Chattanooga Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga 82, Miss. Valley State 60
The McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Dec. 12, 2009
Chattanooga
Head Coach John Shulman
On the game:
"I hope that Ty didn't break his wrist, that would be a bad thing. We have had a long week of practice, and we were tremendous coming out with a great defensive effort early. Its nice to have the veterans pulls us through like this. We were average, but after that kind of week [on the practice court]. We had to come in here and get a 22-point win. I will take it, be pleased with it and hope that I challenged them enough with a huge game coming up this Monday night."
On Ty Patterson's wrist:
"It's not as swollen as it could be. He got ice on it. I am not sure how bad, bte he has got some bone scan or x-rays coming up. We will know something later on. I hate that for him and for our team. It is just part of the course right now."
"I thought he gave us a great start. It was nice having Keegan giving us some nice penetration and pitching it inside. It looked like how it was supposed to look."
"We talked about one of our keys bringing energy early, being energized. They lost late last night to St. Louis and St. Louis is pretty good. It was an eight point game at half. So, we wanted to take their game early and we did a nice job. I think they had two points at the 14 minute mark. We did a nice job early defensively and as you can tell, we were a team just searching for itself. We don't have a lot of confidence at this moment. If we had made shots early, we could have been up 28-2, but it is hard getting out when you don't have a lot of confidence"
On the difference between this game and previous games:
"I believe we got to earn respect and you got to pay the price. We paid a price this week. I mean we are probably a little fatigued out there. We paid a severe price this week and it was not fun. It was not Christmas break. It was not Christmas vacation this past week. So, hopefully, our guys think they paid a price and we will pay a price tomorrow night in getting ready to play Georgia Tech. It was nice to have success when we put that work in."
On Georgia Tech:
"They're not any good, just top 20 in the country. I appreciate Paul [Hewitt] doing this and would have appreciated it more if he had done this last year. But he would talk to me and wouldn't return my phone calls. They have two NBA guys inside and great perimeter players. To tell you the truth, I haven't watched them on tape. I have watched a lot of Mississippi Valley State. We will challenge our guys with a great team coming in. If we out rebound them by like fifteen, then we have a chance to beat them like Tennessee [last year]. I fully expect to have a great effort and a great crowd. I know it is hard to get a great crowd before Christmas, but the last time I checked Tennessee was before Christmas and we had a great crowd. We need a great crowd Chattanooga. We need our fans out there. I know we haven't played great, but we are getting there little by little. We are 5-4. Last year, we were 2-7 at this time. Last night, I had a Christmas party with my boss, walking around blue and doom like we had lost 14 in a row. We have won 2 out of 3 going into today, and now we have won 3 out of 4. We should be a little bit more positive winning 3 out of 4 going into the Georgia Tech game."
On playing another top team at home like Richmond and Missouri on the road earlier this year:
"I think that it is important, but I think they do understand the level now. I am not saying it is okay, but when you get beat by 30 on the road, it is a road game. You don't have family or friends their, but when you get on your home wood it is a little different. You take it a little different. You take it a little bit more personnel. Hopefully, we will have them nice and juiced up and be good. You can't have great results if you don't have great opportunities. We have a great opportunity Monday night."
On what to expect from the team Monday night:
"We are going to defend, we are going to defend and we are going to defend, that will give us a chance. We got to box out and rebound, or we are going to have a tough time. Tomorrow is a different day. We are going to meet tomorrow night at 6 and practice at 7 because Jeff Smith is graduating and everybody is going to his little deal tomorrow. Only, Jeff Smith could start his graduation party at 4 o'clock on the day that we play at 2 p.m. I told Jeff we won't call any timeouts late, so we won't be late to your graduation party. Everybody is going to Jeff's graduation party and tomorrow, everybody is going to his graduation and practice tomorrow night. We are going to get at it and have a good time.
Sophomore Guard Ricky Taylor
On the game:
"Great win for us, we had two a days this week and it finally paid off. We got a huge victory tonight."
On the difference in the game against MVSU last year and this year:
"I believe the difference was the fans. We had a lot of fans here; I thank the fans for coming and supporting us. When we were down there last year, there was not that many fans. So, I believe the fans really gave us energy and the edition of Ty Patterson, that really helped out a lot."
On the adjustments you will make from tonight going into the Georiga Tech game:
"I feel like that one of the adjustments we have to make is defending and rebounding. It is not only going to be a physical game but also a mental game. They might jump out to a big lead but we just need to calm down and settle down and run our offenses like we did tonight and we will be just fine. We just need to come with it when it comes to Monday."
Sophomore Guard Keegan Bell
On the difference of having Ty Patterson out there:
"Ty [Patterson] is a great player and a great scorer. Just to have his offensive ability out there when you are driving it, kicking it. It makes people respect you. It helps to drive because he starts hitting a few [threes], then they start cheating it out to him. Then, it just leaves lanes wide open. His defense ability is an assest because he is just a long lanky athlete. He came out there and really helped us out. "
On the constant change in the starting lineup:
"I wouldn't say so because we have played with one another for so long. Even this year in practice we mix and mingle all the time, so we are really comfortable with one another. I feel like there is a good chemistry out there with who ever goes out there. We are a close knit team and whoever is out there just rolls with the punches and it's successful."
On the adjustments you will make from tonight going into the Georiga Tech game:
"Georgia Tech is a great team, they are very athletic. This Mississippi Valley Statet team is atletic and gets after and tries to make the game kind of crazy. Georgia Tech is a really good school and really good teams so we have to be physical, take care of the ball a lot more, and just do what we do. Even though it is Georgia Tech we still have to worry about Chattanooga and we have to beat ourselves to beat them."
Freshman Guard Josh Odem
On the adjustments you will make from tonight going into the Georiga Tech game?
"Rebounding, our main thing against Georgia Tech will be rebounding. As coach has said they have some beast on their team, so our main objective is rebounding, to defend, and played hard."
