's not me it's us. It's everybody in this community. Our students were here at 6:30 in the morning in that cold. You had our fans in this building at 10:30. They were there when we needed our fans to help us make a run; they were there. It was packed; not an empty seat. It's nice that it's Gonzaga that we are playing, but they were there to see us. And we play again in another week, and they'll be there to see us; the 18,000 to see the game. If you don't have a season ticket, you can go to Stub Hub. They're selling for like $300 or $400 a ticket right now.

I'm proud of the guys. Joey Dorsey was unbelievable. Shawn Taggart came in when Robert Dozier was shaky in the first half. Chris Douglas-Roberts did what he does. You see my freshman is still learning. He did some things, turned it over and missed some shots, but at the end of the day when he had to make the play, he made it. Antonio Anderson, we put him on (Jeremy) Pargo. They wanted to play Derrick on Pargo, and I said why do you do that? Let our best defender play the player that can hurt us the most and leave him on him. Antonio did everything he had to make that a hard game for Pargo.

Mark Few Gonzaga Head Coach The two runs that Memphis had really hurt us. By and large I thought we battled pretty good. We took care of the ball and shot a good enough percentage to win. We didn't quite secure enough rebounds and get enough stops down the stretch. Memphis is terrific, really terrific, and they are worthy of No. 1. They got the pieces. They're shooting it good. What is so impressive is that Cal has done a great job. They're sharing it and playing hard. The environment here is really impressive too.

I thought we made a couple bonehead decisions towards the end of the first half. It was where we wanted the ball and what we were trying to do. Jeremy(Pargo) played great all night, but took an ill advised three. You almost have to be perfect in here (Memphis). It's a little too hard to try and expect the fellows to pull off.

Memphis has a chance to be real special. They seem to get along great. They share it; they make the extra and the extra pass to each other. Everybody is doing a good job when they're pulling the rope, doing their roles. Joey(Dorsey) is in there just battling his tail off to stay alive inside, rebounding and making plays. Sometimes it doesn't even show up in the stat sheet. He's such a force in there. I think Chris Douglas-Roberts is a player of the year candidate. I think he's just a guy who does everything well, and I don't know why he's not being mentioned for player of the year.