Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Hiwassee at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after Tuesday's 95-62 win over Hiwassee.
"I thought some of the highest quality opportunities we got were from some of the most basic things we did. When we got out of doing the basic stuff, the things that you can do against anyone, then our shot quality went down and we weren't getting enough good looks. Against tougher quality opponents, you can't do that. I thought we responded in the second half defensively. I thought in general, we made some adjustments defensively and had some sense of urgency and effort more than anything else. We came out pretty good, little slow, then pretty good. Then we got lethargic when the guys thought they were a better team. I told the guys we're 2-5, it's college basketball. There's something for you to accomplish and prove every single game. I thought we did some better things defensively."

On the 15-0 run to end first half & begin second half. 
"That's what I talked about mostly at halftime. I said sense of urgency, effort and energy on the defensive end. There were some times where I thought we were in the vicinity of a guy, not like it was terrible defense, but college basketball players make plays and make shots. There was no sense of urgency, no energy, not the kind you need to have to win Division I basketball games. That's what we talked about at halftime and we came out and adjusted in the second half."

On the play of David Jean-Baptiste & what he brings to the team.
"He has some experience. He's one of the more experienced guys on our team, as far as game minutes because he played a lot for us last year. Defensively, he has shown times he can lock in and be disciplined on our rules in what we want to do defensively. He was up and down with that, he's one of the guys I challenged when I talked about sense of urgency. His effort and energy was pretty good, but sense of urgency when closing out and finishing plays wasn't that great. When he's playing within himself and gets it going, he can get it going offensively. He's one of our better guys in knowing when to attack the rim. He did that today and finished. He can bring some offensive fire power when he has it going."

On what was the ultimate goal coming into tonight's game.
"It was as simple as playing well. That's what we talked about in the pregame speech. I talked about the difference in playing well and performing well. I went back and watched our Charlotte game, we played well but did not perform exceptionally well. Moving the ball, shot selection. That was our biggest goal in this game, it was to play well. Whatever the actual performance is of making shots and finishing at the rim, that's performance. Playing well is making the right decision, moving the ball, your effort and energy, that's playing well. That was my main goal, was to play well. Moving the ball and getting good looks, overall just to play well. If you perform well and play well, you usually don't lose, but sometimes you do. There was some good performances tonight."

Jerry Johnson, Jr., R-Jr.-G
On the defensive game plan.
"We were just talking about getting stops in successions. Not worrying about the offense so much, but just getting stops, and stops, and stops. More than likely, we got steals and those stops ultimately extended our lead."

On playing 27+ minutes.
"Everyone can be in that situation when it comes to the minutes. I think tonight was just my night because I had it going offensively. I was doing a good job of guarding my guy and not letting him score and impact his offense. I'm kind of a veteran guy so I can help guys out in things they haven't seen before if I play those type of minutes."

On the key to getting the individual offense going in the second half.
"My teammates got me open really. We came out and ran a screen play for the big man on a diagonal. I set a good screen and two guys went to help my man, so it freed me open at the top of the key. I think that's what got us started. It was all about being aggressive after that and trying to take good shots."

On gelling as a team.
"We gel pretty well. We spend a lot of time with each other off the court. I have an off-campus apartment so the guys always come over every other day. We never fight. We got out to eat almost every day, so we gel.

Justin Brown, R-Fr., F
On credit towards Hiwassee's effort.
"Give Hiwassee a lot of credit because they definitely game to play. I thought we responded well, but they came here ready to play. A lot of credit to them."

On coming together as a team.
"It'll come with time. At the same time, we all love each other so it'll make all of our lives easier to gel on the court. I think it's just overall experience. I think we are the fifth least-experienced team in the country. With everyone gathering minutes and going through adversity together, it'll make us ready for conference and allow us to gel well."