University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss-Memphis Postgame Quotes
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
Southern Miss Quotes
Head Coach Larry Eustachy
On Memphis: "They might eventually be ranked number one. They are the fastest team I have ever coached against. As a collection of runners, they really come at you."
On the outcome of the game: "I didn't think that the game was won by 17 points; I thought it was a little closer. I think that if we would have made some free throws that we could have turned the corner."
On the home crowd: "The crowd was great. The atmosphere of this game reinforced what can happen here. Hopefully we can get where it's an event every night here like tonight. There's a different feeling coming to a game like this, and I think that everyone felt it. That's my goal to make it like that every night."
On the play of the team: "What you can see now compared to how we've been in the past is that we don't have any quit in us. We didn't quit against Houston, Tulsa, Tulane or these guys. If we would have played 20 more minutes, I think the game would have been closer than 17 points."
On playing the entire game: "I didn't realize I played the whole game. I'm tired and I'm definitely feeling it now."
On continuing to play hard through the game: "Coach always tells us to always play hard, and never give up no matter the deficit or the score."
On playing against Memphis: "They are the best team that we've played. But we can play with them. I believe that we can play with any team in the nation because if that's the number four team in the nation, then we should be able to hold our own against some of the other teams."
On how Southern Miss played: "The game is won and lost on the defensive end. They started out making their first 9-11 shots and you can't beat a team like that if you don't come out hard against them. You have to take your hat off to Memphis. I feel that we played great, but it was hard to get out of the hole that we dug ourselves in early in the game."
On Memphis' depth: "Every time I turned around, there was another guy coming in. They're a very long team, and they're all very talented. Their depth is really good and you have to play them all the same."
On the home crowd: "The home crowd helped a lot. We appreciate the fans for coming. We went out into the stands after the game and thanked them. There is no better feeling than having the fans support you. It was a big crowd and a good feeling."
Memphis Quotes
Head Coach John Calipari
On Eustachy's progress at Southern Miss: "First off, I watched the (Southern Miss') game against Houston and I was scared to death. Then in this game, when we got to halftime and we were only up by 10 and shot 63 percent, we could not play any better. That's maybe the best half we've played and we're up by 10.
Larry's doing things a bit shorthanded here, but he's bringing in some guys. What Larry said is true: he said that he loves his team, and loves their attitude, but that he has to get a couple more guys. What you have to see is how they're improving. It takes time. We all know how good of a coach he is."
On the play of his team: "We are a young team, but I will say this: we're chasing greatness with this team."
Every game we've played in the Conference, we're taking everybody's best shot. I told Larry after the game that his team played great, but we did too. We couldn't have played much better than that. They played great, we're just deeper than them."
On Eustachy's game plan against Memphis: "Why didn't they go away? What is he doing, mentally, with these guys that kept them fighting? He must be very patient, but also very demanding with them, but in a way of letting them know that he loves what they are doing. He is instilling in them a will to win, knowing they are undermanned, and they stuck to their game plan."
Darius Washington
On finishing the game strong: "I was going with what the defense gave me and was very aggressive. I was able to get layups, here and there, by playing aggressive on defense and things opened up."
On staying comfortable when Southern Miss made their runs to stay in the game: "I was telling guys in the huddle to stay calm because they were going to make runs. They made some great shots with three or four hands in their face. But I told our guys to hold on and that we had it."
On the high amount of fouls called: "The refs allowed both teams to play aggressive and called a great game."
