The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Quotes
1/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2001
UAB vs. Memphis Coaches' Quotes
UAB Head Coach Murry Bartow
"It was a hard fought game. It could have gone either way. I thought we played well a lot of the second half. They (Memphis) made some big plays down the stretch. Overtime, we kept fighting, but got too far down. Their inside guys hurt us. Wise and Barron hurt us inside. Memphis made some big, big plays and it was a tough loss. Memphis has been on a roll, they have won seven in a row coming in, and we were very concerned. We came in with confidence, but I didn't think we played particularly well in the first half. In the second half I thought we did some good things. I thought Will Campbell did some good things tonight, David (Walker) did some good things tonight. This is a hard, hard loss to take.
On the last play of regulation: We had something set up different initially, they called timeout, we went to a different set, where LeAndrew kicks it in and gets it right back. We just spread the court for him and let him go. I like what happened the last play of regulation. LeAndrew Bass, that's his game, that little jump hook in the paint. It just doesn't go. I thought we got to the rim well on the put-back and it just didn't go.
Memphis Head Coach John Calipari
"UAB played hard, get Murry Bartow some credit. Everyone plays hard against us, and that is what I am trying to tell my guys. This was a gut wrencher. I am proud of the way we played hard. We were just barely hanging on there at the end. We had some players come up big at the end. We really turned it up a notch and made some great plays. The zone defense that UAB played really bothered us. We made our luck. We fought through it all and came through with a win. We got the win and we are happy about it."
Comments on the last minutes of the game: "We made the fouls shots that we had to make. This team is very much like my UMASS team that went so far. We got loose and cut through the zone making loose passes. I came out and told the team that we need to cut hard."
