KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Greivis Vasquez has never been one to strap a leash to his comments. He gladly indulges the media and fans with whatever is on his mind, typically conducting attention as a result.

In a way, this is what has made him one of the nation’s top guards. His passion spills out on the court, and his boisterous actions are channeled toward one goal: winning.

A day before his Terrapin men’s basketball team played Memphis in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Vasquez fired another attention-grabbing missile.

“If [Memphis] played in the ACC Conference, they’d have a losing record in the league,” he said Friday. “They’d probably win all of their games outside the league and have a losing record in the league. The ACC is too tough.”

This time, Vasquez’s remarks didn’t have the desired effect. Memphis – who has won 58 straight games in Conference USA – learned of the disrespect Vasquez threw their way, and the Tigers pounced on the opportunity to prove him wrong.

After an 89-70 Memphis victory Saturday, the No. 2-seeded Tigers certainly looked like they could contend in any conference.

“They proved me wrong; that’s what the sport is about,” Vasquez said after the loss. “I don’t regret anything. They have good players and a good coach and they won. There is nothing else. We came out here to play basketball, and there was some trash talking involved, but it’s basketball. I thought they were better than us for those 40 minutes.”

Tiger guard Antonio Anderson and forward Robert Dozier said they did not think about Vasquez’s comments when preparing for the game.

But coach John Calipari said his players were all aware of it “in the information age right now,” and admitted, “I was kind of happy he said it.”

In their locker room Friday afternoon, Memphis forward Shawn Taggart only knew Vasquez as “a big guard who’s a good player.” Forward Pierre Henderson-Niles referred to the Terp star as “Sanchez.”

Less than an hour later, when told about Niles’ lack of knowledge, Vasquez responded, “They will know my name. They will know who I am tomorrow on the court.”

“I don’t care who guards me. I’m going to go at him and at the whole team,” he also said. “I’m such a competitor. I don’t care who’s in front of me. I’m going to compete.

“The only person who can stop myself is myself,” Vasquez continued. “I mean I played against Kobe [Bryant] two summers ago. You tell me who’s better than that.”

Anderson helped to keep Vasquez under wraps, holding him to six points and one assist in the first half.

Vasquez didn’t play poorly, but he certainly wasn’t making the impact he claimed he would and didn’t control the game the way he has in Terp victories this year. He finished with 18 points and five assists.

After Vasquez was stripped of the ball on one first-half play, an angered coach Gary Williams yelled at his bench players, “You don’t wolf in the paper, then not play the next day. You don’t do that.”

In a press conference after the game, Williams addressed Vasquez’s comments.

“You know, he’s wrong,” Williams said. “He’s wrong in saying those things like he said, but at the same time, sometimes the translation gets lost a little bit.”

When Vasquez picked up his first foul, fans of Memphis cheered excessively. With his team ahead 25 points early in the second half, one Memphis supporter yelled, “Hey Vasquez, how’s your ACC now?” And with five minutes left and the Terps down by 29, a group of Tigers fans chanted “ACC! ACC! ACC!” mockingly.

“That’s part of it,” said Vasquez, who was monitored by assistant coach Robert Ehsan while addressing the media after the game. “The fans are going to be like that regardless. At this point, I have to give Memphis credit. They really came out hard and they beat us on the court.”

To make his day worse, Vasquez received a technical foul for “an unsporting comment to the official.” Turns out his words weren’t appreciated by the referees either.

Calipari compared Vasquez’s bulletin board material to former Memphis forward Joey Dorsey’s during the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers were set to play Ohio State in the Elite Eight, and Dorsey called opposing center Greg Oden “overrated.” He called the matchup David vs. Goliath – with Oden being David.

In the ensuing game, Oden held Dorsey scoreless. Oden tallied 17 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a 92-76 victory and Final Four berth.

Saturday, the Tigers may not have needed the extra stimulus from Vasquez’s provoking comments. But it couldn’t have hurt.

“I mean, I guess it might have sparked something,” Terp forward Dave Neal said. “He said it, and I mean, nothing you can do about it.”

mseligdbk@gmail.com