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[FONT="]HEAD COACH TERRY STOTTS[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We helped our defensive numbers tonight. Can’t say so much about our offensive numbers, but I was really pleased with the way that we continued to defend throughout the game. Offensively, we had a lot of good shots and they weren’t going, but we won with our defense tonight. We stayed with it for the whole game.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On winning ‘ugly’ games:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think we’ve got to be able to win in a lot of different ways. Winning with defense… we’ve won games where we haven’t shot the ball that well. It’s important that we’re able to do that. I would love to shoot over 50 percent every night and score 120, but the reality is we have to be able to win in different ways. Knowing that we can win like this is good for us.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On aggressiveness:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I liked our aggressiveness. We forced a lot of turnovers in the first half, got a lot of hands on balls. They didn’t get a lot of transition, they didn’t get a lot of offensive rebounds. We made it difficult for them. They shot a lot of midrange shots, particularly in the first half. So we did what we wanted to do defensively.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On getting out in transition tonight:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We did. They don’t get a lot of transition, but I was pleased they only got six. We did talk about the fact that once we came up with the rebound, we would be able to run. I thought Steve, particularly in the first half, got the ball out and got us moving. We stayed with that in the second half. We probably had more flow opportunities than usual because we were getting stops.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]WESLEY MATTHEWS[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Good teams find a way to win. They mucked it up, they made it ugly. We didn’t help because we didn’t make our shots. We still got good looks and opportunities, but we’re happy with how we played defensively. I think our presence and our help were probably the best all season so far. Our shot wasn’t there but we still found a way to win.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On physical game, do you worry about injury?[/FONT]
[FONT="]“No, you can’t really go into a game thinking about trying not to get hurt, that’s usually when you tend to get hurt. It comes with the territory. Luckily, no one was too banged up tonight.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“Let’s do it. I mean, it’s not going to be the easiest trip. It’s the longest so far this season and we’ve got to start winning on the road. We’ve been blessed to start the season off with a lot of home games and for the most part we’ve done a good job and taken care of business. Now our schedule starts to open up and we have to test ourselves on the road. That’s always a good measure of a team and we’re excited for it.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On offense on the road:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“The few road games we’ve had, we haven’t really had a great offensive outing yet this season. On the road, it’s all about defense. On the road, it’s about taking teams out of their comfort zone, deflating the arena, not letting the crowd get into the game and get the players their second wins. Just finding ways to win. We don’t have to go looking for our offense. We’ve got to go in making sure we make it miserable for them on the offensive end.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ROBIN LOPEZ[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think it was a great win for us. I definitely think we were the more physical team and that was big for us.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On defense:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We did a great job of creating turnovers. We’ve been better at it this year. It’s not necessarily one of our strengths, but I think we were very effective in that facet of the game tonight.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On winning ‘ugly’ games:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“You know, Memphis isn’t the prettiest team in the league, but they just grind it out. I really think we can do it both ways. Not too many games have come pretty for us yet. Eventually that’s going to even out but it’s going to prepare us for when things aren’t going so well.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We helped our defensive numbers tonight. Can’t say so much about our offensive numbers, but I was really pleased with the way that we continued to defend throughout the game. Offensively, we had a lot of good shots and they weren’t going, but we won with our defense tonight. We stayed with it for the whole game.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On winning ‘ugly’ games:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think we’ve got to be able to win in a lot of different ways. Winning with defense… we’ve won games where we haven’t shot the ball that well. It’s important that we’re able to do that. I would love to shoot over 50 percent every night and score 120, but the reality is we have to be able to win in different ways. Knowing that we can win like this is good for us.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On aggressiveness:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I liked our aggressiveness. We forced a lot of turnovers in the first half, got a lot of hands on balls. They didn’t get a lot of transition, they didn’t get a lot of offensive rebounds. We made it difficult for them. They shot a lot of midrange shots, particularly in the first half. So we did what we wanted to do defensively.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On getting out in transition tonight:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We did. They don’t get a lot of transition, but I was pleased they only got six. We did talk about the fact that once we came up with the rebound, we would be able to run. I thought Steve, particularly in the first half, got the ball out and got us moving. We stayed with that in the second half. We probably had more flow opportunities than usual because we were getting stops.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]WESLEY MATTHEWS[/FONT]
[FONT="]“Good teams find a way to win. They mucked it up, they made it ugly. We didn’t help because we didn’t make our shots. We still got good looks and opportunities, but we’re happy with how we played defensively. I think our presence and our help were probably the best all season so far. Our shot wasn’t there but we still found a way to win.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On physical game, do you worry about injury?[/FONT]
[FONT="]“No, you can’t really go into a game thinking about trying not to get hurt, that’s usually when you tend to get hurt. It comes with the territory. Luckily, no one was too banged up tonight.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“Let’s do it. I mean, it’s not going to be the easiest trip. It’s the longest so far this season and we’ve got to start winning on the road. We’ve been blessed to start the season off with a lot of home games and for the most part we’ve done a good job and taken care of business. Now our schedule starts to open up and we have to test ourselves on the road. That’s always a good measure of a team and we’re excited for it.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On offense on the road:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“The few road games we’ve had, we haven’t really had a great offensive outing yet this season. On the road, it’s all about defense. On the road, it’s about taking teams out of their comfort zone, deflating the arena, not letting the crowd get into the game and get the players their second wins. Just finding ways to win. We don’t have to go looking for our offense. We’ve got to go in making sure we make it miserable for them on the offensive end.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]ROBIN LOPEZ[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I think it was a great win for us. I definitely think we were the more physical team and that was big for us.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On defense:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“We did a great job of creating turnovers. We’ve been better at it this year. It’s not necessarily one of our strengths, but I think we were very effective in that facet of the game tonight.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]On winning ‘ugly’ games:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“You know, Memphis isn’t the prettiest team in the league, but they just grind it out. I really think we can do it both ways. Not too many games have come pretty for us yet. Eventually that’s going to even out but it’s going to prepare us for when things aren’t going so well.”[/FONT]
