Postgame Quotes vs. Western Carolina

On fast start in the first half.

"Yes, obviously playing against them and Coach (Larry) Hunter, who's a terrific coach and has been in this league a long time. He's one of the first coaches that I met in spring meetings and we played golf together. I have the utmost respect for their team and for him as a coach. One of the things they do is they try to really jump the game up defensively...extremely physical. You don't lead the Southern Conference in steals and second in offensive rebounds without being a physical basketball team.

"I felt like we handled it well tonight. We got the flow and the ball moving. I felt like we played the right way, very similar to the way we played against Wofford. When we get the ball moving, we can be tough to guard, and I really felt like that was the case tonight. I thought the biggest key going into the game was to guard the three. (Rhett) Harrelson was 2-for-6, but his last two games he was 12-for-22 from three, so that was a key for us. Guarding the three and out-rebounding them on the glass were our two biggest keys."

On back-to-back games with five players scoring in double digits.

"It's the way we need to play. We need to play unselfishly, we need to move on the floor and no one's consumed with scoring. They are playing the right way and playing for each other. When we play the right way we're difficult to guard, because the ball and the floor moves.

"Obviously Justin Tuoyo goes for 20, Chuck Ester gets 11 and Greg Pryor, Johnathan Burroughs-Cook and Tre' McLean get 10. When a group doesn't focus on their points or rebounds, and really focuses on a team, that's what you want to see as a coach."

On production from the bench.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, a lot of these guys who come off the bench can start for any team in the Southern Conference. I'm really proud of Alex Bran. He has had the right focus in practice and done whatever we've asked him to do every day. Whether it's be on the scout team, run opposition plays, he's done. I just felt that at shootaround today, he was moving really well and was into it.

"I felt like he could give us a bit of a lift and I felt comfortable putting Alex out there in the first half because of how he's been practicing. He's completely fearless. He's not afraid when he goes in, he's not afraid to shoot, not afraid to put his body out there or make the right plays. That guy has put his heart and soul in this program for four years, and to see him have success in a league game, I couldn't be more proud of him."

On preparing for ETSU Saturday.

"Tomorrow will be a mental day and getting ETSU stuff down. Obviously Steve Forbes is a friend of mine that I've known for a long time going back to his days at Tennessee. He's got a talented group and he's done a great job in the short amount of time he's been there and it's going to be a battle for 40 minutes.

"I challenge everyone Chattanooga, especially students, we need to get everyone out at that game on Saturday.This team deserves it, and for these seniors, we have seven home games left and then they're not going to be on the floor here ever again. Hopefully the city of Chattanooga can get behind them and fill our arena, because we need a great environment here on Saturday. They've gone in and beaten Georgia Tech and you're talking about two of the best teams in the Southern Conference going at it on Saturday afternoon. We need to get as many fans in there as possible and make it a fun environment."

Greg Pryor, junior, guard
On having two games in a row with five players in double digits.
"We have faith in everybody that puts on a Chattanooga jersey. We have faith with everybody that sits on the bench is ready to come in and play anytime. We're not just looking for one person to score all the points or do all the work on offense. We have faith in everyone on the floor. Whenever they touch the ball, they have the ability to score."

How much better is the team when you all play like that?
"A lot better because teams can't just focus on stopping one man. If you focus on one man, we always have someone else who's going to step up and make big shots and make big plays."

Was it exciting when Alex Bran came off the bench and made two three pointers right away?
"That always adds juice, but we have confidence in him and his shot. Whenever he touches the ball, we want him to shoot the ball. We have no complaints about Alex Bran shooting the ball."

Was it hard to not look ahead to Saturday's game against ETSU?
"When you have a schedule and you know you have good teams on your schedule, it's always going to be in the back of your mind that you have teams coming up on your schedule. We always try to focus on the (current) game that's ahead of us. When it comes down to it at the end of the season, you can't focus on the next game because you might not make it to the next game."

On ETSU being a big game.
"It's really exciting, but we can't get into the fan base and the excitement of the game. We just have to focus on what we need to do to stop them and what we need to do on the offensive end."

Justin Tuoyo, junior, forward
On coming out with a lot of energy.
"The whole team came out really strong. We knew it was going to be a physical game, so we had had to come out early and get the first lead. And we all did that."

On Western Carolina's Torrion Brummitt.
"He's a big dude. He's really physical. One of the better d's in the SoCon. He can shoot. We had to do our job and keep him off the glass."

What does being physical mean?
"They're just hard-nosed. They make hard cuts. They talk to their team. They're like how we are. Everybody on our team is physical."

Western Carolina Head coach Larry Hunter
Opening Statement.
"I thought Chattanooga did a great job at taking control of the game. I thought they really guarded us pretty well for the most of the game, hurt us on the boards, and they've got good balance. I was very impressed with their play."

Was Chattanooga able to match your physicality?
"Yes, I mean it is a lot of difference in size or personnel out there. We got in some foul trouble early. Our guys played hard. We didn't give up. For us to win tonight, we had to hit some shots. We didn't hit any really timely shots, never really got any momentum. We had a little stretch there. I think it was 14 in the second half or 13. It was a 13-point game and right out of a timeout. We were at the free throw line. We need to make those two free throws. It was a one-and-one. We missed the front one. I think then right behind that they went on a 7-0 run or 9-2 run."

Was it tough defensively to slow them down?
"They've got great depth from what I've seen on tape and what I've seen in person here tonight. They're very unselfish, very well-coached, just a good basketball team, good solid team. They hurt you a in a lot of ways. They really hurt us tonight with ball reversal. Late in the game when we tried to make a run at them we tried to switch everything and deny the ball reversal and it slowed them down a little bit and then they got rhythm again."

Are you surprised they've been able to maintain this type of play without Casey Jones?
"No, I have such respect for Casey. He's been a great player in our league for three years. Personally I hate it when a player of that caliber gets hurt. It must be a significant injury. He's been out for a while. My heart goes out to him. They've been able to maintain and that's a testament to how much depth in how good a team they are. But again I feel bad for Casey. I think he's a terrific young man and a great player in our league, and I hope he can get back as soon as possible. You never want play a team when they lose that caliber of a player. You hate that for them."

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