Postgame Quotes
Georgia Southern at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tenn. - The McKenzie Arena
Feb. 3, 2011
Head Coach John Shulman
Opening Statement:
"Number one please give Georgia Southern much credit to keep on battling. They are not far away. When they break through, they will be tough and play with a lot of confidence.
"Drayton was fantastic tonight. He is very difficult to guard off the bounce. I felt like we were a little flat in the locker room before the game. Give our guys credit though. We are not going to apologize for winning. I guess we are just finding ways to win. You are telling me we go 12-19 from the three point line, yet we are in close games. We shot 63% from three point land, and 59% from the field, yet we win by only three."
Expand on the defense a little more:
"I think us not being able to guard will bite us at some point. I hope it does not, but I am a pretty smart guy when it comes to that. They shot 55% from the floor and 50% from the 3 point line. I do not want to sweep that under the rug because we won, and you do not apologize when you won. However, we are not guarding the way we should. We did not rebound well at the end of the game either. Ricky Taylor looked dead legged; the team looked dead legged. It is February, and I have to remember that as we go forward in practice to tone it down a little bit maybe. It is a long season."
On the shooting throughout the game:
"We shot 12-19, and I should be doing jumping jacks. However, as a coach you know you are not going to go 12-19 often. You could do something against the other team. By me yelling, WE HAVE TO MAK E SHOTS, WE HAVE TO MAKE SHOTS is not coaching - that is simply praying. We have to keep improving defensively. We can control defense more than offense I think."
On the message to the team when you called timeout at the fifteen minute mark:
"We were up 18, and they made a shot and we turned it over. I said, let's wake up, we have to wake up! I think they cut it to three points as the half went on. We have to figure out how to hold leads. I mean, maybe that is who we are, but I do not like that. That is not the way I am. I think our guys were more conscious in huddles tonight though. Omar was much better tonight than he was in a long time. He was a little more alert defensively. It was like he was awake."
On shaking hands with Charlton Young after the game:
"CY was on my first staff. We are blood brothers. He was frustrated. Georgia Southern is close. I was telling him to hang in there. I love the guy, and love what he did when he was here. It is hard for them because they are playing with a bunch of young guys right now. I mean Ferguson is fantastic. They are going to be good in the future. If they would have won a tight one early, they would not be in the position they are in right now. You need to learn how to win a close game as a young team for confidence. Coach Young will do well with this program."
On theme the last three games:
"Blow a 20-point lead, blow a 15 point lead, blow an 18 lead. W, W, W. That is a good theme uhh?! We knew coming in that we had three home games that we had to win. You ever have to do something that you had to do? Sometimes it is not fun. We had to win these games though. The team knows that. They are not dumb. Sometimes it is harder when you have to do something."
On giving up a lead in the last three games:
"Well, probably UNC-Greensboro and Elon upset me more. Tonight versus Georgia Southern was a little different in some aspects. I told the guys tonight great job and nice win. Do not apologize for anything tonight. I did not even mention blowing the lead. Now we go on the road at Davidson and things will be very interesting down the stretch. One straight road game is the way I look at it. I know we are going to be on the road for awhile so let's see if we have the mental toughness to win on Saturday. I have never won there. Gosh, I cannot remember the last time we won there."
On the mental toughness of his team:
"We are pretty tough. Big D had one in his dan gum hands and could not finish, but talking about mentally tough - Chris Early made some big plays tonight. I am really proud of him."
On calling plays for Chris Early:
"We called a couple plays for Chris versus UNC-Greensboro and he came through. If you produce, you keep going to the guy. I have plays on my play sheets for certain players' and you try to get a feel as the game goes on who you want getting the ball down the stretch. You go with your gut. Chris made two huge plays though and I am happy for him. By the way, I knew Ricky Taylor was going to play like that tonight. Handling failures is hard and handling success is just as hard when you are a young kid. He will be ready to go Saturday though. He is a competitor."
On having four games left on the road:
"I am really looking at the next game only. Believe me, I know who we are playing and I know what time we play at in regards to the remainder of the schedule, but all I know is that we play Davidson Saturday night and we have to focus on that. We have one straight road game and that is the way I look at it. We cannot be looking at the Yellow Jackets down the road or something like that."
Junior DeAntre Jefferson
On playing such a close game:
"We get the win at the end of the day. They're going to be tough games anyway because it's conference games. I see those coming along regardless and I think it's going to help us later in the Southern Conference Tournament."
On giving up the marginal lead:
"As a team, we are a much older group. Sometimes we get too relaxed because we know we have the game, and we know we can win it, but we get a little too complacent with ourselves. It can bite us in the end, but we've been pulling wins out and we have to get over that hump. We need to get the 20 point wins because it looks good and helps our momentum."
On why the team is consistently giving up big leads:
"I would have to say it is our defense. Any lead that you blow that is a 20 point lead has to be on the defense. Even though we were both hitting shots, I think Georgia Southern shot like 60 percent from the field. That's not good in any game, and that was in one half. They probably shot better in the second half except for near the end. Defensively, we've got to lock down and get stops. Our offense is going to allow us to score because we have numerous players that can score the ball."
Junior Ricky Taylor
On winning close games:
"We love winning, but it's not the win that we expect. Deep down, we feel like we can beat the team by a lot more points, but as long as we get the win in the end it's still another win."
On getting up on a team by 20 points:
"It's a great feeling to be up by 20 points. You kind of give yourselves space to mess up and make errors, but that's not good in the long run. If we're not making shots or free throws, then it will bite us in the end. We're still learning and growing as a team. We haven't made it to the mountain top yet, and we are still trying to climb up the mountain and win the Southern Conference Championship."
Georgia Southern Head Coach Charlton Young
On the game:
"I want to say congratulations to Coach John Shulman and the Mocs. They are very good, very big and very strong. They shoot it the best in our conference and they are very well coached. They're going to be difficult to beat at McKenzie Arena in the Southern Conference Tournament. Deep down inside, a part of me is still a Moc. I am proud of Keegan Bell, Omar Wattad and Jeremy Saffore, and how those guys have developed. I wish I could get a win one day in life, but Chattanooga is very good."
On coaching a young team:
"It's painful. It's like going to get a root-canal every Wednesday and Saturday. We have a young team and we are a depleted bunch, but our young pups are growing up. I love my young team. We've been through more than probably any team in the conference, in terms of scholarship reductions, and on the first day of individuals we lost our star point guard, Willie Powers, to an ACL injury. We lost our other senior for not getting it done in the classroom, which was very unfortunate. We're basically playing with nine scholarship guys, but we're building the program for the future. The freshmen are getting cooperative education, which is the best education, but you have to live through the mistakes and the immaturity when you are playing against men. We are happy about the progress because we are building the program the right way."
On Mocs head coach John Shulman:
"Shulman is a phenomenal coach, and I hate playing him. It's very emotional coming here to Chattanooga and seeing everybody. We won a championship together and he gave me a shot when nobody else probably would have to change my reputation. He named me associate head coach when I was a recruiter. When you're recruiting players, you don't get the opportunity to prove you can teach and coach the game. Shulman gave me that opportunity so it's very difficult playing against him."
