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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2019Penny HardawayAlex LomaxJeremiah MartinMemphis, Tennessee Houston, 61 - Memphis, 58 COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: Yeah, it was a tough game for us. We understood what they were going to do. They are who they are. They come out, play hard for 40 minutes. They play the same way every night, so, you know, going into the game what you're going to get. We just didn't meet the challenge. We fought hard. Very proud of the guys for fighting hard, staying in the game, and have an opportunity to extend the play, going into overtime. But it was just -- made too many mistakes on the game plan today. And every time we make that many mistakes on the game plan, we've come out on the losing end of it. So especially when you playing these type of teams, great teams like Houston. So, overall, I'm still proud of the guys and -- you know, for fighting and staying in the game. Q. I know you guys -- for Coach Hardaway. I know you guys didn't reach the ultimate goal, but how would you assess the season? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: I think the season was a success, especially the way it started off. We changed so many line-ups early. A lot of things were going on, new coach, new system. Took a long time for the guys to fully buy in as a group. But overall, I think it was a successful season because we saw them go from being an average team to being a really good team, honestly. We didn't shoot the ball well today. But to hold Houston scoreless the last probably six minutes and to hold them to 61 points. That was a defensive game. We just couldn't make enough baskets to win the game. Q. Coach, you never -- your team never got over 25 percent shooting, but you were always in the game. Coach Sampson said it was due to tired legs. Was it something they were doing our your execution? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: Give them credit because they played so hard, but we missed a lot of open ones as well. That could be due to all the minutes that the guys logged leading up to this point. And three games in a row -- we don't want to make excuses, man. We had to get it done. It is what is and we know it's three days in a row. We fell short. Q. Coach, coming in in your first season, having Jeremiah, a senior like that, how important has he been this year, and what legacy has he left this year? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: It's big for us to have him because without him, where would we have been? He's done a phenomenal job. I had him off the ball earlier in the year. He didn't look like himself, and I put him back on the ball and everything went back to normal. But it's been huge to have him because he's been our saviour, honestly. He's put the team on his back and that's a phenomenal thing. We've asked a lot of him. We played him a ton of minutes this last month and a half and for him to get through that stretch and still do what he did was phenomenal. And his legacy, I think he's in the top ten in Tigers in scoring, and he did all of that this year. Being here for four years, he will go down as one of the better guards we've had here. I'm hoping that his season isn't over. Q. What do you think are some of the positives you will be able to carry over from this season to next season? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: We just learned a lot from the losses. The losses have taught us the type of culture, the mindset you have to have, the attention to detail, the seriousness of working on your own game, the seriousness of the game plan. Everything that goes into what the great teams do on a nightly basis, it can't be optional. It has to be a part of who we are. And we have learned that from playing all the teams that we have lost to, if you are serious enough about it, you have great leadership, everybody is believing in the culture and not fooling around and messing around and then think it's just going to happen in the games, I think that's what we've really learned is have fun, but have fun doing the things the right way next year. Q. Penny, did you notice the crowd? As you left the last time, they stood to applaud in appreciation and I don't know if you noticed that? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: I did. Q. Two open looks. What were you going for on both those? Was that the way you drew it up? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: The first one with Jeremiah, definitely. But to the fans -- I was out of it, I was in thinking mode, my head was down. I should have gave a wave to the fans. They have been phenomenal to us. We love them just as much as they love us. First play that we ran for Jeremiah was a play that we have run, or we have worked on all year. It was wide open, he missed the shot. The second play, Raynere didn't have the timing properly on it and it still ended up in Tyler's hands and he got a good look at it. But it didn't happen properly. It was supposed to be a back screen for Tyler to go to the corner. I think he went late and then came back up to get the ball, and when Kareem tried to shoot up and Raynere was supposed to slip toward the basket, and Tyler would have come back into that spot, but Raynere caught the ball and just handed it to him. So it wasn't a proper execution on the second one. Q. Jeremiah, the last shot, when it left your hand, did you think it had a good chance of going in? Two, was Houston as about as physical with you tonight as anybody has been all season? JEREMIAH MARTIN: Yeah, I thought I was going to make it. I really didn't have a good shooting night. I haven't shot well this whole tournament. Yeah, Houston, one thing we know, they are going to come with physicality every night, no matter who they play against. They did a good job on me. I can't make no excuses about any calls I didn't get. My shots just didn't go in. Q. Coach Sampson said your team has been improving since the first game you played, and the last couple of months, that your team has been one of the best in the league. From your observation, what improvements have you seen between the opening of Conference play to now? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: All aspects of the game we have got better. You name it. From preparation, to understanding, to how serious we take the game plan now, to, you know, taking film seriously. It wasn't there early. You could tell. That is what happens when you come in, you have a new coach, new system, takes a while. And I didn't expect to have Rome built in a day when I first started. I wanted to gradually get better and around this time be as good as we can be, because this is where you want to be gelling and peaking and that's what's happened. The guys have really grown a lot. We're more defensive minded even though we didn't get the stops we needed to today all game. Got them at the end but not all the game. The mindset is so much better, so definitely proud of him. Q. Kyvon Davenport said he was injured in this game today. How much did that affect him and how much did that influence your decision to go small down the stretch? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: I wasn't aware of the injury that Kyvon had. Once I found out, like right before jump ball. I kind of watched him and the coaches were telling me to take him out of the game because he couldn't jump or run. I let him play a while to see if it would loosen up because I didn't know what the injury was. And he played decent, he just wasn't boxing out and wasn't playing to the level that we needed him to. And the last tame we brought him out, it seemed like he just -- he couldn't go. And then I think the coaches asked him if he could go back, he said no. He would try, but he wasn't confident that he could go. And that affected us -- that's our second-leading scorer and our leading rebounder. You can't have that, those minutes played on the court against a team like Houston, then it is much tougher. Q. This question is for Lomax. You have had a three-pointer in the last three games and you have been one of the dirty work players. How do you use that confidence going forward into next season? ALEX LOMAX: I have to keep working this summer, keep having confidence. My coaches and teammates have been believing in me lately. I have to shoot the open shots and my mindset is always to play defense, go out there and if the shots come to me, take it with confidence. Q. Coach, just the energy from both the team and the crowd was at a different level in that final five minutes. Can you tell us from what you saw what flipped that switch to get you guys within three? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: They tried a couple of times earlier when we got within 10 and we got under 10, they got loud because they were trying to motivate us and get us over the edge, over the hump. And we couldn't get there until really late. The energy from the crowd was phenomenal. I always liken it to a play-off game in the NBA, that magic you get where you need the crowd to give you the energy to make a shot, make a winning play, it was crazy. I felt -- it was very nice to feel that and we got back into the game, had a couple of chances to extend the game. It didn't happen but the fans were great all tournament. Q. Jeremiah, you guys knew you probably had to win the whole thing to get into the NCAA tournament. Corey Davis said you guys are friends and he is sad you are not going to get to have that experience. Has it hit you yet that there's all the great things you have done, that experience isn't going to be part of it probably? JEREMIAH MARTIN: Kind of. Everything happens for a reason. I'm don't question God, he knows my path. It is what it is. I'm going to go out -- if we are in the NIT, I will play hard just like it's the tournament to try and win it. Q. Jeremiah, optimistically, there is more basketball to be played but if not, how do you want to be remembered as your time as a Memphis Tiger? JEREMIAH MARTIN: Somebody who was loyal to the city, came out and played hard, got better every year. And just loyal, to be honest. I stayed home, could have done anything else, but I felt like this is where I wanted to be and give my all to my city. Q. Penny, you mentioned you were walking off the court in thinking mode. What do you think you will remember about this game, not just next week, but as you go in the off-season? As you build this program, what will you remember about this one? COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: That we had opportunity. I thank God for the opportunity to be in a game like this. We didn't seize the moment, but we put ourselves in a position to beat Tulane and to come back and beat a good UCF team, to play a top-ten team in the country. You know that is what I want to remember. And I want to take that energy that I felt going into this game and leaving the court both into next season. Q. This question is for Alex. Alex, how much have you grown as a person from when you first stepped foot on the University of Memphis campus to present day? How much have you grown? ALEX LOMAX: I came a long way from day one. Mindset totally changed. More mature after being around Jeremiah and other seniors all year. They taught me a lot of different things, and I'm going to take something from each one and hopefully can put it into the team for next year. And I will keep trying to guide the guys in the right direction and be a leader and, hopefully, we can just get the job done for the rest of the season and keep trying my best. Q. Penny, do you want and expect an NIT bid? And would you like it to be home? I gather Tuesday might work. COACH PENNY HARDAWAY: For sure. I definitely want an NIT bid. I want these seniors to have an opportunity to still win a Championship. We want our season extended and we definitely want one. We feel like we deserve one. We played a tough schedule and really didn't fare well against bigger teams. We are playing the best basketball we can play, one of the teams that are playing the best basketball in our Conference. With beating UCF a couple of times, beating Temple, teams that are going to be in the NCAA, I think we deserve it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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