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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2016Trahson BurrellDedric LawsonJosh PastnerRicky Tarrant, Jr.Orlando, Florida Memphis - 89, Tulsa - 67 THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with an opening statement from coach. JOSH PASTNER: Really proud of our young men. Good win. I thought we played really well from start to finish. The three gentlemen to my right all played really well. Dedric got his 16th double double, which is one short of Keith Lee's 17 for a freshman record at Memphis, so proud of him. Trahson Burrell played really well, was active, 19 points, five rebounds, four assists. And, obviously, Ricky really got us going with those five threes and zero turnovers. Our big thing was we had 13 assists and only eight turnovers, we did a great job taking care of the ball. Tulsa's a very good basketball team, very well coached, and obviously we're fortunate in how -- when you're making shots like that, it opens everything up. Great win for the Tigers, proud of our young men. And we got to get back and get some rest and be ready to go tomorrow. We play a very good Tulane team that we split on the year, and we know we're going to have to obviously play great tomorrow. Regarding Avery Woodson, it will be a game-time decision. We'll treat the heck out of it tonight and tomorrow, and it will be a game-time decision, and we'll see how he is tomorrow before the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. What was your -- in the first half in particular you were attacking, getting putbacks, what was your thought process coming into the game. TRAHSON BURRELL: I just tried to follow the game plan. Coach P told me to attack more before I try to shoot, before I get on the first side. So I was just trying to attack, listen, follow the game plan, do what Coach P asked me. Q. Talk about the energy and, Ricky, speak to this first. Talk about the energy after you had the that three to end the first half and you guys are bouncing, probably as excited as you've been all season. Talk about that feeling? RICKY TARRANT JR.: Coach Pastner has been pushing all week, energy and effort. As long as we go out there and put it on, we can compete with any team in the country. That was just a sample of what we can do, and we really believe in each other. Energy is something that we're going to come with every game. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Questions for coach. Q. Avery's a game time decision. What does he have? JOSH PASTNER: Game-time decision. So he'll get treatment, and it will be a game time decision. Fred, Charlotte, I appreciate you two. You've had my back. I don't forget that, and I love you both just so you know. You guys are good people. Q. Which team showed up? We have been wondering which team showed up. How would you define this team. It was a pretty good version. JOSH PASTNER: The good Memphis team showed up today. That's a good thing and -- but look, since the SMU game -- we played well against SMU, not -- we didn't execute on some things that we needed to, didn't shoot as well, but we played well. We played really well against Tulsa. Versus Temple we were -- besides our start, which was not good, we had some opportunities in the last three to three and a half minutes of the game to possibly win the game, and that was with Burrell where I had to bench him due to discipline. And then the next game, East Carolina, I thought we played great. This game we played great. So we have been playing the last two, three weeks of the season, we have been playing our best basketball of the year. Obviously when you're making some of those shots, that opens a lot of things up. So I'm proud of our young men for that. And look, we played today and Shaq did not have a good game today, and that's a positive that we were able to play so well and Shaq, obviously, who was a first team, all league, didn't play at the level that he's accustomed to. So hopefully we need him to be really great for us tomorrow night. Q. Did you have a sense of -- was there a sense during the game that things were going to go well, with the energy they were playing? Was there a moment or coming into the game or whatever? JOSH PASTNER: I thought that we practiced really well all week. We practiced well. We had great energy. We were locked in, we were focused, and that's who we were that all week long. And it carried over to the game today. We had a great practice. We had a -- everything was just at high energy and high effort level, and it carried over to today's game. We just have been one of those teams this year that we have just been -- there's been some inconsistencies. But the last three weeks of the season, we have been our most consistent we have been all year long, and we just need to continue to doing it moving forward tomorrow. Q. Being able to put up 89 points, more points than anybody other than UConn. Obviously they went to quadruple overtime, but being able to put up that many points, more than anybody else in regulation so far. How much confidence does that give you going forward? JOSH PASTNER: Scoring hasn't been a problem. We're one of the fastest teams in the country with our pace. We're Top-10 in the country in pace of play. We average almost, 77, 78 points a game, so pace and points is never an issue for us. Early in the year, we were one of the best defensive teams in the country. First 17 games, we were one of the very best defensive teams in the country, and we had defensive slippage. The single factor why we lost those games in the middle of the season strictly comes down to defense. We had lapses defensively. We weren't as good as we were the first 17 games. The reason we're better right now is defensively we're better. We're back to our roots of our team, the basics of our team, the base of our team, which is a good defensive team where we were in the first 17 games. We just got to keep playing through our defense. And also the last few weeks our shot selection has been much better. We have been much better at getting our shot selection. When we get good shots and moving the ball, and I call it hot potato, where it's not sticking, keep the thing moving, that's when we're at our best. THE MODERATOR: All right thank you, coach. JOSH PASTNER: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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