University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis Postgame Quotes vs Bradley
Dec 07, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Recap |
Box Score |
Notes |
Joe Murphy Photo Gallery 
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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner |
Thoughts on the team performance...
"We played well. I thought we had good physicality. We only had eight turnovers: five in the first half and three in the second half. We really had two or three in the first eight minutes and might've only had five total after that. We got to the free throw line 40 times, but only made 25. We've got to be better there. I like the 15 assists on 21 made field goals. I thought we did a good job defensively holding them to 28% from the field and 28% from three. Seven different times we got three-consecutive stops. We had 46 deflections. We were +13 on the 50/50 balls. Those things were good stats for us. We went through a little bit of a scoring drought in the second half and thought `man oh man we can't score again.' We missed some free throws and had a couple turnovers. We battled through it. I thought our press gave us good momentum. The press was good for us."
On the scoring drought...
"It's been a constant theme with us. We have to stop it. The biggest thing is we were able to get some stops and turn them over because of the press. We have to score better. We're going to have to be able to score. We're just going to have to be better offensively. We're putting new things in. A lot of times we were dribbling the ball instead of driving the ball. We were being ball-stoppers instead of keeping everything moving. That's just going to be something we keep getting after. We cannot keep having these scoring droughts. We've had a major scoring drought in all of our first six games. We have to be able to find a way to score the ball."
On Kuran Iverson...
"Kuran Iverson did a really nice job defensively. He guarded well and used his length. He didn't play much in the second half after he got his technical. I told him three or four times to shut his mouth. He was woofing out there. I told him to stop. Once he got the tech, I had to sit him the rest of the time. With Trashon getting the technical in the previous game, it might've cost us the game. It changes the momentum. Trashon was playing great for us in the Stephen F. Austin game and then I sat his butt down after he got the technical out of principle. They went on a 14-1 run over about five minutes. I'm not going to tolerate that. I want energy. I want emotion, but I want it in the right environment. We can't afford to give anyone free buckets. I thought Kuran, for the minutes he played, did a nice job for us. He did some really good things for us."
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Junior Forward Shaq Goodwin |
On the game...
"We held them to 29 percent from the three-point line and 27 percent from the field. We beat them on the board battle. We handled all of our defensive principles and that in the end helped us have a good game."
On being more physical...
"After Tuesday's loss, we came back Wednesday and we said this is what we were going to do. We were going to play tough and play together. Today, we finally stuck to the game plan and put a good forty minutes together and those were our results. "
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Sophomore Forward/Guard Nick King |
On getting back into a rhythm...
"It was a fun game. We came out and played hard. We executed, and we had fun. We had to get back into our rhythm on the defensive end. We just had to focus on getting stops and that's when we would finish with dunks on the other end."
On getting Kuran Iverson back...
"He played great. When he is out there, he's a big presence. On the wing and in the post, he can pass the ball and he gets everyone flowing that's playing. We're glad to have him back."
On personal dunk...
"Kuran [Iverson] is a great passer. That pass got through three people and once I caught it, I knew I was going at the rim. I just finished it out."
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Junior Guard Kedren Johnson |
On team performance...
"It was just a good team win. We've been working really hard in practice and as well as myself. I've just been working hard trying to get back into my rhythm and try to provide what the team needed from me."
On personal performance...
"I just have some basketball under my belt. I'm playing more with these guys and learning more about them on and off the court. Before I could even show my emotions and completely lose my mind out there, I had to learn things about these guys and what it was going to take to get a win."
On the team getting used to him playing...
"I think they are getting used to me. I talk a lot as much as I can and try to help these guys out. I let them know if I see anything from the bench or on the floor. They have the same opportunity to talk to me as well."
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Bradley Head Coach Geno Ford |
Overall thoughts...
"They were great. They played great. Our toughness with the ball was embarrassing. They ripped it out of our hands. Our guard play was atrocious. The times we beat the press and threw it behind, we're going at them soft and they're blocking shots. That just leads to more fast breaks the other way. Give them a lot of credit: they played very well. They were very focused. That was the best I've seen them play by a mile. You've got to tip your hat to them, but I've got to worry about our team and our team was absolutely awful in terms of toughness and making decisions with the ball against the press."
On cutting the lead to six in the second half...
"They made a little run and we just folded. There's a lack of collective toughness and a lack of a leader on the floor. Our guards are just throwing it all over the building. We were their best player a lot of the time. We have simple bounce passes that we threw off each other's feet. We got rattled. The place got a little loud and we got rattled. We have a lot of new guys, but we're going to be in this situation again moving forward on Tuesday. We need to see some major growth quickly. I was not at all frustrated with the Texas trip other than with the result. We did a lot of good things, but the way we played tonight was hard to watch. We were just sloppy with the ball and not being tough with the ball. "
