University of Memphis Athletics
Postgame Quotes
Nov 03, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2010
Memphis 106, LeMoyne-Owen 49
November 3, 2010 - FedExForum
Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
I want to give a shout out to William Anderson and LeMoyne-Owen. They gave us a good run. We just defensively kind of wore them down, and that was kind of the difference with our depth.
I was proud of our guys. I thought we really played unselfish. I was really proud of the unselfish play as one of our mottos is "The go to man is the open man." The open man is the go to man. Make the open pass. Those guys did that tonight.
Our biggest thing is we had 19 turnovers. There were three glaring issues; 19 turnovers, we allowed them to shoot 42 percent from the three-point range, which our goal is to hold teams under 30 percent, and lastly we got to the free-throw line 44 times, which is good, but we shot 66 percent, and we want to shoot 77 percent as a team. There are things we need to get better on, but I was proud of the guys' effort. They played hard. They didn't lose focus. I thought we were a little jittery at first. We were down 18-11, but I knew that was going to happen just because it was the first game, and I knew there was going to be some butterflies.
On the second half shooting 72 percent
I don't know if that's a character trait of our team, which I hope is the case. Last year we were a pretty good shooting team. We made open shots; we moved the ball and had good ball movement. That's a good trait. As long as I'm the head coach, that's one of our emphasis is the open man is the go to man and make the extra pass. When that happens you're going to make good shots, and we've got great players that can put the ball in the basket.
On the play of junior guard Charles Carmouche
When we signed him, people said we were just getting him as an insurance policy in case something happens. I thought he was a nice player obviously from watching tape, but he's been better than I thought. How he played today is how he's played every day in practice
LeMoyne-Owen Head Coach William B. Anderson
Opening Statement
I just think Memphis executed a lot better. Of course, Josh (Pastner) does a very good job with them. They're very well coached. I think they were a little more physical than us and executed a lot better in the half court and played as a team. And that was the biggest difference.
Talk about the quick start your team had
Yeah, we hit some shots early. But again, I think Memphis stayed in its system. You could tell their guys really believe in what Coach Pastner is teaching them. They didn't get rattled. You didn't see them lose their composure at all. So, I think they did a great job sustaining the run we made at the beginning and got it together and took control of the game.
