Tigers air out their problems after 2nd loss to Hoyas

Following their horrible lackluster performance in which they lost to No. 14 Georgetown 70-59, the second time this season, The University of Memphis Tigers basketball team (6-5) and its head coach decided to have a meeting after the game. And this time there was nothing being held back.

"I told our guys that this will be the last time we have be having meetings," said head coach Josh Pastner. "We can talk, talk, talk, but it's got to be about actions. Being 6-5 is not acceptable - it's not acceptable for Tigernation and it's extremely not acceptable for anyone in that room last night."

The Tigers have now lost three of their last six contests, and Pastner remains winless against ranked opponents in his short three-year tenure at the U of M - going 0-for-10. Coincidentally, continuing to not live up to standards may have prompted the meeting, thus making Pastner miss the post game show. Show something he now regrets.

"I want to apologize for not doing the post game show last night," Pastner said. "I'm not a huge meeting guy, but not opposed to them. But guys needed to talk and things needed to be aired out, and with me being the head coach I felt as though I had to be there."

Though Pastner didn't get into specifics about the meeting after the loss to Georgetown, he did say that there would be no more meetings and that jobs have to be done.
"I told my guys that this was the last meeting," Pastner said. "The train's leaving the station after this and that everyone has to step up - coaches included."

One thing that Pastner eluded to that was one of the many reasons the Tigers have been struggling, was the fact that Memphis missed a ton of free throws, layups and wide open shots. But despite the struggles and missed shots, Pastner still proclaims that The U of M has been practicing really well.

"I don't know why we're struggling like this," Pastner said. "The shoot around that we had before the (Georgetown) game was our best one so far this year. But we've got to make those open shots, and we cannot be missing layups - we just can't."

Pastner says he will give the team Friday through Sunday off for the holidays, and they will pick back up with two-a-days beginning Monday after the break. Everything will be considered when trying to turn this once promising former top-10 ranked team around, even if that means using some old tactics that worked in the past to make this team successful again.

"I used the drowning incident around Christmas break last year in fact, Pastner said. "I'm hoping that I don't have to do it again, but I will if I have to. I'll paint myself blue if that's what works. I told the guys that open - we just got to get it done."