Chattanooga at Mercer
Monday, January 15, 2018
Macon, Ga. - Hawkins Arena
Postgame Quotes
Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after tough OT loss.
"If Makale's [Foreman] shot goes in we win. We still got out-rebounded and out-scored in the paint but we still would have won. But what a battle. What about these guys. What a battle from these guys. If we had seven seniors and veterans and played that hard, I'd be saying some times that's how it goes. I don't know if I coached a team, all things considered, that fights and competes this hard. I feel bad for them. They just need to know how I feel about them as competitors. I'm glad I am coaching these guys. I'm still not happy we lost, but man, these guys. They just fight. I feel for them about how this turned out."
On the support and competitiveness.
"Our fans back up our guys. I normally can't hear things during the game but I heard them. We appreciate the support they give us. They know how hard these guys compete. This is a good group when we compete like that. What has worked for us isn't anything I drew up. The biggest thing is how we compete. We called a couple plays down the stretch and then I stopped calling plays. We ended up just playing basketball. Some coaches just want to dictate every play. I love when these guys just go out there and play. That's the style I enjoy."
On heading into halftime and responding.
"Our energy and how the coaches went into the locker room was really good. We talked about the right things. You have to have a system. It's about how well you get your guys to play that system. I thought we were disciplined and played really hard. No one will know that, but we were incredibly disciplined. Shot selection and from the defensive end. I have no complains over that. The discipline was really good. That's the team I want to coach and the that's how I want it to look like."
On playing a veteran Mercer team.
"Five seniors coming off a 30-point win over Samford. They're good. They're well-coached and don't make a lot of mistakes. It just shows how if you compete and be principled, the results will be there. We did that tonight and it rewarded us defensively."
Nat Dixon, So.-G/F
On close loss to Mercer.
"Mercer is a really good team with five seniors. I'm just really proud of our guys. We just need to keep playing hard and I'm proud of us. I need to get back in the gym and start shooting the ball with more confidence at the free-throw line."
On team's competitiveness.
"We're just coming together. We made it a point no matter what we will come out and play as hard as we can every night. I'm really proud of our guys. I couldn't ask any more from them."
David Jean-Baptiste, R-Fr.-G
On effort of team tonight.
"We have the heart. A lot of grit and a lot of toughness. I know we only have a couple guys coming off the bench. We have a lot of toughness on this team, physically and mentally. We're just pushing through and playing hard. A lot of toughness on this team and we're coming together."
On the play from Joshua Phillips to send game into OT.
"It took forever to go down. I caught myself staring at the top of the key. Josh, talk about right time and right place. I saw it come off the rim and thought, 'I hope one of our guys grabs it'. It hit the backboard and just went in. It was a crazy play.
