Charlotte at Chattanooga
Saturday, December 10, 2017
Chattanooga, Tenn., McKenzie Arena
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On what sparked big second half.
"I think sticking to what our game plan was and sticking to what we do best. We wanted to try to do it a little better. We didn't change anything, we just said we wanted to do our things better. I thought we stuck with our defensive philosophies and did a better job of playing by our rules. It yielded some results. We held that team to 50 points and that's hard to do. We really just stuck to the script."

On turnovers and trying to limit them.
"We had one stretch in the first half where we had four turnovers until about the seven minute mark and we ended up with ten. That was a bad stretch and it's funny how they cut the lead down and tied the game up during that stretch. There's some sort of correlation between turning the ball over and what the score is. I thought in the second half we wanted to take care of the ball and we only finished with four. That was a good job. Overall, the numbers are a little high, but they are acceptable for a young team that's learning and working through it. The second half we definitely did a better job of making decisions and controlling the ball."

On the play from Rodney Chatman.
"He performed really well. This is college and these guys are young and haven't been in certain situations. Unfortunately, there is going to be ups and downs but as long as we keep trending on the up swing is what we want as a staff. I thought he attacked the rim and did a really good job at that. He made some plays and that was encouraging and good to see."

On slow end to the first half.
"We didn't move as well during that stretch. Our shot selection wasn't ideal either. It's a make and miss kind of game. There were some shots that weren't as high quality as we wanted to get. The beauty is we don't rely on one guy. We have probably five or six guys hovering around double figures. I thought it was a good team effort overall."

On progression from young team.
"I'm happy with how we're progressing and how we're improving. For guys to accept that and absorb that and put out their best effort requires a lot of commitment. I've been really happy with them. We've been getting more results, maybe not in wins and losses, but we've been right there to win some of these games. If we weren't handling these situations as well as we are, we might have been in those positions.

Rodney Chatman, So.-G
On stepping up after halftime.
"I'm a leader of the team. There's a lot depending on me to win or lose games. I talked to myself at halftime and I knew I had to step it up. I think I did that in the second half."

On grinding out win over Charlotte.
"We stuck together and we played as a team. There was no individual play. We did what Coach asked of us and that got us the win."

On the play of the post players.
"They battled well. What coach Paris tells us to do, we do it and it works. If we stick to that and do what he says to do we can have an advantage over anyone. We don't have a lot of physical strength over teams, but we have a mind strength over teams. If we follow that, it'll get the job done."

Nat Dixon, So.-G/F
On stretch of over six minutes without a field goal.
"We have to take care of the ball better. That's another thing. We still harp on it. We ended up with 14 turnovers and we kind of got away from what we were supposed to do and got away from Chattanooga basketball. We have to eliminate those mistakes moving forward."

On playing with more energy today.
"Definitely. There was a lot of things in our game plan that required a lot of communication between us. I feel like we did that really well today and we capatlized."

On what win means moving forward.
"It's really big. We're still young and have a lot to learn but we [Nat Dixon & Rodney Chatman] are the more experienced of the rest. The young guys look to us. Rodney did a great job of running the show today and did a great job of controlling the pace and playing Chattanooga basketball."