Feb. 28, 2012

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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner
Opening Remarks
Well, I appreciate that. I'm so proud of these guys to be able to bounce back and fight back after going through some injuries and some speed bumps. We've been able to get so much better and continue to improve. We've gotten so much better since Christmas break.

There are only three teams in the nation in the top 20 in field goal defense and offense - Memphis, Kentucky and Kansas. Today we won the game through defense. Again, that's a good team. They're a big team. They are talented. We had 22 assists on 33 made field goals. We held them to under 40 percent from the field and 14 percent from the three. We just overall played really well. We shared the ball.

It was the best game of boxing out. Our last two games against Marshall and UCF have been our best jobs of box outs. I thought Joe Jackson did an amazing job defensively on Marcus Jordan. Joe had 10 assists. This was a total team effort. Tarik (Black) was 7-of-8 from the floor. Wesley (Witherspoon) was terrific. He hit a big three at the end of the first half. Will (Barton) had a double-double of 18 and 11. Ferrakohn Hall was solid as always. Chris Crawford was terrific. I have to give a shoutout to Hippolyte (Tsafack) and Trey (Draper) and Charles (Holt) and Stan (Simpson) and of course, Preston Laird, who came in and got a nice ovation. And, obviously to DJ Stephens, who was once again an animal on the floor. I'm just so proud of the guys. What a great senior day for Wesley Witherspoon, Preston Laird and RC Johnson.

What is the status of Antonio Barton's foot?
It happened on the last play of the first half. Wesley (Witherspoon) hit the three, and A. Barton went up there to guard and rolled his foot in the process. He will get an X-Ray in the morning. The doctors right now think it's what is called a Jones fracture. If that's the case, he'd be out for the season. Let's just pray that it's just a sprain. Antonio is tough as nails.

What is the status of Adonis' rehab?
Hopefully, by tomorrow, we will be able to start working him in on 5-on-0 drills for the next three days. Obviously, he won't play against Tulsa. We'll see if next week he can get into contact.

UCF Postgame Quotes

UCF Head Coach Donnie Jones
Opening Remarks
Give credit to Memphis, those guys were terrific tonight. Will Barton is a (NBA) Lottery pick. He is playing at a high level, and so are Joe Jackson and Tarik Black. There is a reason that those guys were in the top 10-15 players in the country (coming out of high school). They all played terrific, today.

We had our chances, but you just have to score. In the first half, we didn't play very well and turned the ball over. It is very hard when we aren't getting any offense from Marcus (Jordan) or Keith (Clanton). Those two guys have got to score when they have chances, but we just didn't have shots go down.

In the second half, they (Memphis) started making some tough threes and it kind of got away from us. But hey, give Memphis credit, they played well.

We can't tuck our heads, it is one game. I don't care if (we lost by) one point or 30, we have got to regroup and get ready for Saturday (versus UAB).

Did Memphis do anything special defensively that stopped you all?
They made it tough for Marcus (Jordan) tonight. He had a couple of good looks that were open, but he just has to continue to find ways to get fouled and score. But, we have got to be able to get some offense from some other people.

We didn't get a lot from our bench tonight.

Memphis was playing at a different speed tonight, and we didn't match the intensity level like we usually have.

When you beat a team like this at your place and celebrate like we did, you have to understand that when you walk into their place, you better be ready.

We didn't handle the punch that they threw at us very well early on.

On a lot of hustle plays going Memphis' way.
They got them all. We didn't get any put-backs and we didn't get any free throws. We didn't get what we needed to get to keep ourselves alive, and in the game, down the stretch. That is something that we have done, for the most part, throughout the year.

They were quicker to the ball and they were making the plays. Give Memphis credit.

What was your message in the locker room?
I wrote on the board, "the game is over." We didn't play to our level. Give them credit, they did, but, it is one game. Our most important game is Saturday (versus UAB). That is where our focus is now.

We will flush this one. This one is over.

I don't know what we will learn from this one, other than, that you have got to be able to match the level of intensity. We will just hope that the next time that we play Memphis it will be for the (Conference USA) Championship, next Saturday.