NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - MEMPHIS VS GONZAGA

March 19, 2022

Penny Hardaway

DeAndre Williams

Tyler Harris

Moda Center

Memphis Tigers

Media Conference

Gonzaga 82, Memphis 78

THE MODERATOR: Joining us now from Memphis are student-athletes, DeAndre Williams and Tyler Harris along with head coach, Penny Hardaway. Coach, entertaining game hard fought. Begin with your opening statement and then we will go to questions.

COACH HARDAWAY: What a great game, man. We went into halftime, came out confident because we have to be. We understand that we were the underdog and we were going to have to fight these guys and went into halftime up 10 and got it to 12 and then the Drew Timme affect came into play. He made some tough shots, controlled the game, got our guys in foul trouble and the rest is history. Feel like he got every offensive rebound or every foul or every bucket for them, consecutively we witnessed that from the TV a bunch just watching him be so dominant and seeing it in person he made some fantastic shots. I mean, great defense. And he still made them. That's why he is who he is. Overall I'm proud of my guys for fighting to get us to this point and I hope we made our school and our city proud.

Q. Coach, talk about the resiliency of your guys with 20,000 Gonzaga fans here and how proud you are of them and what it means for the future of Memphis basketball?

COACH HARDAWAY: I told the guys before the game ever since I've been a coach in AAU I've been a storm chaser, I chased all the tough teams in AAU and high school and now on this level we want to play the best and Gonzaga is the number 1 overall seed in the tournament. We got what we wanted we just came up a little short. But I hope this shows people that Memphis it back. Where we were in prominence years ago, we're getting it back to where it needs to be.

Q. Penny, what do you tell the locker room after a tight, emotional game after that?

COACH HARDAWAY: I just told them I was proud. We saw a really good team, we saw the best, they're labeled that. They showed why they were the best, had a lead, had an opportunity to beat them and that's the bar, that's the culture that we have to get to. Coach Mark Few has done an unbelievable job to get his program to where it is now and that's what we're pushing towards now. Our guys got a clinic on what it looks like to be professional, play hard, do things on both end of the floor and whatever it takes to win.

Q. All season long you guys said you can play with any team in the country. What are your thoughts after playing against a number 1 over all seed tonight even though you didn't get the result you wanted?

TYLER HARRIS: I feel like even those we was 9-8 and we struggled this season, I always felt like we were one of the best team in the country. We went up against a great team Gonzaga, that was the number 1 seed over all in the tournament and we were a 9 seed, but went out there feeling like we was a 1 seed. So it was great to compete -- we are go always going to boost our level when we play against a high-level team.

DEANDRE WILLIAMS: We knew we could go out there and play with those guys. The crowd got into it. They was very resilient. They played together, they was poised and like Coach said, they showed us the bar. That's what we gotta do when we look forward to playing big teams like that. We've just got to be ready to play.

Q. With 5:15 to go you guys were tied 66 to 66 and that was a killer stretch. Drew Timme flips to Holmgren for a dunk, Holmgren blocks a shot and Andrew Nembhard hits a three then draws a charge did it feel like things feel apart right then?

COACH HARDAWAY: That's who they are. They went to the finals last year and they understood from playing a Baylor team, maybe Baylor showed them how it was done. But for that stretch that's all they needed. They're going to control the ball, go to their horses and their horses came to play.

And they did what they had to do. You have to have your guys dominate on both ends of the floor, especially in winning time and that's what we did in that little stretch, I could feel it in that little stretch they got their confidence ask we couldn't get the ball in the basket.

Q. Penny, four years ago right before you took the Memphis job, you won that last state championship with Malco the Lawsons, Jayden; you played against Tyler Harris in Cordova to get there. How unique and extra special has it made it for you to watch these kids from Memphis grow up and be a part of the return to this tournament for this program?

COACH HARDAWAY: Yeah, it means a lot. When I took this job it was more of an assignment to me instead of a job, because I knew the school and the city needed me. And to be able to recruit these guys to Memphis to come along for the ride. Because I've seen them forever, I mean since they were smaller, and to be able to have this journey with them taking the team back to the NCAA Tournament and being able to play this game today it means a lot.

Q. What's your feeling now in the wake of this? Are you proud? Heart broken? How would you describe how you feel after this loss?

TYLER HARRIS: When the horn blows at the end we were heart broken because we wanted to get the win but looking back at the season we fought back through all the adversity we had, losing, all the media talking bad on our team. We came together and stayed a family and we ended up making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. So when I look back on this season I can be proud but for sure when the buzzer rung I was heart broken.

Q. Penny, last year you went to the NIT championship and this year you come up against a number 1 seed, how important is it to value for next year?

COACH HARDAWAY: It's very important but I'm fully aware of when the season starts that you have to take care of business early to get your respect late. They've been consistent and we weren't. So you have to go into June and July with the mindset of this is what's going to get us to where we need to be when it comes to March. We're really not a 9 seed but we put ourselves in a really bad predicament early and we fought our way up to get to get to a 9 seed. But what it tells me is we have work to do but we understand now and the players understand now how important it is to come into the season being focused and have a culture, a family for the whole time on and off the court.

Q. You have seen the Timme affect. And that you've seen it on TV a lot what was it like in person and do you think he's good enough to take them back to the title game?

DEANDRE WILLIAMS: He's a great player, a great teammate, the way he plays. Very poised. He knows what to do at times when the game is going left, right. He showed who he was. We really couldn't stop him. That's what makes him, him.

COACH HARDAWAY: For me it just shows how much he cares. He could have left last year. He came back because he's that culture God, he wants to prove he can take this team to the next level. I really do believe how they play and adding Rasir Bolton to the fold definitely helps with the outside shooting and I feel like they can get back to the championship game.

Q. Penny, is there any part of what happened out there just now that gives you a spark when you think about the future? How do you feel about the future walking off the court?

COACH HARDAWAY: I understand what you're saying. I feel proud and I feel like I know exactly where I need to go as a coach. I told the team that I'm hungrier now than I ever have been. When I first game here I wanted to get to this point. Now that I've gotten to this point and got us to this point, it made me hungrier, there are no moral victories for me, we lost. But I learned a lot tonight, a lot this season. I can't wait to be able to get back here with this team and hopefully we will be talking as a number 1 seed next we're.

Q. What information did you get on the hook and hold call? What influence did that have?

COACH HARDAWAY: I try not to talk to the refs much. They didn't come over and explain to us anything about the hook and hold. They just called it, because they saw it. Usually the ref comes over and says, hey, we got a hook and hold. They didn't say anything to us. When I looked up Chet was shooting free throws, so I was surprised.

Q. Penny, Timme came in here and said at halftime the G-rated version of his talk to his teammates was "we are not going to be soft anymore" did you sense that?

COACH HARDAWAY: Yeah, they went to the championship level. We were the tougher team in the first half. We kind of shocked them and kind of took their confidence. And I knew coming out at halftime they would make adjustments, and they did. They still have to make shots and get stops and they did both ways.

We hung in there long enough, but we couldn't make the shots and we couldn't get the shots, and they did. I understand how that works. I've been on championship teams and I've coached, and at halftime if things aren't going well, you kinda say some choice words to your team, and teammates talk to each other, and they will go out and they'll correct it, and that's what they did.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.