Some quotes and video from UConn' 72-53 demolition of Memphis Thursday night. Best quote of the night, actually, may have come from a Memphis fan late in the game, after Niels Giffey had already scored most of his career-high 24 points and hit all of his career-best six 3-pointers:

"Guard the white boy!" the fan shouted.

If only Memphis had listened.

Kevin Ollie:



(on shaking up the lineup a bit and starting Giffey and Phil Nolan over Lasan Kromah and Amida Brimah):

“I just wanted to do something different. Guys are still gonna play – Lasan came in and gave us a great effort, Amida gave us a great effort. We wanted to get Niels out there so we could spread the floor and give more space to our guards. Louisville really tried to wear Shabazz and Ryan Boatright down. We wanted to get a little better spacing. Niels made me look like I was a good coach. Thank you, Niels.”

“Now we’ve got to fuel back up and get ready for Cincinnati, because you know what kind of game that’s going to be. It’s going to be a war. We’ve got to have that heart and we’ve got to have that hustle, the same things we had tonight, to beat a team like Cincinnati.”

Giffey:

“I was definitely feeling it in the first half, just the way they played Ryan (Boatright) and Shabazz, it was a perfect set-up for me. They double-teamed them, which gave me the chance to be wide-open.”

(was he surprised to be so open, so often?)



“As a shooter, you’ve got to mix it up. People are going to close out on you so hard, you can use a little jab-step, a little shot-fake, little hesitation to go by people. They were so attached to Ryan and Shabazz, because a lot of our game goes through them. I can find open lanes, too.”

Napier:

(on UConn's success in FedExForum this season)

“I don’t really think it’s the building, I think it’s the way Memphis plays defense. They double a lot of pick-and-rolls, which leaves Niels and guys like DeAndre (Daniels) and Lasan open. We have some great shooters on our squad. If you give them time to shoot the ball, you see what happens.”

“He’s been the best shooter we’ve had this whole year. If you leave him open, which is kind of astonishing coming into it. A lot of people around the country know Niels Giffey is a great shooter.”

(on Cincinnati)

“It’s definitely going to be a war. Cincinnati’s definitely a great defensive team. They’ve got a great coach, great players. We’ve got to fight, that’s the biggest things. We can’t allow ourselves to be upset if we’re not getting shots, not making anything on offense. We’ve got to continue to play good defense. It’s definitely going to be a tough team to play against.”

(then there was this little zinger he said to reporters, directed at Sean Kilpatrick)

"He cares so much about that MVP. I don’t care about that. Those guys believe he won it? He can have it."

This is gonna be fun.