Hampton coach has 'Jesus on speed dial,' calls him for Kentucky advice
Hampton coach Edward Joyner Jr. had joked he'd need a lot of help if his team advanced to play No. 1 Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.
"Jesus on speed dial," he kidded.
So after Hampton extended its unlikely run, beating Manhattan 74-64 Tuesday night in the First Four to dial up a date with the mighty Wildcats, Joyner grabbed a cell phone and pretended to make a really, really long-distance call.
"Hello? Hello?" he said at a postgame news conference.
Then he put down the phone, laughed and said, "I guess he'll get back to me."
Senior guard Quinton Chievous said Hampton will have to have an attitude when it tackles Kentucky.
"It's really just going in with a great mindset," said the transfer from Tennessee. "Not being intimidated. And just playing as hard as we can and knocking down all our shots and just never giving up. When adversity hits us, we can't get down on ourselves. We just gotta keep playing."
No. 15-seeded Hampton shocked second-seeded Iowa State 58-57 in the 2001 tournament's first round in Boise, Idaho, when Tarvis Williams hit a 4-footer with 6.9 seconds left. It ranks as the greatest win in program history.
