University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Basketball Quotes vs USC Upstate
Dec 17, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Recap |
Box Score |
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Joe Murphy Photo Gallery 
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USATSI Gallery
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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner |
Overall Thoughts...
"That was a good win for us. I thought our guys really played well. That's a good team. They're going to win a lot of games. We got down early and eventually started hitting some threes. Avery Woodson came through for us bigtime in the first half with four threes to give us separation. We did a good job of defending them from the three point line. They came in shooting 37 percent and we held them to 27 percent.
They hurt us a little bit in the second half with ball screens, but we couldn't over help from the weak side because they wanted to be able to kick it out for three. We had to make an adjustment at the first media timeout and that really helped us. We got a nice lead again and then had multiple quick turnovers that really bit us in the butt.
We ended up with 19 turnovers. Shaq had six. He did not play well at all other than the job he did on ball screens. He did a good job on ball screen coverages. I thought Austin looked a little tired, but he made some quick plays around the basket. Pookie Powell was tremendous. He had some winning plays in the second half. I thought Trahson Burrell was really active. Chris Hawkins came in and gave us good minutes. Nick did well in the first half for us.
This was a big win for us. We were +7 on the glass and they were a team that was +7 coming in on the glass."
On the turnovers...
"Shaq, Pookie and Austin had 14 of our 19 turnovers. Those are three of our starting guys. That's got to be cleaned up. It needs to be cleaned up before we play Oral Roberts on Saturday. This was a good win for us tonight. We will take it. That's a good team we played."
On scoring 80+ points in back-to-back games...
"We adjusted our pace. Our guard play has been better. We have more possessions. We've made shots. You're a whole world better when you can make shots. The adjustments of the pace and speed has been important for us."
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Sophomore Guard Avery Woodson |
On scoring 80+ points in back-to-back games...
"The past two games, I wasn't in my rhythm. Tonight I got my feet set in my rhythm. I got settled in and was able to knock them down. Everyone was in that rhythm tonight. We've been very locked in and focused on what we're doing these past two games."
On the team coming together...
"We're starting to gel and come together as a team. If I can stop fouling it will be a lot easier on Coach Pastner.
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Sophomore Guard Pookie Powell |
On the offense...
"Coach has been coaching us up in running the transition offense and getting set up in the half court. That's what I tried to do."
On knocking down the threes...
"They left me open. They kept cutting under the screen. I know I'm going to hit it. When I drove it, I was looking to get other guys the ball."
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Junior Guard/Forward Trahson Burrell |
On the comebacks from the OSU game...
"It definitely gelled us more. Everyone really wanted that win. After the loss, we had a team meeting and everyone put in their two cents of what we need to do better as a team. I feel like we are doing that now, and that we are going to get on winning streak soon."
On personal performance...
"I feel like the double-double comes from the strength of my teammates believing in me and giving me the ball and allowing me to do what I can do. Pookie [Powell], Avery [Woodson], Austin [Nichols] and everyone, we all believe in each other. When that happens, I feel like no one can beat us. I definitely feel more comfortable going to the glass and that's the only way I'm going to stay in the game says Coach P. I try to get as many rebounds as possible."
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USC Upstate Head Coach Eddie Payne |
On the game....
"I thought Memphis played well. They shot the ball well. I didn't look at the individual box score of every game, but I would guess that's the best that they have shot the ball from the arch and free throw line as well. They played well. From our perspective, I didn't like the way that we did things in the first half. We kind of hung in there and kept chipping away. When that happened though, Memphis had guys step up and make shots. I'm sure Coach Pastner will be happy to see that because I thought that was big. If they had missed a couple of shots, gave us a little crack, then it could've been a different situation. They didn't allow that to happen."
On difference of playing Memphis compared to other teams...
"I think Memphis played well. I think they really did. If you look at their stats, they don't shoot the ball like that. The fact that they shot like that and were well prepared in attacking our matchup, I'll just prefer to give them the credit."
