Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Post-game Quotes
Feb. 19, 2015 vs. Mercer
Head Coach Will Wade
Opening Statement
“I want to thank everyone who came tonight. I thought the crowd was awesome. I'm really proud of our students. I think we responded. We got out there and hit the pavement this week; our players and our staff. That was a huge difference. I love it when people bow their neck up and have pride in their school. They don't want to get overtaken by someone else. I think that's awesome. I thought our crowd was great and hopefully we can duplicate it and do even better Saturday. I thought the band was awesome. Everyone contributed to a great atmosphere. When that lower bowl is full like that, it's fun. It was a really good college basketball game. All the folks coming out definitely played a part in us being able to pull this thing off down the stretch.”
On Tuoyo's and Casey's foul trouble…
“It's not very good to have those two in foul trouble. I'm not as good a coach when those two aren't out there. I thought we battled through. Rico came through for us. Eric came through big for us. I thought Duke made some big plays for us. Duke's play to start the game was really big. We've been working on that play all week. We wanted to drive it at Moten and try to get a foul on him early.”
On the “high level” game…
“Its two really good teams. Two teams who were very motivated. Both of us are still in the title hunt so they're motivated, our guys were motivated. I would say two highly-motivated teams that are well prepared that have good players. So when you have that you're going to have a high-level game. We may have one more in Asheville. It was a good game. Our guys did enough to win. I thought we made some free throws down the stretch which was huge. I was really upset at half time they had 13 second chance points and seven offensive rebounds. I think we limited them to four offensive rebounds in the second half. They only got two second chance points off of those. I thought that was really big and a turning point.”
On Ronrico White…
“When we were a little dry there he hit a couple of shots and got us going. That's what you want out of your seniors. It's his last weekend playing home games. He responded the right way which is what you want.”
On other guys stepping up…
“It's good as a team when you have multiple guys who can step up and multiple guys who can help you win. It makes us a little more difficult to guard because you don't know who's going to step up on each night. Most nights it's Casey and Justin carrying a lot of the load, but Rico can certainly do it, Pryor can do it, Eric's done it at times, Duke is showing the ability to do it. Chuck hit a three tonight. I think he hit his last two three's. That was a big shot for us. We have multiple options, and I think that's part of what makes us a good team. We've got some balance.”
Sophomore Forward Justin Tuoyo
On the difference between the first and second game against Mercer:
“What changed was the result. Everybody stuck together. We came together. We knew we had to get some stops. Greg [Pryor] and Ronrico [White] keeping the team poised, and it just helped us out. We took our time with it and it helped.”
On considering school records during the game:
“I just go out there and try to play. I try to get stops for our team on defense. I just focus on playing for our team.”
On what the team is taking away from tonight's game:
“The impact of the game. We just play really hard, play aggressive. They killed us a couple of times but they're a great defense team. We'll fix it tomorrow at practice and next time out we'll get it there.”
Senior Guard Ronrico White
On his dunking attempt at the end of the game:
“I wanted it badly. I saw Casey [Jones] get the steal, and I was just following up, trying to make an extra play and it just happened. Luckily, Greg got it after me, got fouled and went to the free-throw line, so I am happy about that.”
On the change in Chattanooga's defense from the first to second half:
“We tried to help each other out. We stuck together defensively. They were getting to the lane in the first half, so in the second half we did a better job collectively on recovering and making them shoot tough two's. They're a good team, a good shooting team. We just had to keep a hand up and hoped they missed.”
“We played very well together. The stats show that we're moving the ball, trying to get great shots, and we all believe each other. We have the ability to shoot and score so we move the ball. We let everybody move the ball and make plays, which make it easier for us so they can't concentrate on just one person.”
On Chattanooga's fan support tonight:
“The crowd definitely had an impact. They were loud. They were rowdy, talking to the other team and really just gave us that extra energy.”
Mercer Head Coach Bob Hoffman
Opening statement
“I thought it was a great college game; tremendous atmosphere. Chattanooga has a great team. We were fortunate to beat them at home. We were right there. We just needed a couple of balls to bounce a different way, and we could have won this game just as easy. Even though the separation looks a little different than it is, but it was a one-two possession game down the stretch. We got into foul trouble the first half, which really bothered us, and when we had that separation, and they were able to catch back up, I probably should have taken some chances with some of our guys and let them play with two fouls. That hadn't worked as well as I'd liked earlier in the year, so I went ahead and stayed with it. Coach Wade has done a great job with his program and hopefully we get the chance to play them again in the tournament.”
On Ike Nwamu's threes
“He sat down for nine minutes, so that's hard for anybody to sit that long. That's what I was talking about; maybe I could have got him a minute or two so it wouldn't have seemed as bad. I probably didn't manage the clock as well as I should have. I love my guys, I love how they compete. The season's not over for us yet. We realistically can't win the conference regular season championship, but anybody can win three games on a neutral floor. I think there are a lot of teams in our league that can win three games.”
On free throws
“We've had a downward spiral about the last two weeks. We've been shooting them really good and sometimes that happens; inexplicable. As a coach, I've been coaching for a while, sometimes guys that never make them step up and make shots. They kick them in and bounce around and go in. We have some good shooters that are struggling right now. They're working on it. So we just keep believing and keep working on the game. That's what we keep telling them and good things will happen. I'm just fortunate to get to coach these guys every day.”
