Below is what several of the players had to say.

On whether they were surprised

Rudy Gay: "It came as a surprise to me, so I can't say I felt it needed a change. It definitely came as a surprise, but that's not my call. It's way above my pay grade."

On Michael Malone

Collison: "He gave me a lot of leeway to be myself and a lot of freedom. So I respect him for that. Just allowed me to be a point guard in this league."

Gay: "I can sit here and talk all day about what I've learned from him. I think he's made me a way better player, offensively and defensively. Once I got here, he allowed me to get a chance to expand my game and I thank him for that."

Ben McLemore: "I thank him a lot for the things he did, and worked with me and helped me improve as a player and helped me learn more about the game."

On Tyrone Corbin

Collison: "He's been there before. He knows what it takes to win games. At the end of the of the day, you've got to respect him as a coach."

Gay: "We've had one practice and shootaround so it's too early to tell. But I'm confident in him, I know he's done it before and we have to just believe in him no matter what."

Hollins: "Ty has got so much experience, not just coaching, but as a player. You can't make that up. He's still finding his way and picking his moments. We're behind him … From his Utah days, he likes execution, likes to get the ball on the block and that's not too different from coach Malone so you'll probably see different play calls, but he's the same competitor. As far as difference, I don't think we will … We ran a lot of our same plays tonight and that's just respect to coach Mike Malone. I don't think Ty is coming in trying to just change everything that Michael did … he's going to put his own imprint on the game but we believe in him."

McLemore: "It's a little different, but we know what we need to do to adjust to it. That's all we've got to do is just adjust to what he wants us to go out there and do."

On moving forward

Collison: "This isn't a time to put our heads down or feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to find a way to come together and still try to win. Teams are coming in here, they don't care what our situation is … I think we'll be alright, I think we'll eventually get over the hump."

Gay: "Everybody has been pretty professional. You know, but it's tough. I'm not going to sit here and say it's easy to just come in here and play for a new coach even though we've been around coach Corbin. And obviously, it's not easy for coach Corbin so all around it's tough."

Landry: "I just trust in ownership and hopefully we become a better basketball team."

McLemore: "We all have just got to move on now and focus on getting better and trying to figure out what we need to do helping this organization get better."

Hollins: "It's going to be tough man, but that's adversity and that's professional sports. He's not the first head coach to be fired … So I know coach Malone will be alright … It's not my opinion to know what goes on behind closed doors, it's my job to come in and play because let me tell you something, there's always going to be something going on behind closed doors and we come in to work and be ready. I'll run through a wall for coach Malone and I'll run through a wall for Ty."