Memphis vs Tulane Post Game: Jahvon Quinerly and Nae'Quan Tomlin

hey Nate uh last couple times you was in here I think you came in after losses what do you see the difference in the team last couple weeks then they are going down Direction now uh I think we're playing harder uh you know coming off of those four losses in a row uh we made like a very point of emphasis on playing defense and playing harder and trying to get more stops and not try to focus on beating teams by scoring more J Q when you see 21 assists on the stat sheet um how proud does that make you obviously as the person that controls the tempo of the game for the offense and um just the you know the total control of the game yeah know that that's that's a great stat um that just goes to show you that guys are playing unselfish guys are moving the ball and I think we did a really good job of that today Nan I wanted to ask for you personally in the back I want to ask for you personally it feel like when you first got here there were a lot of flashes you had games where you had some performances where you show what you could do but it wasn't maybe as consistent and lately feels like it's coming together on a consistent basis what's been behind that for you uh just getting more comfortable uh especially with my teammates building more chemistry um so hopefully uh I'll continue to play as well as I did today after a great win what's the vibe like off the court for you guys you could repeat that question after a great win like this what's the vibe like for you guys off the court um it's good right now you know we we trying to figure out where we about to go watch the Super Bowl together so I would say The Vibes are really good right now um you know it's good to get back on back on a winning streak and we're just trying to build on on this performance NCoin do you feel more comfortable coming off the bench or starting uh neither really mattered uh as long as I came in I tried to you know help the team win that's really what I care about uh you know last year at my old school we went to the the NCAA tournament and that's what I'm trying to do this year so anything I can do to contribute to winning that's what I'll do Jordan or Javon what has Jordan Brown done to kind of earn back your guys's trust since he he came back and just get back into the flow of things where he was able to contribute the minutes that he did and how much was you know kind of a little bit of what he was showing tonight what you guys had hoped to get out of him throughout yeah JB was great today um you know he's a great dude I feel like he stayed very patient through this process especially of um while we were struggling he's been really patient with with everything since he's been back so kudos to him and I feel like today he understood the assignment they were a little bit small inside and that's why we decided to feed him the ball late in the second half get their best player in foul trouble and um you know he he did a good job at that at attacking um their their their best player and I think um he's going to build on build on this performance I think his confidence is has helped his confidence so you know we're looking forward to him continuing continuing his play uh Javon one of the big differences it seem like today was you you get the lead and then like unlike Temple a couple of these other wins you had in the past Tay never really got back into it you guys you know I know the final score was like 12 or 13 but you were up by a lot what what was different you think in this second half in terms of keeping that distance and you know winning one going away um I think we just for the most part cuz I don't think we played a full 40 today I think we played about I would say 30 right you would say about 30 we're we're trying to we're trying to get to a point where we play a full 40 like communicating really well on the defensive end playing super hard kind of how the first 10 minutes of the game looked when we went up 25 um you know we're trying to get to to that and I think we did a good job of uh you know not taking our foot completely off the gas um and I was able to kind of control the game late in the game slow it down a little bit while they were going on their on their run and I think that um you know that kind of contributed and and to not losing a big lead hey great win today guys um I just want to ask about the assist totals and like how much the ball movements improved over the past couple games yeah it's just been a it's been an emphasis um you know it starts with the PG so I'm always looking to get Guys open shots I honestly think that's one of my um the best things that I can do on a basketball floor outside of scoring the ball um you know Dave Dave played really well um getting Guys open shots today he he's starting to understand how much attention he's he's getting from these teams and um you know I was happy to see him uh you know make some really good passes today and I think just the overall team was was was willing to make the extra pass today and I I just want that to continue but it's definitely been an emphasis in practice for either one or both of you uh peny said that in the back uh Petty said that uh he had a film session with you guys recently where he showed some good stuff but a lot of bad stuff and he said that was a humbly experience for a lot of you guys can you walk us through what that was like to go through and what that I guess has spurred since then yeah that was big that was big um I was always big on us watching the bad over the good um I mean we could find the good on social media um just scrolling on our on our phones so I was happy that we were able to watch some of the bad stuff um that's the stuff that you know you have to be able to visualize as a team in order to fix those problems and I think that really benefited us um as you can see today we um we still we still got to be better taking care of the ball though um that was something that I was emphasizing myself included um we all just got to be better taking care of the ball probably 10 turnovers Max a game would be perfect BR you know we had some in the beginning like like back to back you feel me oh for uh for either of y'all uh obviously last two games looked much less selfish basketball right playing together 17 assists last time 21 today Penny said that was a product of y'all hanging out more coming together off the court uh what's that process been like of this you know brand new team kind of growing closer growing tighter uh what's that taken um I think just just trying to hang out more and just trying to do things more like we go out to eat after practice uh you know just hang out talk uh and just pretty much you know play the game together as well just building chemistry uh like right after this we're planning on seeing where we're going to go to watch the Super Bowl and you know eat and have fun you know after win um things got pretty chippy today at at times now they're on the floor a few different instances where you know double technical fouls and whatnot occurred uh was there any sort of personal animosity with with tane or was that just something that happened in the game I think it was just two teams being competitive um you know obviously they beat us at the last um when we went down there and um you know if if you're a team who any team would would have kind of Taken personally but at the end of the day I think it was just two teams being super competitive and they didn't like um you know being down as much as they were so you know I was just trying to keep everybody um you know levelheaded because I knew that you know when you're down a lot it's easy to start talking and and doing all that extra stuff um I was just trying to keep everybody levelheaded smart uh this is for either one of you guys how how is the teams Edge right now like are you guys you know on edge at all or are you just sort of focusing on contr you know controlling what you can control sort of thing and whatever happens outside of that is just what it is um or is there some sort of like urgency slash desperation I would say we on edge I mean a lot of there's only a couple guys in here who's played in in NCA Tournament game who knows what it feels like and there a lot of guys who are down to their last year who haven't been able to experience that and with that being said I feel like guys on edge because with it being your last year you want to go out going on a on a on a tournament run like that's just that's just um that's reality like anybody would want to go out you know going on a crazy run so I would say you know especially the guys who haven't been there are on edge but you know some of the guys who have been there who want to get back there were also on edge too so I would say yeah the team's definitely you know on edge um seeing the bubble talk you know it's got guys motivated this is kind of pigging back off of that um a lot of guys like you mentioned final year final few games they'll they'll play here in college um how do you guys kind of just keep everything in front of you knowing that we're this close to March I think like he kind of said really controlling what we can control because we got to take each game one at a time so if we you know focus on what we have to do to win those games then the ultimate goal which is going to the tournament and making a run will happen Jake you got like a full bag of weapons in on offense to play with right like you've got especially in the front Court you've got two bigs or four bigs really two bigs that can get in the post and make plays in the post and then you've got Nan and Jordan out there what how has it been like for you to um have all four of those guys uh playing with you and you've been able to just kind of mix and match and put them where you want them and just kind of do what you will with the offense yeah it's been you know it's actually been a little bit tough because everybody has different skill set and um you know sometimes um you know it just it's it's tough to to make make those uh adjustments on the Fly um you know obviously like like Jordan Brown's a back to the basket guy um who can who can score who can score that thing down there at will um if you give him the opportunity um who you know doesn't really pop much it's just everybody has different um different skill sets so it's just it's just come down to me and Penny me and Coach watching film together um and I'm getting better with it but you know being able to put put guys in the right spots cuz sometimes you know I don't so you know it's been it's been good though especially um you know nayquan and Nick being able to roll um being lob targets um you know that that's always fun for a guard because you know especially somebody who can get to the paint um at will because they got to choose they got to pick their poison at that point and when when we playing like that it's not many teams I feel like that could play with us so it's definitely it's been fun playing with with all four of those guys and I'm still learning them to the like I'm still learning learning where they want the ball um it's uh it's been it's been a lot because we we all came together so late but um I think I'm getting better I'm getting better with it uh JQ it seems like David Jones's willingness to pass the ball and playmake has really opened things up for y'all as well uh what's his evolution been like throughout the year in that aspect in particular like creating for others yeah he's making he's making big strides I mean we're watching we're watching film coach is watching film with him um I'm just telling him all the time how much attention he's creating and sometimes the right play is just to to get off the ball when you got two on you that's that's um that's been a major emphasis with any of our guys who get doubled in the post um once you got two on you you created the advantage already you just got to you got to get it to the the next the next open Guy and um you know his Evolution's been been really well because he he wasn't really looking to to to pass and this is no knock on him he wasn't really looking to pass in the beginning of the year and he was scoring at will so there wasn't much that you could say to him but um as of lately these teams are really starting starting to load up against him and things of that nature and he's he's being able to to take on that challenge and make it um much easier for his teammates when when he draws two and I think that's um that's an area that he needed to grow in and he is growing in and and I think you know at the next level is going to have to do that as well so I'm just happy I'm happy for him he knows he knows I talk to him all the time about it and you know we just look to see that see that see more of that from him