Postgame Quotes
Kennesaw State at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tenn. - The McKenzie Arena
Nov. 18, 2011
Head Coach John Shulman
Opening Statement:
"We played poorly. The effort and execution was not very good. I thought that we came out with decent energy Tay [Dontay Hampton] had a steal and we had a chance to go up nine or 10 early. We could not answer. We were a step slow. Everybody on this level, Division I, gives scholarships, so everybody is good. They out-played and out-worked us."
On what contributed to tonight:
"I am going to blame myself. I was not at practice yesterday, when I knew we had to have a good practice. Yesterday's practice was very important because we needed to build upon what we did at Butler. I needed to be there and I was sick. That may have thrown us in a funk a little bit. I am not going to dwell on a loss to Kennesaw State, but we better find some answers, that is what I am going to look for. We have to get better."
On what needs to be improved:
"We better find out who can play inside for us, that is No. 1. No. 2 is that we have not broken 60 yet."
On the scoring problems:
"We have the same guys that put up a lot of points last year. We will go back and look at it. We opened it up a little bit today. The point is that we have to go back and watch tape. We have to get better offensively and have an inside presence because nobody really wants to touch the ball down in there. We run a play for one of our bigs, who has an uncontested layup and he decides to make a post move out of it. We are not getting a lot from a couple of guys inside that we were counting on."
On the slow start in the second half:
"We were not alert and did not play with a lot of urgency. Nobody was talking except the coaches. We were dead out there. I worried a little bit about that because we got back at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, but we took the day off. We only went an hour and a half yesterday, but we looked dead legged out there."
On the next step following a tough loss:
"The season goes on, you don't stop the season. The next step is tomorrow at 9 a.m., when we watch tape and get better."
On the play of the youger players on the team:
"We do have some young guys. The young guys I thought played fine. I do not know if all we thought is that we had to show up tonight because we played well at Butler. I think that we have better leadership than that. This is a pretty stinging wake up call for us, so we will see how we adjust."
On the tip balls and defensive lapses:
"We should not be fatigued, but we looked dead legged. We gave up lot of layups. We have to get a lot better and a lot better quickly. I apologize to our fans because it was disappointing."
On their transition offense:
"Late in the game, we were in an absolute scramble trying to get the trap. The simplest thing of handling a ball screen at the end of the shot clock we did not handle very well. We wanted to switch it. We were a step slow. It is like we were in shock out there. We were in shock that this was happening to us and we looked like it. You have to be ready every single night. Markeith Cummnigs can play anywhere in the country. He is a pretty good player."
On having Terrell Owens on the bench:
"It was not a distraction at all. It was nice. For all the accomplishments that he has made at Chattanooga, he has put Chattanooga on the map. I apologize to him that we could not look any better than that. I actually thought that he would bring us a little bit of life to tell you the truth. I thought that he would bring us a little pick me up. That was the first time that I met TO. He is a class guy. I am sorry that we did not get it done for him."
Senior Omar Wattad - G
On the team effort tonight:
"I think we had a rough start getting off and it took us too long to pick it up. It is tough."
On being flat or tired in the game:
"I think we ended up picking it up enough. Our goal is to always keep it under 70 and we did. He held it there, just slowed a little bit offensively. And rebounding. I have looked at the boards but I know we got killed in the first half. That killed us."
On not scoring 60 in a game yet this season:
"I can't explain it."
On this game being a wake-up call:
"I look at it as a chance to improve. We have to improve. I agree. Scoring 59, 46 and 53 in three games is not enough. We have to bring the fire defensively to get the offense going. So yeah, we have to figure out a way to score more, definitely."
On KSU's run to take the lead in the first half.
"They jumped back on us. We weren't getting back and we were in trouble at that point. It just took too long to get the fight back. We have to just find people who are all just going to bring it, defensively. We have to have the energy, the fire and the passion. We have to find enough people that are going to do that."
Senior Ricky Taylor - G
On giving up 18 fast break points:
"Tonight we did a poor job of communicating. We didn't sprint back. We were just a step behind tonight. Tonight we were inconsistent."
On looking like a different team from the last game:
"That is not the same team. We fought, we battled, we competed at Butler. Tonight, we let people have their way. That is not Chattanooga Basketball and we have to do something about it. As far as the seniors, that is unacceptable for the seniors and the rest of the team."
On not having Coach Shulman - who was sick - at practice yesterday:
"It was different. Not having him being on us...not saying that the assistant coaches weren't, but we enjoy his passion and his teaching that he gives us and we kind of missed that. Nothing against the assistants, we had a great practice, we just missed Coach Shulman."
Parts of Former Moc Terrell Owens' Halftime Interview with Voice of the Mocs Jim Reynolds
Your last year of basketball was the season before the Sweet 16 team, who were your teammates when you played at UTC?
"I groomed those guys to go on and do what they did right after I left. But those guys - Brandon Born, Johnny Taylor, all of those guys, Shane Neal, Gary Robb ... I had the best time of my life playing basketball. I say this with all sincerity...I probably had a better time playing basketball than I did playing football. I had a special bond with those guys. Coach McCarthy, Gerald White. Just being in this arena brings back a lot of memories."
Coach McCarthy said he was going to play the five guys that gave the most effort and you were among the starting five for that game at ETSU.
"I tell guys, I am better at playing basketball now than I was back then. When I got the chance to start here, it was definitely because I knew my position and I knew my role. My job was to come in and box out, rebound and play defense. I worked hard in practice. Brandon Born gave me the nickname 'Skillet.' I don't know why but I remember Coach Mac running us to death in this gym. When I got a chance to start it meant so much to me. With all of the hard work we had put in practice, he had seen what I did, week in and week out. Just coming in and working hard. I knew I wasn't the best basketball player, but I worked hard and made the team as a walk on and I had a great time here."
When did you realize you were the best football player?
"I didn't know, really until probably three or four years into the National Football League. I was always seen as a guy who had raw potential. Once I got here to UT-Chattanooga, I had no idea. I didn't have any aspirations beyond the collegiate level. I just worked my butt off and stayed in the weight room. I got bigger, faster and stronger and things just happened for me."
Is your biggest memory the four TD catches in the Marshall game?
"You guys have your memories of that game. Of course it was a great game. We beat the defending National Champions 33-31 right here at Chamberlain Field. The next week we got out to practice...we are walking down to Scrappy Moore Field and Tommy West looks at me and said - You think you did something because you scored four touchdowns, you ain't done nothing yet. He just brought me right back down to earth. So I just kept plugging away."
On coming back to Chattanooga:
"This University gave me an opportunity to come here and play football and go to school. I feel like I have made the most of it. I love Chattanooga and I feel bad just being here now that I have not made it back sooner. I am glad to be here. I am going to be back sooner than later. It won't be another 15 years for me to get back. I love Chattanooga and it has been great."
Kennesaw State Head Coach Lewis Preston
Opening Statement:
"First of all, I really thought that our guys really paid attention to the game plan, the best thus far. We put some numbers up on the board prior to the game. One of the things that I wanted to try and do was keep them under 40 percent from the field, which we held them to 38. I was looking for us to get 15 or more assists, sharing the ball. We ended up with 18. I was looking to out-rebound them and it was plus-3. I was very happy for our team. I thought that everybody that got in contributed. I think our seniors stepped up and played like seniors. They were kind of the energy for the rest of our group."
On keeping the intensity up going into the second half:
"These guys had a better feel for UTC, then we did as a staff. They played them last year at the Convocation Center. The personnel was not that much different. I really thought Markeith [Cummings] coming off the bench was huge with his 21 points and eight rebounds, considering everything that has gone on the past week. I thought Spencer was very solid for us. A guy that I have to tip my hat to is Romaine Henry being able to come in and have his second-straight game with 10 points and five rebounds. He had four assists and one turnover. Once again, it was a complete team effort. One thing that I try to keep telling them is to stay in character and that is something that I am going to talk about all year long. Just continuing to stay in character, knowing who you are. We got out of character a little bit down the stretch, when they brought the pressure with the traps. For the most part, 37 out of 40 minutes, we pretty much stayed in character."
On confidence that was found after being down 14-5 and coming back:
"One of the things that I put up on the board is: 'One and done, we can run.' I think a lot of that was fueled by some changes in defenses that we did. We got our hands on some balls. A lot of that came back to our intensity on defense. We are going to continue to work on that and build upon that. This is a great game for us to build off of in preparation for next week."
On adding a win against Chattanooga:
"The last time was in the Asheville Civic Center in the SoCon Tournament. I was reminded of that. The one thing that I was very concerned about was their ability to knock down threes. If you go back and look at their stats from last year, almost half of their shots were from the three-point line. If you look at tonight, they are right there at 46-47 percent from three. I thought they had some pretty good looks and they just did not go down. Once again, I am always going to talk about our group being resilient, that is what we are going to have to be throughout the course of the season. The most important thing when you have seniors and juniors that have been through the fire and fight, that is where you want that resiliency to come out."
On the post defense:
"I thought that it was okay. It is something that we are going to have to continue to work on. One of the things about these guys is that they all go over the left shoulder. We wanted to make sure that we forced them to go over the right. Looking at the stats right here, Zlovoric, had 11 and nine. I might not be too happy with that, but holding Chris Early to seven points and six rebounds. I can kind of live with that."
