2015-16 Chattanooga Mocs Basketball
Post-Game Quotes
Feb. 27, 2016 – Samford – Chattanooga, Tenn. – McKenzie Arena
 
Coach Matt McCall
How good did it feel to cut down the net?:
"I wanted our players to experience that. Obviously there's a lot of work left to do. I wanted them to experience that, they deserve it. These guys have been through a lot. We've talked about this all the time. Some of these guys are on their third or fourth head coach, and that's not easy to deal with. It would have been easy l for all these guys to divide and go their separate ways and not become a team and they didn't do that. I think it's just a tribute."
 
On Senior Night:
"Our senior class tonight, a lot of times you start your seniors on senior day, I had Coach Witherspoon talk to those guys about that. In his conversation with them, it was we have to do what the best thing for the team to win this thing. That says a lot about those individuals and I'm glad they were honored on senior day, not only the way they were, but with a championship. They deserved it."
 
On not playing with expectations:
"Like I told them in the locker room after the game, wins at this time of the year are hard to come by. I don't care who you're playing; they're difficult and Samford is a very good team. Every one of their games this year has come down-to-the-wire. They beat Nebraska on the road. We knew it was going to be a close game. I told them before the game if you have an expectation of this game going a certain way, you're wrong, because you're going to be let down if it's not going that way. So we have to play the game possession by possession.
 
"Last night, again, I talked to them about going for this thing, being mentally tough. I couldn't necessarily talk too much about the championship, just talked more about doing our job. We have to be focused on our job, and we can't get distracted with anything. You have to do your job. What we're supposed to do, what people expect us to do, doesn't matter. It's about doing our job. I even talked to them about Steph Curry. That guy goes out and does his job. He doesn't get wrapped up in what people expect him to do. He goes out and just plays with freedom, plays loose and plays hard. That's what I wanted them to do tonight, and they did."
 
On defensive play:
"Obviously defensively we had some lapses. They shot a pretty high percentage, but we got stops when we needed to. It could have gone the other way. I think it was a three-point game with three-and-a-half minutes to go. There was a lot not going well in the segment where we could have gotten completely deflated and said, 'oh here we go again'. We didn't do that; we got stops when we needed to."
 
Eric Robertson, Sr.-G
How did it feel to be able to cut down the nets?:
"It feels good. It feels good to be able to do what you see TV; people cutting down the nets, talking about the championship. It feels good to be able to do that."
 
On the sense of accomplishment, but knowing there's still more:
"There's definitely still more. We still have a game; our season is not over. It feels good to be able to win the regular season. But obviously our goal is to go to the NCAA tournament. We still have to win our game on Monday, then we still need to prepare for the conference tournament. I would say this is just a stepping stone to where we're trying to get to."
 
Do you feel like a small weight has been lifted?:
"I wouldn't say so, no not really. I would say it's more like an accomplishment on the way."
 
Tre' McLean, Jr.-G/F
How does is feel clinching the title?:
"It feels good we can do this with guys like Eric (Robertson), guys like Alex (Bran). I wasn't here for their freshman year, but from the stories that they've told it was rough, it was tough. I probably have never been a part of a team that's lost a whole lot of games. For them to experience that, and then go out with a win like this clinching the regular season conference championship at home, I just feel good. I told them before the game this is the last time this group of guys are going to step on this court together, so let's just make the most of it."
 
How does it feel to know everyone is going to be after you?:
"I feel like since after Christmas break, everyone has been after us. Everyone has seen the things we've accomplished and every conference game, we've had a target on our backs. We changed our mentality and we're after them. That's just what it has to be. We understand that we're no longer a secret; everybody knows about Chattanooga. We understand we're going to get our opponent's best shot every single night. But every single game, we have to take it to another level; we have to turn it up a notch. It helped us win this conference championship."