Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Samford at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Saturday – January 12, 2019

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Opening statement after 80-75 win over Samford.
"It's huge. I'll tell you one area that it's really important. I think when you get in games like this, you have to be productive around the basket. You have to. If nothing else, that'll loosen things up around the perimeter. I thought at the end they started pressuring, getting after us, and we started to turn the ball over. Because they were pressuring and getting extended, it allowed some more things around the basket and we did well finishing. Overall, I thought we did a good job and shared the ball well. The thing we did the best was that we stayed to our scouting report. We tweaked a couple things and I think they were very committed to what we asked them to do and that was a big part in their defensive successes.""

On seeing double-digit lead dwindle to one possession in second half.
"Basketball happened. We did some things to ourselves during that stretch like turning the ball over everywhere. Uncharacteristically, we have to manage that better. We also missed two front ends of one-and-ones and missed a couple other free throws during that stretch. It probably seems a little different than what it actually was, but I thought we had one stretch where a big potential turning point could have happened. We were up 14 and got a steal, came down the court, forced an issue and turned the ball over. That play was a five-point play because they came down and hit a three. It goes from 14 to 11, opposed to 16 or 17 with a running clock and that's a play that could change the entire complexion of the game. Those are unbelievable learning experiences for these guys. You can't script it any better. We have to realize when to step on the gas, pump the brakes, when we're in a crowd or open space. These are the type of games you like to win because so much learning took place."

On what was the key to winning this game.
"I think there were a lot of things. The biggest thing was sticktoitiveness I think. We really stayed the course in what we wanted to do defensively. We didn't waver when they went bang-bang on a couple scores where we made a mistake. We didn't abort that mission and go to something else, we stayed true in what we wanted to do in this game. We kept it pretty simple and played within what we wanted to do. No one had to play hero ball. That doesn't mean we didn't make a couple big shots here and there, but I thought it was commitment in what we wanted to do and we just stayed the course."

Kevin Easley, Fr.-F
On knocking down four threes and scoring 20 points.
"I just tried to get shots within our offense. Coach had a lot of plays for me on the perimeter because he knew Ramon had someone to deal with inside. I just hit some shots today."

On the biggest point of emphasis coming in to today's game.
"Rebounding. Coach was on us all game about rebounding. We knew that and defense was going to be a big part in winning this game. We know that the offense is going to come so we just tried to play hard and lock in."

On preparing for next stretch of games.
"After the ETSU game, Coach told us we have three really big opportunities coming up. We took that to heart and have been working hard over the past week to get ready for today and this upcoming week."

Ramon Vila, R-So.-F
On what worked for the Vila-Easley duo.
"I don't know. We just try to do our best every game. We play really hard. We practice really hard and we had an entire week to prepare for this game. We knew what we had to do and we went out there and did it."

On feeling after big SoCon home win.
"It feels good. The crowd was amazing today. We worked really hard yesterday to get people to the game. They showed up and hopefully enjoyed it. They helped us a lot. It's amazing to play when there's a lot of people here and I think that's the key."

On biggest key to defensive scheme.
"It was how to attack their ball screens. We had trouble at ETSU against that kind of defense. So we had to get ready for this matchup and we just did things right."