Postgame Quotes
Gardner Webb at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tenn. - McKenzie Arena
Nov. 11, 2011

Head Coach John Shulman
On the loss to Gardner-Webb:
"We gave up 19 percent from the three [point line], gave up 37 percent shooting, and couldn't get a rebound. We can't get a rebound off a free throw, up by two points with less than two minutes to go in the game. We couldn't get a rebound while we were on the inside. We had Deantre Jefferson and Jeremy Saffore, who could go get rebounds, but this year we don't. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds to a team that wanted to go get the ball more than we wanted to go get the ball. I guess that's coaching, so we're going to have to work on going and getting the ball. If we could have rebounded the ball, we could have won the game by 10 points. We had a great defensive scheme and the kids followed that to a tee. They did a really nice job on Jason Dawson and did a nice job on Max Landis. He was 4-15 from the floor. We did a good job defensively. We just couldn't go get a rebound."

On Chattanooga's play during the game:
"We had seven offensive rebounds. Gardner-Webb is good. I take nothing away from them, but that was an embarrassing effort on the glass. We can't get a rebound, up by two off the foul line. We're still not shooting it very well, but I thought we had some good shots in the first half. I thought it flowed better offensively and got good shots, but the ball didn't go in the basket. You can't help that. You can't do anything about that, but you can always do something about defending and rebounding."

On the team's senior leadership:
"This is a senior team. This is their team. That wasn't my team when we went to the NCAA tournament in 2005. That was the seniors' team. When we went in 2009, that was the seniors' team. This is the seniors' team. What they want to make of their team is up to them. It isn't up to me. I want to win every game. I want to get every rebound and make every shot. My job is to get them prepared to do that. We had a great day of preparation yesterday. We had a very good practice and guarded their ball screen fantastic today. We guarded everything here and there great, but if they don't feel like getting the rebound we can't be successful. That is on them, not me. I am extremely disappointed. But this isn't my team. If they want to be successful on the glass, they have to make that choice. We do more rebounding drills than anyone in America."

Senior Guard Keegan Bell
Thoughts on the game:
"It's disappointing. We had some miscommunication. There at the end, one of our players ran a play we weren't supposed to run, wasn't the right spot, and it's frustrating. The rebounding is about want-to and wanting to go get it, and Gardner-Webb killed us on the glass all night long. Coach [Shulman] kept preaching and preaching, but it didn't get through our guys' heads and that's disappointing. Especially in a game like that where it's the last-second shot. For them to get a rebound and lay it up right in our face is very disappointing."

On the rough start Chattanooga is experiencing:
"I just think we're been ugly lately. I don't know what it's about, but sometimes teams go through this. I would rather go through this now. Some teams are hitting on all cylinders now, but toward the end of the year they fizzle out. We just have to bring it and figure it out. We have to go to practice and figure it out that way. We're still together. I don't think anybody is mad at any other person. We have disappointments, but we're a family and we're going to pick it back up. We just have to go back to work and listen to Coach Shulman."

On the feeling going into overtime:
"I think you're disappointed because I felt that we lost it ourselves. You have to give Gardner-Webb credit because they made great plays to tie it back up, but I just felt that from the plays we were running that we didn't execute there at the end. I felt that we lost it for ourselves in regulation. It's frustrating when you have to go to overtime, but you have to have a quick memory and block it out."

Senior Guard Ricky Taylor
Thoughts on the game:
"It was very frustrating. We were just one rebound away, one box out away from winning the game. Coach Shulman emphasizes it every day, and we say we have it and we say we learn, but unfortunately when the game comes we tend to lose our focus. We tend to forget sometimes. It cost us tonight and we had to pay a severe price for it."

Thoughts on senior leadership:
"If the loss is on the seniors, it's on everybody. We are the bulk of the team, the leaders and the captains, but it's a team effort. It takes everybody to rebound and everybody to box out their man so we just have to buy in as a team. One simple box out could have won us the game."

On what it will take to bounce back:
"We've had a lot of disappointments early, but that doesn't determine our future. We have practice tomorrow and we have to correct out mistakes. Once we do that we have to focus. As far as league play, it is time to man up and grow up. It's time for the seniors to take a stand, lead and be an example to the juniors, sophomores and freshmen. We have a bright future ahead of us. I believe we are going to go far in the SoCon and we're going to be competitive. We have great leadership and coaches, but we have to buckle in defensively and box out."