Sigh Of The Tiger - cusa-fans.com (Memphis coach comments)

[mr. pony]

Sigh Of The Tiger
Dia and Williams Stagger Memphis For SMU’s Fourth Straight Win
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://cusa-fans.com/


From left, Papa Dia, Mouhammad Faye and Justin Haynes defend the paint.

DALLAS – SMU students stormed the court on Saturday after the Mustangs’ gritty 70-60 takedown of Memphis. And why not? The Tigers had been SMU’s daddy for years and even played for a national championship just two seasons ago.

Memphis (15-6, 5-2) had been 8-point favorites this day and one confident scribe was heard sniffing beforehand that SMU didn’t stand a chance.

But the Mustangs – two, in particular - were having none of it.

Guard Derek Williams had 25 points for SMU, with a career-high 14 made free throws - including 11-of-12 cold-blooded swishes in the game’s final two minutes. Papa Dia dominated down low with a career-high 23 points and a career-high tying 14 rebounds. It was his sixth double-double of the season. Dia also sank a career-high 11 free throws.

Loud chants of “Pa-pa Di-a” rang though Moody Coliseum’s rafters as SMU’s win inched closer to reality over the final 30 seconds. “This year, a lot of games have been close,” Dia said. “And we know we can beat anybody in our conference. We just took it to the next level.”

“We talked about coming in here and expecting to win,” said SMU coach Matt Doherty of his biggest victory in three-plus years on the Hilltop. “So we expected this. We’ve been playing pretty well.”

Williams said Doherty told the team at halftime, down by 5 points, to “settle down and relax.”

“All of us were so excited that we had a big crowd,” Williams said. “So we just needed to relax, play how we play.”

“This was a great win,” said former SMU guard Jon Killen (2004-08). “It’s a game that brings us to .500 in conference, .500 on the year. This is a team that we haven’t beaten in years, so this is huge for the program, huge for the players and huge for the coaches.”

Memphis Fans Worry

Tiger fans gathered round the scorer’s table afterward, decked out in their Mardi Gras-like blue beads and flashing lights, lamenting their team’s plight. “We could win every game the rest of the year and we wouldn’t get in [the NCAA tournament,]” said one. “We’ve got to win the [C-USA] tournament or we’re done.”

“We play like we did here and Gonzaga’s going to beat the crap out of us [next week],” said another.

Nearby, with his personal Shelby County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s deputy at his side, Memphis coach Josh Pastner dissected his team’s loss, its second in four games.

“You’ve got to give SMU total credit,” he said. “We just didn’t do our job tonight. It was a tough loss to swallow, but SMU deserved to win.”

Pastner blamed Memphis’ 34-percent field goal shooting more on his players than SMU’s defense.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “We had some great looks. We had some unbelievable looks - with some of our best shooters. … In the first half, we had two opportunities when we had a nine-point lead to extend the lead and we just didn’t make shots when we needed to.”

Memphis’ starting front court of Pierre Henderson-Niles and Wesley Witherspoon combined for just 5 points and 6 boards. “I was trying to get on those guys and get them going,” Pastner said. … “I’m not going to single anyone out because it begins with the head coach.”

The Tigers led by 9 with one minute left in the first half but allowed SMU to creep back into the game. A Dia tip-in cut Memphis’ lead to 30-25 as the stanza ended. Then the Tigers failed to make a field goal over the first five minutes of the second half, mimicking their pattern in a close win over Marshall three days prior.

Asked how much “playing with fire” this team can take, Pastner said, “We’re not a team that can play with fire. We have to respect the winning and understand how hard it is. And you just can’t show up and expect to win.”

“I told our guys, … ‘SMU’s a good team. I don’t want to hear what you guys did to them last year or the year before. It’s a different team and we have to be ready.’”

So were the Tigers unable to get up for the Mustangs? “No, that has nothing to do with it,” Pastner bristled. “I’m a first-year coach. I don’t want to hear that. … We’re trying to win, game by game, the same as SMU. I’m not big into all that history stuff.”

“There’s nothing to ‘get up.’ We’ve got to try to be ready to play, game by game.”

Pastner said they knew Dia and Williams would be the key for SMU. “And tonight, they beat us,” he said. “Those two guys beat us. That’s the bottom line. They were good all night long. They put the ball in the basket and they made free throws.”


Robert Nyakundi had 6 rebounds against Memphis.

‘Phenomenal’ D

Killen said he was most impressed by SMU’s defense. “We’ve been playing phenomenal defense these last couple of games. And to hold Memphis to 60 points, we did a great job.”

Doherty said due to Memphis’ versatility, he went to a man-to-man defense near the end of the first half and stuck with it. “But there’s not much difference between our man-to-man defense and our zone, really. The concept is, keep the ball out of the paint and make them shoot contested jump shots.”

“I think we’ve got an identity now.”

Killen called Dia’s performance “amazing.” “He’s really becoming a man out there.”

Killen also recalled Williams’ arrival at SMU two summers ago, just after Killen’s senior season. “He definitely took a leadership role and it’s only gotten better.”

Forward Mouhammad Faye and guard Rodney Clinkscales had strong minutes off the bench for SMU. Faye had 6 points and 6 boards in 20 minutes. “He’s a very competitive guy,” Doherty said. “And he also gives me a guy [at 6-9] who can inbound the ball.”

Clinkscales, spelling Mike Walker after his fourth foul, popped a huge 3 from the top of the key to give the Mustangs a 46-41 lead with 8:33 left.

SMU (10-10, 3-3) is now 4-0 since the close loss to UAB. “We could have gone either way,” Doherty said. … “We could have imploded or we could have gotten better. And we got better.”

Next two for SMU:
*Tuesday, Feb. 2, @ Southern Miss, 7 p.m.
*Saturday, Feb. 6, @ Tulane, 2 p.m.

Notes:
*The win marked the first time in seven years that SMU has defeated the defending regular season champion of their league.
*The Mustangs outscored Memphis in the paint, 24-16.
*SMU’s last win over Memphis came in December of 1953, at Memphis. Before Saturday, the Tigers had won eight straight over SMU, including seven as C-USA rivals.
*Jon Killen played in all 118 games over his four seasons at SMU and started every game his final two seasons. A C-USA All-Academic selection as a junior and a senior, Killen also made third-team All-C-USA as a senior.

Quotable Doherty
On SMU’s second biggest home crowd of the season (4,034): “The crowd impacts the game. The crowd can be worth 10 points a game. … They really impacted the game tonight and hopefully they’ll continue to come out for us.”

[CalallenStang]

Good story, but it was our second biggest home crowd behind the A&M game

[mr. pony]

Good story, but it was our second biggest home crowd behind the A&M game

Thanks. (fixed)

[Mestengo]

Why have I been humming Varsity all day long?
That song is now burned into my brain.


Kids rushing the court.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ... 6330&saved

[SMU 86]

Why have I been humming Varsity all day long?
That song is now burned into my brain.


Kids rushing the court.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ... 6330&saved

Nice video Mestengo.

[Charleston Pony]

Good story, but it was our second biggest home crowd behind the A&M game

In terms of the number of fans rooting for SMU, it probably was our largest crowd of the season