Chattanooga vs. Alabama State
Monday, November 20, 2017
Chattanooga, Tenn., McKenzie Arena
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On slow finish after gaining large lead.
"I didn't like how we ended the game from an efficiency standpoint and from an attention to detail standpoint. We had been doing things that were successful, but they hit some shots at the end so you have to give them credit. There were some other things we did that weren't us. Those situations can be hard to play in, when you're up big and trying to close the game. Handling adversity is some times not as difficult as handling successes. I thought we had done a great job early in the game, the whole first half and parts of the second half, but I just didn't like how we ended the game."

On holding Alabama State to 14 points in the first half.
"To hold them to 14 points in the first half was great. It was more of what we were doing than anything. We were following the game plan, being discipline in what we were doing, and that was encouraging to see. Will it always result in 14 points in a half? No. But those are the shots we want other teams to take and we have a lot of say so in that by how we play defense. We were really excited about what we did defensively in the first half."

On ball movement on offense.
"That was as well as we moved the ball all season. It was fantastic at times. We got some high quality shots and the results followed. We get more excited about what we do and don't necessarily look at the results. We celebrate doing things the way we want to do them and we did a lot of good things tonight."
 
Nat Dixon, So.-G
On the process of becoming more successful.
"Coach Paris is great. There is a way he wants things to be done. Whether we end up with a made shot or a missed shot, like he said, they're [coaching staff] going to celebrate the process of getting that shot if it's the right way. We trust in Coach Paris and we love him. At the end of the day, if we take care of what we can do and play how he wants us to play, we'll come out more successful."

On defensive effort in the first half.
"We just try to make it a point to sit down defensively and play our principles. We try to talk to each other more and I think we did a good job of that in the first half. We don't try to look at the score and just play to our principles. I feel like we got away from that in the second half, so in the next few games, hopefully we'll come out strong in the second half."

On offensive ball movement.
"We moved the ball really well tonight. Everyone gave up a good shot to get a great shot. Coach [Paris] harps on that every day. We just tried to go out there and do that and we were successful at it tonight."
 
Makinde London, Jr.-F
On handling lead down the stretch.
"It's what he's [Coach Paris] been telling us all year long. It's maturity. We have to grow up and learn how to handle those situations. When it comes down late in the game with a big lead, you see a lot of the time you can blow a big lead. Every game is a learning process. It's a growing process. We have something to learn from this. Nothing is going to be handed to us because of one half of play, it's a game of two halves. We showed some good things, but the maturity is the biggest thing for us taking care of business down the stretch."

On coming together as a unit.
"When we come together, we're capable of a lot. We're building trust in each other and trusting ourselves. Every one can make shots down the line on this team. It's about making the right decisions and the simple decisions. I think we're showing signs of that and we have to take it day by day to get better."