MOCS MEN'S BASKETBALL QUOTES
Game No. 31 | Chattanooga at UNCG | Greensboro Coliseum | February 28, 2015
Head Coach Will Wade
On the regular season overall:
“It's been a tremendous regular season, I think one of the top regular seasons in our program's history. We finished 7-7 on the road, 7-2 in the league and it's the first time we've been .500 or better on the road in 10 years. We checked a lot of things off the list.”
On tonight's game:
“We certainly need to play better. I thought we got out-toughed for a majority of the game, but we made enough plays down the stretch. We got some good contributions obviously from Rico (Ronrico White) and I thought Duke Ethridge was tremendous for us tonight. He had 10 points and eight rebounds. He's really playing well for us and that's what we need from him down the stretch. Overall, we got good minutes from everybody that we put in, and it was a good team win.”
On the final play of the game:
"Typically we go to Casey (Jones) in that situation because he's our best player, but Casey turned it over three times in a row, and I wasn't really pleased with him. He's been tremendous for us all year and most of the time we go with him, but I felt like Rico (Ronrico White) had the hot hand. We were supposed to slip the ball screen there, and it was going to be him driving left with Eric (Robertson) in the corner. But they did a nice job of bottling it up a little bit, and he just made a big play. There's not a lot of coaching that goes into that. He just hit a big shot, made a big play and it was great for us.”
On the review of the clock:
“The difference was there was time lost somewhere that they didn't go back and find, which I was fine with. There was 35.9 left when we inbounded it, but when we called timeout it was 11.3, and the shot clock was at 11. We called timeout at 11.3 so it was only a difference of .3 seconds. When they went back a second time, I thought when it's that close you got to go with what's on the court. You have to go with the call on the court, but even then I was getting ready for overtime, and I was getting ready if they had some time on the clock to be ready to defend that. You just have to prepare your team for those situations. Fortunately, it didn't come to that and now we can get on the bus and head back to Chattanooga.”
Looking forward to the tournament:
“You got to be able to win games. We were down in the second half by 12 and we withstood it. You have to be able to win those types of games. You have to be able to keep it together. Our guys have a great spirit to them and a great belief about them. It's rewarding when you get wins that way and we're going to have to dig some out in the tournament. It's not like we are going to lead every minute of the tournament. You're going to be in some holes, you're going to be in some tough spots and we just need to be ready to roll.”
On keeping focused during close games this season:
“Our guys remain calm. They're really good on the bench. They never think we're out of it and our staff does a good job as well. We remain pretty calm with things and just try to chip away at it and get back in. When you can guard like we can you're never out of it. Our offense wasn't a thing of beauty tonight. We didn't shoot great, but we got on the offensive glass some and that certainly helped. Our offense wasn't a thing of beauty but our defense bailed us out tonight. We're a team that can win different ways. We won a fast-paced game against VMI, and we won a little more half-court game with a more low-scoring affair here tonight in Greensboro and that's what you need to be able to do in the tournament.”
On Chattanooga's possible first opponent in the SoCon Tournament:
“We'll play whoever comes up next. We have to focus us on us this week, work on some things and be ready to go Saturday at six o'clock in Asheville.”
Senior Guard Ronrico White
On the last play:
"It felt good (leaving the hand). I have to give credit to coach Casey (Long). We worked on this three weeks ago after I missed one at Mercer. He (Tevon Saddler) guarded my first move perfectly. It came down to me having to hit a tough shot."
On whether he was watching the clock & shot clock:
"I wanted to take the last shot. I went at six seconds. I knew I'd have four or five dribbles and then get the shot off very quickly. That's what I wanted to do."
Is it because you're senior, with you experience, that they wanted the ball in your hands:
"I felt like I was in a good rhythm in the game. I didn't play that well early, but other guys picked me up. Everybody was there and contributed."
Junior Forward Duke Ethridge
On tonight's game:
“I just played hard through the game. I knew it was going to be a tough game for us. It was very physical, and I had to play to their physicality. I got into foul trouble early because of their size, but I stuck through it.”
On the weekend overall:
“It was a good road trip for me and especially for the team. We're bringing back home to wins and everyone's excited. They were definitely not easy wins. With VMI we went into two overtimes and tonight was another close game, but we didn't go to overtime. They were tough. We knew we had to stay together and we didn't break.”
On Ronrico White's game winning shot:
“I said a little five-second prayer really quick, but I saw him release his hand, and it had a good arch. I thought it was going to hit the front of the rim but it went it in, and I just went crazy. Everybody went crazy. It was a big night for the seniors. I am glad he made that shot. We're all happy he made that shot.”
On the SoCon Tournament:
“We're starting off on a new slate and everybody is going to have to contribute. We're going to practice hard, and take care of our bodies. We don't need anybody to make any mistakes because we need everybody. We need all 12 people, including the coaches and the staff.”
