Mocs Basketball - Postgame Quotes vs. Jackson State
Jackson State at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Nov. 24, 2010

Head Coach John Shulman
Opening Statement:
"I would think 75 points at home is good enough. We've got some guys who think offense is the way to go. We will not guard and we cannot guard, and those are two bad things. Until we understand that we have to defend, this will continue to happen. We made 10 three's and that's a good night. I will take 10 three's and scoring 75 points with a team that comes in here averaging 51 points, but we gave up 87 points. Jackson State is a good basketball team and I tried to tell everybody, but no one wanted to listen to me. They have a really good team and that is a NCAA Tournament team. This doesn't mean we're a bad team, just a bad defensive team. Until we figure that out we're going to be just average."

On Jackson State's zone:
"We haven't played against a lot of zone, but we had seen that they threw some zone against Marshall and Louisville. It was a nine-point game with six to play at Louisville so they're got great length and really good size. Still, did the zone affect us? You tell me. We scored 75 points, had 23 assists and 11 turnovers. Are you kidding me? Seventy-five points, 23 assists and 11 turnovers. Keegan Bell had 10 assists and two turnovers. It isn't on that end. Not even close. We get wild, can't stop anybody and we give up layups. Great teams have to be able to stop people at half-court and you have to be able to score. Right now, we can score, but we can't stop anyone."

On the game as a whole:
"I was really disappointed. This doesn't make or break us, but we have to learn from these. Some lessons are very hard to learn. I used to be a really good defensive coach and I'm doing the same things, so they need to look themselves in the mirror. Probably, the person looking back I the mirror is the one that's not defending a whole lot. We've got to get better as a group and they have to understand that they have to play with more urgency defensively. If you have to learn harsh lessons to get better then so be it. I would rather not, but sometimes trying to convince a 20-year old college kid of this and he doesn't believe you. Hopefully after that performance he believes me."

Junior Guard Ricky Taylor
Opening statement:
"This is very disappointing. We were asleep out there and we didn't wake up at all. Our defensive presence just wasn't there, and when defense isn't there then games like this happen. In order for us to start being successful we have to start playing defense."

On the post-game meeting:
"Coach Shulman was telling us that we need to bring it, and that our effort is terrible. We don't have any heart and things of that nature. When we have those we can be out there, but when we don't then things aren't going to go our way. We weren't listening, weren't communicating and things like that. There were simple things that we just didn't convert."

On what happened during the game:
"I just think we lost focus. It's just an inconsistency. We need to be consistent with our defense. The two games we won everybody was on the same page. We were talking, communicating and doing the things that Coach Shulman wanted, but we lost focus. When we lose focus then we'll start taking bad shots and giving up turnovers when we don't listen to our coach."

Senior Center DeAntre Jefferson
Opening statement:
"This is a hard loss. I think Jackson State is a really good team. They went in against team in the last few games they played and they competed at a high level. I think we needed to play a team like this. It's good to play a team that plays hard and has good athletes on their team."

On what can be taken from this game:
"We have to learn, take each game and refresh ourselves. We have to learn from the mistakes and move on. I thought Marshall was a big win for us and I think we could have played a lot harder going into Louisville. The Louisville game taught us something and I think the Jackson State game has taught us something. Jackson State played Louisville and they competed at a very good level and made it a close game. I think we had a chance to do the same thing here, but we have to learn how to finish as a team. We have to play team defense."

On the team's defense:
"I think defense is an effort and heart thing. I think, as a team defense, we have to communicate and we'll be so much better. If we can play team defense it will lead to a lot more wins. You have to play one-on-one, but we have to be able to build a wall to the ball and stick to our principles. We need to talk and communicate. We can score the ball, that's no problem at all, but our defense is what is going to take us to the next level."

On what to do on the off day:
"Hopefully we'll be with our families or go to Coach Shulman's house to eat for Thanksgiving. It's a day off so we can clear our heads and be ready to compete when we go down to Florida on Friday."