Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Western Carolina Catamounts at Chattanooga Mocs
The McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Thursday - Jan. 5, 2012
Head Coach John Shulman
"Everybody wanted to call it a must win. I didn't want to use that word, but I know one thing...it was pretty important. I am not stupid."
"I knew before the game it would be a battle of the boards and we had to take care of the boards. We had a great first half taking care of the boards. We had a great first half getting to the foul line, and I look up and we are down two. Sometimes you just have to stay the course and we stayed the course and good things happen to us."
"I never believed we could be them by 24 on the glass, so I commend our guys for that. Getting 20 offensive rebounds, I commend our kids. Drazen did a nice job and I thought Z. Mason took a huge step forward again."
"We beat a very good basketball team and hopefully our kids are understanding that we are a good basketball team. It has been hard to understand that because we haven't had a load of success. But that shouldn't stop us from thinking we are a good team."
On stretching the floor in the last few minutes:
"Keegan did a nice job. He hit Z for a layup and he hit Drazen for a layup. I am pleased, but we have 15 more. We have a huge one here Saturday. If we really want to get back in the thick of things we have to take care of business on Saturday night."
On the guys diving around for the ball in the last five minutes:
"Those are called winning plays. Those are huge plays. That is why you win games the little plays. Drazen got us a three by making an unbelievable effort play. Omar sacrificed his body by getting on the floor. Huge play. Effort plays win games. Don't think that we won't show them that on tape. That may be the only thing we show them on tape. The effort plays, offensive rebounds, diving on the floor, that is what wins games. You are going to have success if you do that."
Senior Keegan Bell
Thoughts on the game:
"Our team has a good flow. The first half I didn't think we were flowing as good as we have been. Second half we just turned it up. When we are playing like that, it just makes it fun. When you do that, it gets you extra buckets. Drazen was phenomenal and when you see Omar diving on the floor, it is s sight to see. It was awesome."
On the closing stretch:
"When it has been close we have kept it close. I thought we did a great job all night stopping the bleeding and then when we had open shots they fell. I felt that in the first half we weren't making as many, but in the second we got some big stops and opened the floor."
On only taking 16 threes:
"We want to play fast. We want to get stops and get up and down and run. When we don't get stops we have to throw the ball in all the time. When you are doing that it slows down and you can't get loose. When are running and gunning we are going to be the best basketball team we can be."
Junior Drazen Zlovaric
On the overall hustle shown in the game tonight:
"I fell like as a team we were out there making hustle plays and rebounding the ball. It showed at the end."
On the new mentality of the team:
"I feel like coming off the Dr Pepper and Tennessee, those three games we played good all three games. I think it transferred over from those three games. Coach told us before the game that they are a really good defensive team. They are physical, they are tough. I feel like we went out there and matched their toughness and fought them for every ball. It showed at the end."
On getting more comfortable
"I have been frustrated, especially the last two games. The ball wouldn't fall in. I missed the shots that I make in practice. They would just rim out. Today, the ball fell in. Coach told me to take it strong to the basket. A lot of times I worry about someone blocking my shot, but this is not the SEC anymore. I was pump-faking for no one. He told me to just go straight up."
Western Carolina Head Coach Larry Hunter
Opening statement:
"I thought Chattanooga's energy to start the second half was really key. It looked like they were really trying to push the ball a little more in the second half than the first half. Rebounding, obviously, was a big factor all night long. I thought Drazen Zlovaric really gave them a good inside presence and we did really have anyone to match that."
On taking a season-high 35 3-pt FGs:
"We shoot some threes and that is part of what we do. In basketball, to be consistently good, you have to have a good inside-outside balance. We shot the ball pretty well and we executed pretty well in the first half. In the second half, they double-teamed our low post and we never established any low-post presence. Our four-man scored nine points, but they were all perimeter jumpers and we didn't handle the double-team very well. When you double-team the low post, you can create offense if you can handle the double-team. If you drag-dribble, get the ball moving and attack the basket, you create offense and we weren't able to do that. We became basically a perimeter team. They started sitting on the three, because we had no inside presence."
On the play of Trey Sumler - 12 assists and 0 turnovers in 40 minutes:
"Trey is a good player. He is playing with two pins in his finger, so he is not like he was two weeks ago, but he still gets a lot done. He is a tough kid and does a good job out there. Keegan Bell does a good job too. He got more involved in the second half. His penetration, he doesn't go to score. I couldn't get our guys to understand, he is not going to score, he is going to pass, and he does a great job with that."
