Nov. 17, 2012

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Memphis Head Coach Josh Pastner

This was a very scrappy team you played tonight. They shoot the three well, but you held them to just 13 attempts, but they hustled back on defense and didn’t let you get out on the break
“You have to give Samford total credit. They played way better than we did, there is no question. They had better energy and we had to grind it out and we got the W. I wasn’t happy whatsoever. There is a lot we have to get better at. There is no question we have to get better in a hurry. I was disappointed in a lot of areas, but the one thing is that we got the win. It’s 2-0 and not 1-1, that is the bottom line. Again, you have to give Samford a lot of credit.”

“I thought Antonio Barton stepped up and hit a lot of big threes in some times where we were struggling. We didn’t do a good job of getting to the free throw line. I was disappointed in our rebounding, because after last game we were plus 16. We just putted around, I felt like we were playing miniature golf, just putting around like we were just at a putt-putt place at a recreational center. We were playing like this was intramurals. I was just disappointed, but bottom line is we got the W and that’s all that matters. We will use this as a very good wake up before we get to the Bahamas.”

“I also thought Ferrakohn Hall gave us some good energy to start the game. He also did some good things to start the second half. Adonis Thomas hit some big shots, but he has to be on the glass. He can’t have zero rebounds in 39 minutes, he has to get to the glass. We are a better shooting team than that, 4-15 from three. Those are some things we just have to be better at and we will be better. We just didn’t play well, bottom line.”

Samford averaged over 23 three point attempts and you held them to 13 attempts, so you didn’t let them play to their strength.

Samford Head Coach Bennie Seltzer

Opening statement about moral victories
“Well you are absolutely right, I’m not into moral victories, never have, never will. Those guys in that locker room are very disappointed, and they should be. They are extremely disappointed because we feel like we let one slip away. We thought there were three main keys to us having a victory, one was us being able to get defensive rebounds. This is a team, that last time out, they had 20 offensive rebounds. They only had six tonight, so we had to keep off the boards, and we did that. They are also one of the fastest teams in America in terms of transition offense. They only had two fastbreak points, so two-out-of-three will not get you anything, especially with a team that talented. Our third thing was not turning the ball over, we had 16 turnovers, 10 in the first half, and I think they got 20 points off of our turnovers. That’s the game, so our guys are extremely disappointed. As coach, I’m proud of their effort, I thought we played hard, but we’re supposed to.”

On taking things learned in practice into the games

“We have good kids, good character kids, and so when there is some teaching going on our guys do anything they possibly can to learn. We have an unbelievable staff with those guys, and so we did a good job of teaching the things that we wanted to do. Our guys did a good job of listening, and trying to execute the things that we wanted. The practice yesterday and today, I think we got through to them about our rebounding, and we just have to move forward, we have to continue to get better.”