Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Longwood vs. Chattanooga - Dr Pepper Classic Game 2
The McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011
Chattanooga Head Coach John Shulman
Thought's on the first night of the Dr. Pepper Classic
"It's good to be playing at 7 p.m. tomorrow. I have a lot of friends at Coke who do a lot for us. I'm not sure if there's more pressure in the first round of the Dr. Pepper Classic or the NCAA Tournament. You have to get to the final game for those guys."
On Ricky Taylor's 1000th point scored
"Ricky Taylor becoming the 18th Moc in the Division I era to score 1000 points is a great accomplishment. You think about all the history and tradition of Chattanooga basketball and there are only 18 players to score 1000 points, and Ricky is one of them. Congratulation Ricky."
On Keegan Bell's play and the team's position at the half
"We talk about trying to be different and special, and Keegan Bell's 16 assists is pretty special. Someone told me during the game if he got one more rebound he'd have a triple-double and I said that's great but he didn't get it. But he's already gotten a triple-double. It's exciting to see our team get better. At half time we were up by two points and we were 1-13 from the three point line. Now that's a change. I asked the team at half why we were up by two, and it's because we were up by 15 on the glass and we'd shot more free throws than they had. So when we start making shot we're going to be successful, but to be up by two points after going 1-13 and they were 7-20 is a John Shulman kind of basketball team. That's what I wanted to see."
Thought's on second half shots as opposed to first half shots
"I told them at half time if they got a look to knock it in, but make sure it's open. The whole game plan going in was to try to make Carter guard us. And what does Omar do? He shoots four three's in the first three minutes of the game. That wasn't the point. So hopefully he can figure that out, but we need Omar. It's no secret we need Omar to make shots for us to be good. That's why he was Preseason All-Conference. He isn't on that list because he defends or rebounds. He makes shots. It was nice to see him make some shots in the second half, and we look like a good basketball team when the ball goes in the basket."
Keegan Bell, Senior, Guard
Thoughts on the team's offensive play
"It's just easy when you have guys on the floor like I have. From Z. Mason battling out there all night and getting open. A lot of people talk about the guy making the assists and passing, but they get to open spots when they're knocking stuff down. Our guys were really great offensively tonight. I always say it's easy when you have a 1000 point scorer in Ricky Taylor coming up. Kicking out to him is automatic. And then Omar Wattad finally started getting on a roll, and we knew that was going to happen here soon. That makes it easy and it makes it fun. I felt like we were more offensively and we were getting stops on the defensive end that allowed us to run, and that's how we want to play. I just have to get the guys that are open the ball and they were knocking them in tonight."
Thoughts on Z. Mason's play
"He's a man out there. When he starts playing like that was going to do something special. Z has always had it, but people don't realize when you take that much time off from basketball it takes a bit to get comfortable again. I've had to deal with it from transferring, and now when he plays like that it opens up everything. It opens up our outside shot and it opens up shots for Drazen Zlovaric. We're just quite obviously a much better basketball team when our inside presence is going. Z was phenomenal tonight."
Z. Mason, Sophomore, Forward
Thoughts on impact made upon entering the game
"I guess just coming in and trying to bring energy to the team. I know Coach Shulman was emphasizing rebounding and I just wanted to go hard to the glass. A lot of guys look at me going to the glass. I try to be contagious and get the guys rallied with me. You have to bring energy. Keegan got the guys going and really put us over the top."
On improvements made since joining the team
"I'm trying to make strides. I'm just trying to get better every day in practice and the games. Everything is starting to be more comfortable, and playing with the guys is meshing and gelling better. It's starting to come together."
