University of Memphis Athletics
Post Game Quotes
Nov 12, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2010
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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
Opening Remark
First, Hippolyte Tsafack is going to redshirt. We've talked about it and felt it was the best thing for him to redshirt. He has a great future ahead of him, and I'm excited for him. It's going to give him a chance to continue to develop and get better. I'd like the fans to continue to support him and call his name at the games. The kid is a wonderful student-athlete.
On the team's play
Here's one thing about our guys -- I told our staff earlier today -- even with all this stuff, we have tough, hard-nosed players now. They've grown up a lot since they've been here. Our guys just want to ball. They're about playing hard.
I know the competition (exhibitions and season opener) hasn't been the best, but let me tell you something, it doesn't matter about the opponent. When you see the two exhibition games and tonight, no one can say our effort isn't there every single possession. The guys play hard and they defend. That's the bottom line and that's all I can ask for. I'm proud of our guys.
The one thing that stood out tonight was how well we shared the ball. We had 25 assists on 33 made baskets. That shows the guys are listening to what the staff is preaching, and that is the open man is the "go-to" man. We've been preaching that, defense and rebounding, and we've done pretty well in those three areas so far.
On Monday's game
We have a tough game Monday. Miami is a good team. They're a top-four team in the ACC and a potential NCAA tournament team. They are really, really good. They have guys in the backcourt. They're athletic. This will be a great test for us.
We need to have a sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th man on Monday night. We follow Michael Vick vs. Donovan McNabb on Monday Night Football. Over 14 million viewers are going to watch that, and all throughout that game, Mike Tirico is going to be saying, "Coming up next, Memphis vs. Miami." So, even the football viewers who aren't familiar with Memphis basketball are going to stay tuned to watch the start of our game. What a great opportunity for us. The crowd was unbelievable tonight with over 17,000 fans in FedExForum. This city has the best fan support in the country.
Centenary Head Coach Adam Walsh
Opening Remarks
It's just one game. For us, our season is going to be determined upon our conference play. That's how we have to approach this game and hopefully learn something individually from this game.
Preparation for tonight's game against Memphis' fast-paced style
You don't. Experience -- they had it tonight. You can't replicate that. There's no way to do it. You can kind of try to do pressure stuff, but nothing compares in front of this type of crowd for the first time. We had seven freshmen on the bench tonight. This is a young team.
Memphis as athletic as you anticipated?
Yes. I didn't expect them to press as much, but I knew it was coming.
Positives from this game
The play of our young guys. Some of them learned a lot, and some of them played the hardest of anyone on the team. We have to take that as a positive. They're going to be the ones that will help us out later in the year. The more experience they got tonight, it'll help us later.
