Head Coach Matt McCall

On closing out the busy stretch with a win over Furman.

"I think first and foremost, you have to give Furman a lot of credit as well as their coaching staff. That's the way they play. At their place, they completely took us out of what we're trying to do and again, we didn't have a lot of flow offensively tonight. We only had eight assists and nine turnovers. The turnovers weren't too bad but through denying and pressure, they really try to take you out offensively. (Stephen) Croone goes for 18, and he got eight of them at the free throw line.

"I thought we did a really good job on him and (Devin) Sibley was playing about as well as anyone. I thought defensively we were good. Those two guards are so good at putting the ball down and getting right at the basket. They did a great job of shrinking the floor. I thought we did a good job of guarding him. Offensively, I've got to look at guarding some things as a coach when teams really try to get out, deny and pressure like that."

On the team's overall defense.

"Obviously, Furman shot a higher percentage from the free throw line, which kept them in the game late, but our offense was just okay and you have to give them a lot of credit for that. We didn't shoot it particularly well. I think we were getting good looks and hopefully we can get some to fall in the basket."

On what the focus was late in the game.

"We just needed to get some stops and rebounds. That was what the game was going to come down to. Once the ball is up in the air, I have all the confidence in the world in my guys. We've been in close situations like that before. Being in those situations early in the year prepared us for league play, so we have to find ways to win games with our defense. In four weeks from today, there's going to be a conference tournament, and you're going to have to play three games in three days to win and go to the NCAA tournament.

"You're going to have to rely a lot on your defense, no question about that. This was our fourth game in seven days, and there were going to be nights offensively that we struggled. So we needed to win it with our defense. I'm really proud of our guys. We've got to get good rest and figure out how to win games in different ways in order to get to where we want to."

On defending Furman's Stephen Croone.

"He's a terrific player and he seems like an even better kid. He plays the game the right way. He's not showy or flashy or anything like that. He just goes out and does his job every single night, and I have a lot of respect for him. HIs speed and ability to get down the lane to create and finish is as good as anybody I've seen.

"We keyed on him, and we did a really good job on him in the first half. He's a tough cover and it starts with your point of pickup. If you're going to get out and pressure him, you can be in for a long night. Not only does he get down the lane, but he can finish too."

On Greg Pryor's performance.

"He's a winner. As your point guard, I want a guy like that on my team. His approach to me and what he does every day is what makes him such a great player. He has such a level of professionalism. He's early to shootaround, and once he's here on game day, it seems like he never leaves. I wish I had him here, along with all of these guys, for four years, and there's no question about that. I'm fortunate to be coaching these guys."

Justin Tuoyo, forward, junior
What was your approach going into tonight's game?
"Just play hard. Furman is a hard-playing team. They're very physical. We came out last time and we weren't prepared for that at all. We did a great job – scout team, running plays. Everybody did a part. We just had to play hard, and that was the main key coming into the game."

Did the crowd play a part in tonight's game?
"A home crowd is always great. We had 4,900. That was big for us. They did a great job. That's a sixth man for us. That helps and it brings energy to the team. That's huge for us."

On having five games in 10 days.
"It's tough. We have a great trainer (Kyle Creasey) and a great strength and conditioning coach (Collin Crane). They do whatever they have to do make sure our bodies are straight. But it's a mental thing. Tonight we have to take care of our bodies.

"Tomorrow we have to get back into the gym. It's all mental toughness. It's preparing us for the tournament, because we have to win three games in three days. So this is just preparing us. We're playing all tough teams right now. So everybody just needs to be focused, but it's really helping us actually."

Greg Pryor, guard, junior
What was the difference in tonight's performance and the one at Furman earlier in the season.
"We just knew that the first game we really didn't go in and play our game. We had our minds in another place. We just weren't there mentally to play the game, and they beat us like they should have. Tonight, we came out more prepared. It wasn't a pretty game. It wasn't our best game. But we fought, we stayed together and pulled it out."

How tough are these games where you have to grind every possession?
"It's tough, but we have a really tough team. We have a lot of players like Duke Ethridge, Johnathan Burroughs-Cook and Dee Oldham. A lot of those types of players come off the bench and give us great minutes whenever we need them, and they're always ready to play.

"Whenever you have a team that has bench players that are ready to come in and play solid minutes, then whenever you get into these types of games it's nothing to every worry about. Because you know no matter who gets fatigued you always have someone else to come in and back them up."

Furman head coach Niko Medved
Opening statement.
"Chattanooga's a terrific team, obviously. I thought they were playing at a high level going in. I thought we'd been playing fairly well. We knew we were going to have to have our 'A' game here in order to have an opportunity to win. I thought we defended really well tonight. We rebounded really well."

"I have to give them a lot of credit. They changed up their game plan from the first game. I thought a lot of their switching and the things they did to us early really bothered us. It took us a while to kind of settle in at all and get more aggressive. I thought we did that in the second half, and I thought the stats bear that out with the flip flop and the field goal percentage."

"We had kind of a bad start on offense too to the start of the second half.  We had our chances down the stretch. I like my team. I think they showed a lot of toughness. They had a chance there to win late or make it a one possession game. A couple of silly turnovers really hurt us. Chattanooga's an outstanding team. They're well prepared. We just came up a little short."

On Furman's style of play.
"We want to defend teams at the half court because I think we're good at it, but I like to run. I like to play. I thought for us we want to run on misses and turnovers. We have some fast guards. I thought our transitions on offense were really poor in the first half. We didn't move the ball really well. They did a terrific job of getting back. But we're a team that we want to run on misses and turnovers and try to attack early.

"If they score on us, they pressed us, so they really slowed us down on makes and that really slowed the tempo of the game down. I thought we did a nice job too. They weren't getting anything in transition, anything early and we made them score late in the clock, and I think that's what happens sometimes in conference play no matter what kind of tempo you want to play.

"Both teams know each other pretty well. Both teams are ready to defend and play physical. I think both teams today were very prepared for a hard-fought game, and I think that's what you saw."

On evening things out in the second half.
"I thought we got some in transition. I thought we did a better job of getting it into the post and attacking in the paint. Justin Tuoyo is really hard to score on in there, but sometimes we played a little bit better inside-out. We got to the offensive glass a little bit. They're a difficult team to score on. Like I said, I thought they had a pretty good game plan coming into the game. It took us a little while to adjust and start to get aggressive, and I thought we did that a lot more in the second half."