Nov. 11, 2011

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Memphis 79, Christian Brothers 56
November 11, 2011
FedExForum (Memphis, Tenn.)
Postgame Quotes

Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner

Opening Remarks
I thought the first 10-11 minutes of the game when we were up 26-5 that we really did a nice job defensively. But after that I thought that we kind of relaxed a little bit. We gave up some threes tonight. We cut screens, and you can't do that at this level.

We had 13 turnovers tonight, and that is just too many. For example, Will Barton had three turnovers in the first half because he was playing outside of his game. The second half he has no turnovers because he kept it simple. He can be as good as he wants to be, he just has to keep it simple.

Chris Crawford, in the first half he played really good, but in the second half he played a little loosey-goosey and didn't play as well.

I am absolutely tired of us missing free throws. With the amount of time and effort that we focus on free throw shooting, we shouldn't be missing the amount that we are. We have to step up and put the ball in.

Status of Antonio Barton
Antonio's tooth went through his lip, but he is okay. He will play Tuesday.

I think they will have to stitch him up, but he is tough and he should be able to go for Tuesday.

On Belmont
I have been saying it from the beginning, and I don't think that everyone believes me, Belmont is a really good team. They have everyone back from a 30-win team last year and they are good.

These are the type of games we will be playing all year long, but again, I am excited to play Belmont. They are very well coached.

My biggest pet peeve is not allowing teams to be able to shoot the three-point shot. You have to take the three-point shot away.

  Christian Brothers Head Coach Mike Nienaber

Opening Remarks
They jumped out fast, and we couldn't hit a shot there early. I thought we did a good job hanging in there because the way that game started out it could have been a 50 or 60 point ugly night.

That is a good team. I do think they are legit. One thing is that we have played so many times in the last eight or nine years that you can really start to gauge their teams from year to year.

To me, this team is one of the closest teams to that Derrick Rose year. I believe they have an opportunity to do some special things. Now, they don't have a Derrick Rose-type player, but when they are making shots and doing the things that they do defensively, they can really hurt you.

They can score points in bunches and any time you can do that, you can be a dangerous team.

We missed a lot of looks early, but we started hitting some shots late in the first half and that is when we began to maintain the pace of the game.

On playing Memphis in a scrappy contest
The two exhibition games we played this season are two really good teams defensively. Both Memphis and Arkansas really get after it on the defensive end.

Versus Arkansas, we played the first half with only one turnover. Tonight, we had 10 turnovers. We played sloppy at times, and at halftime we are 15 points down. They got 16 points off of turnovers, on top of the other shots they were making. You have to credit their defense.

But, this is good practice for us because that prepares our offense to face tough defenses throughout the year.

On opening the regular season tomorrow afternoon versus Williams Baptist (Ark.)
Well, that was one of the things we thought about going into this game, and we substituted more than we normally would. I think that was a good thing.