MOCS MEN'S BASKETBALL QUOTES
Game No. 22 | Chattanooga vs. The Citadel | McKenzie Arena | Jan. 31, 2015
Head Coach Will Wade
How hard is it to defend against a team like The Citadel?
“They're a tough guard. They run good stuff; they stir you up and they have guys that can really drive, guys that are physical, and can make plays. It's a tough guard for us. I thought the first half we guarded them really well. Even though they scored 30 points I thought 10 of them were really tough shots at the end of the shot clock. We really guarded them. Second half we were really lacking with our defense.”
Thoughts on free throws in the second half:
“It helped us. We made our free throws down the stretch. I wish [Justin] Tuoyo would have made those two. Other than that our guys stepped up and made them. It's good when your guards, [Greg] Pryor and Rico [White] can make them. That certainly helped us keep them at bay there for a while.”
Was there any conversation about Casey [Jones] being aggressive the past few games?
“I always just tell him to attack and be aggressive. We're not over thinking things. He knows I want him to attack and be aggressive. I gave him jobs before the Mercer game, and his was to attack. He's been doing that, and good things happen when he does that.”
On the game overall:
“I just think they were more aggressive than us. I thought we were more aggressive in attacking in the first half, and I thought they were more aggressive in the second half. I told our guys I wasn't going to judge us on the score; I was going to judge us on who was aggressive and attacking. I thought we were in the first half, but I thought they had us on our heels in the second half. I didn't think we sprinted to offense very well, I thought we were slow with our pace and our offense. I thought we didn't rebound the ball particularly well in the second half. We had a comfortable rebound margin at the half; ended up getting out rebounded. Second half was not good. It was not good; they were attacking more, and were more aggressive than us. We have to get that corrected. We have to be able to put together two good halves. First half we played very well, but second half for whatever reason we weren't.”
Thoughts on Chuck Ester's development:
“He works hard. It's great to see him hit the threes. He's a good shooter. Sometimes you just have to play a hunch. He's really been getting better. I thought it was the right move at this time, for his continual progress, I thought this was the right move. He played well tonight. He did some good things. He was all over the floor. He was playing hard; he stuck the shot. He's a tough guard because he can drive it and it gives us a fourth guy out there when they get a defensive rebound can get the break started. I think that's a big thing. He's skilled, he's really good. He's been coming on; he's been working hard. He's been coming on as we've gotten him more minutes. He's not as good offensively as Marty [Bareika], he's not as good defensively as Lance [Stokes] but he's our best kind of hybrid between the two. I think we're going to need him down the stretch. We're going to need him in big games, and the best way to do that is to play him and get him minutes. I thought he certainly responded the right way tonight. I told him I was starting him yesterday, I told him ' just keep doing what you're doing. You don't have to press. You don't have to do anything different. Just do what you've been doing; that will be plenty good enough.' He's honestly our most talented kid at that spot .I mean that's why we were starting him at the beginning of the year. He's by far our most talented kid. He's got the most skill set; it's not even close. It's just a matter of him figuring it out and learning his way. He started to do that and it's paying off. “
Senior Guard Ronrico White
On hitting 300 free-throws:
“It's a good accomplishment for me. Just getting there, going to the line and making free-throws. But we got a lot more work to do. I more worried about team accomplishments rather than my individual accomplishments.”
On dictating the tempo on tonight's game:
“Tempo is important for us. We like to run, push the tempo and get going, and we were playing a team that likes to control it. We tried to get them out of whack, but they have some good guards. They did a good job of controlling and doing what they need to do. What we needed to do offensively was try to speed them up but they did a good job of controlling their pace.”
On having Chuck Ester as an extra ball handler:
“It's really important because Chuck can really handle the ball. Once he gets the rebound he can just go. I don't have to worry about coming back and getting the ball. I can just go, run, spot up and look for him to make a play. I don't have to come back, get the ball and set up the offense.”
Junior Guard Casey Jones
On his offensive presence in the first half versus the second half:
“We have so many weapons, so I didn't really have to do too much in the second half. I wasn't trying to force too much. We had guys knocking down shots and making shots, so I just let them take over.”
On driving in the paint:
“When we drive in the paint we're trying to draw help and kick for threes. We have Ronrico [White], Eric [Robertson] and Trey [Pryor]. Chuck [Ester] hit one tonight so that's what we really want to do.”
On how big winning tonight's game was for the team:
“We think every game is big. The next being bigger than the last, so the next game will be bigger than this one and the game after that will be bigger than that one. We took a hard fought loss [against Mercer] and we really wanted to get back, get this win and that's what we did.”
