Chattanooga Mocs Basketball - Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at No. 20 Tennessee
Thompson-Boling Arena - Knoxville, Tenn.
Nov. 12, 2010
Head Coach John Shulman
Thoughts on the game:
"We didn't play very well. I mean, we just didn't play very well. Bruce (Pearl) said we were hard to guard, but the ball has to go in the basket. We are kind of hard to guard, but we did not make any shots.
"It used to be defend-defend-defend, even if you were not making shots. It is not like that anymore. It's sad, but that ball has got to go in for you to have energy to keep on guarding and defending on the other end.
"This wasn't an end-all; this is a process. We were very poor defensively. Our goal coming in was let's make Tennessee beat us from the 3-point-line. Well, we are not going to get beat in the paint and we are not going to get beat from the foul line - that is the John Shulman way. They scored 15 points from the 3-point-line, and they scored 57-points from the paint and the foul line."
Junior PG Keegan Bell
Thoughts on the game:
"It is frustrating, but they are a talented team. I felt like we started off the game with a little bit of 'deer in the headlights.' We weren't doing what we were supposed to do defensively. We were slow, but they are also a talented team. When you are going against each other in practice and then you come out here and you have such long, lanky athletes, sometimes it is harder to adjust. I felt like at a point we did (adjust), but we never guarded like we are supposed to."
"We have to be way more physical. This was a good test for us. The team that came here in 2008 and lost by 40 went to the NCAA Tournament, so we are keeping that in mind. It is great to know that we have a lot of work to do. Even though they are a talented team, we shot ourselves in the foot a lot. I think it could have been a much closer game if we would have done what we were supposed to do."
On looking comfortable in the game:
"You have to pull them. You can't hesitate. You can't think when you shoot. Credit to Tennessee though. There are so long and the way they fake, you didn't know if they were going to guard you or the next guy. When you are open you just have to pull 'em. We weren't really making shots, but that can't get into guys heads. We pull in practice when we are missing and we have to pull in games. They wil get going."
"I just felt that I had to be aggressive, especially when we got down. I have been here before. I have played here before. I know that when you get down, you can get down by a lot. I just was trying to think that if there was any way to get an open look I was just going to try to get our team going."
