NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - FAU VS MEMPHIS

March 17, 2023

Penny Hardaway

DeAndre Moore

Kendric Davis

Nationwide Arena

Memphis Tigers

Media Conference

Florida Atlantic - 66, Memphis - 65

COACH HARDAWAY: Crazy game from start to finish. It hurts more giving up a layup for the win. You work the whole year talking about defense, and hang your hat on defense, we needed one stop. Couldn't get that one stop.

It's not one person's fault. A lot of things happened throughout the game to help put them in position to be able to win the game. We just didn't get it done.

Q. When you guys -- you were up the majority of the second half. What turned to let that advantage get away in the second half?

COACH HARDAWAY: Complacency got them back in the game. We got up seven. We gave up a 3, a couple of fouls in in the paint. We came on the other end, didn't make shots to capitalize on anything we had. And they got back into the game.

We had plenty of opportunities to go ahead and seal the deal. At the end we had the ball up two. It was up two. Up one. We had a turnover then we got the ball back. We should have called timeout. We didn't call timeout. Then they get a drive after that.

Before that it was the 3 in the corner. It was layup. It was another big 3. They made every shot they were supposed to make. And I think every game we've lost like that the other team has made every big play to win the game, to hang around. And we didn't.

Q. Kendric, I know this is a difficult moment and a difficult situation. I wonder if you could try to put into words what's going through your head right now, what it feels to be kind of coming to grips with what happened.

KENDRIC DAVIS: It's a heart breaker. We worked hard all year to put ourselves in this position. And we just didn't -- starts with me. I had a big turnover. You think about what you could have done. We didn't get it done.

Q. Kendric, I guess take us through what happened there on the bench with you and Malcolm after you turned your ankle there?

KENDRIC DAVIS: Nothing, just teammates passionate. That's it. We were just talking about we were more mad that he fell on my ankle and we were trying to get to the refs to let them know. We felt if it would have happened on the other end they would have called it. We were frustrated about it.

Q. DeAndre, your perspective on that final play, where did you see the defense break down there?

DEANDRE MOORE: My teammate just basically, we talked in the huddle before. We was like, we wasn't going to give up a layup. We was going to give up a 3 before a layup. And Elijah unfortunately ran him off the line. And I kind of wanted to help him block that, but it happened too quick. And they were locked in, and they made a huge play at the end.

Q. Penny, when you put DeAndre back in with almost 14 minutes left in the game, what type of confidence did you put him in there to see to make sure he didn't get that fifth foul?

COACH HARDAWAY: I knew he had to play. We were at a point we were trying to push away from him, and I knew with him on the floor would help us push away from them. I had the confidence he wouldn't foul out and he would still go back out there and do what he needed to do.

Q. You said you didn't get to call the time out. A-Lo was trying to call the timeout. Did you have the sense he should have been granted the timeout?

COACH HARDAWAY: Absolutely if he called it before they called the jump ball. If he called timeout, then that's a timeout. But, hey, that's the way it works.

Q. Kendric, what's going to stay with you, this moment, the year, as you look back on this now that it's over?

KENDRIC DAVIS: I'm not sure yet. Right now, we done lost another heartbreaker. And you followed our year, we done lost a bunch of them. And it's going to take me time to reflect. I maybe can answer that in a week or two.

Q. A guy like Kendric, who's made winning play after winning play all season, has a rough moment there, what do you tell him after that?

COACH HARDAWAY: The ankle? He's a veteran. He understands. Still gotta get a stop. He understands. In that case, like I said, he probably ran it through his mind a few times how he could have handled it differently. And it's just it is what it is. You've got to learn from those situations. That's all you can say. And next time you're in that situation, just handle it better.

Q. Does the way this is ending change how you'll think about this season?

COACH HARDAWAY: Yeah, because the end goal is where we are right now. We had a good season. A good to great season. But it ended in a first-round knockout. And the way it ended makes it way more solid for me. That's just how I look at it.

Q. You guys were able to accomplish one of your goals which was winning the American Conference. But with your season ending in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, what will you take away from this season going into the next season, trying to go further, accomplish the next step in y'all's goal, which is ultimately the national championship?

COACH HARDAWAY: Yeah, it's a lot to take away from it. I guess one thing I could say is to just adjust some things in June and July when we come in, get ahead of the game, because this group didn't really start doing some things that we needed back in June and July until January, February.

So for me, June and July are going to be big months for our team and continuing to push this culture in the right direction.

Q. You talk about doing this for the city. Student-athletes talked about it too. It's not just for Memphis, the university, but it's for the entire city. What do you say to the city when there's been a lot of success this season and this is so hard at this moment?

COACH HARDAWAY: I definitely want to tell the city thanks for being behind us. The AAC championship was a big jolt that we needed in the city. And the fans, I'm sure they had a ton of watch parties today. And just the high of winning AAC and the lows of losing this game.

You know, just appreciate the fans for hanging in there with us all season long and fighting with us. And for the fans that traveled, thanks so much for traveling to the AAC championship and to here to Columbus.

Q. What was your perspective on the exchange between Kendric and Malcolm? And did that throw anyone off at all?

COACH HARDAWAY: I think it's just teammates just in the heat of the battle. Just kind of wanted to be competitive. He hurt his ankle. And Malcolm was talking about the fouling and all this. I was trying to lock in on what I needed to lock in on. Really didn't get into it. But I know they were really both competitive at that time.

Q. When you think about this game, is it tough to avoid thinking about the what-ifs with Kendric's ankle, Dre getting into foul trouble, and the last play where Jaden -- everyone thought he was calling timeout. Everyone thought you all were calling time out and they give them the ball instead?

COACH HARDAWAY: We just have to do better. That's all I can say. I understand clearly how things work. And we just have to be five times better in the next team. Every single game, we've got to go out and be five times better. We cannot be equal. We know that. We've got to play harder defense. We've got to make more shots. We have to defend without fouling, just do it five times better than anybody else.

Q. The way you structured this team this year versus what you've done in the past, are you going to try to do a blended, or try to do this, because this is probably one of your better teams, and I know you like to get the high-powered recruits that get the buzz and all like that, but it seems like you have more success with this type of a team.

COACH HARDAWAY: Yeah, I think it just happened by coincidence, because, again, when we got in the portal, ended up getting four players that I didn't really recruit really hard.

They really wanted to come to the university. I was getting to know them as the season went on. That might happen again this year. I'm looking to be older, but there's a little blend of young players plus older players, and that seems to work as well.