Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at Troy
Trojan Arena – Troy, Ala.
Tuesday – Nov. 12, 2019

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On trend of falling behind early.
"It's a rough way to earn a living. I told the guys that at halftime. I said that we deserved to be down 12 after the way we played and performed. I thought we should have been in a worse spot to be honest. But in basketball, 12 points, if you're poised enough and mature enough, it's just four possessions. Obviously, that's not the way we want to do these things and get used to things like that, but we did a good job of staying the course."
 
On not getting caught up in the speed of Troy's offense.
"That was what our message was to the guys at the half. It's the same thing that makes you laugh, that makes you cry. We try to do things that make things reliable and things you can count on. There aren't such drastic swings on the theory of what you're doing, or trying to do. They're [Troy offense] explosive and ran their offense really well in the first half. It's impressive in which the speed they move within their offense. They're quick, they're athletic. It's hard to simulate it and what ends up happening is that, the first time you see it, it gets the best of you. It takes a little bit of time to adjust."
 
On the overall performance.
"I think it was. I'll watch it on tape and see what it really looks like, but I felt like it was a solid performance. The pursuit of being solid is something we can't seem to get to. But, I thought it was solid plays. Dave [Jean-Baptiste] made some unbelievable passes in transition. He kicked to Rod [Johnson], he kicked to Justin [Brown]. Those plays aren't super fancy plays, but it's such a hard play to get guys to do. I can't say enough about a couple of decisions he made and that goes for a lot of guys tonight. It was a collective effort, I'll tell you that. I think it was overall about being solid."

On the play from Justin Brown stepping in for Ramon Vila due to foul trouble.
"He did a good job, especially defensively. He was really active and kept the ball out of the post. He got in there and got a couple of rebounds. He got in there and mixed things up, and that's the next step for him. To be active. He helped us in a big way tonight."

On the aggression from Matt Ryan late in the game and the late and-one finish.
"You have to be in late game situations. The three ball will abandoned you. Not all the time, but when it's go-time, you have to get something going towards the basket. You get down towards the basket, you draw contact and that puts pressure on the officials to make calls. It's also demoralizing to the crowd for a play like that. It was a big play, it was exciting, and I'm happy for him. I'm happy the way he played."

Matt Ryan, Gr.-G
On falling behind early in the first half.
"We started last game down about the same score. I said to the guys that we were here last game. I think if you take that early stretch out, we could have won by double digits. We put ourselves in a hole. You have to give a lot of credit to Troy for hitting a lot of threes early on and playing well on offense. They really put us in a tough spot."
 
On trying to push to get back in the game.
"We just needed an energy spark, they were flying around. It's usually a common thing in basketball when shots start going in you start flying run. Once our guys got comfortable seeing the ball go in, we picked up defensively and settled in."
 
On clutch and-one drive to the basket with a minute to play.
"It was an up-screen and I was looking to get a three, but I didn't see any help defense so I drove, put it up and luckily finished. It was in a crucial moment, and we needed that."

On the come-from-behind victory at Troy.
"It was huge for us. An early road win, having to come back, facing foul trouble with your center. A lot of teams would fold under those circumstances, and we're a team that won't do that. I am proud of that. It was a great team win."

A.J. Caldwell, R-So.-G
On key role off the bench in Tuesday's victory.
"I'm just trying to do my job. Coach preached at halftime that if we just stayed solid, and we do the things we're supposed to and get stops on defense. Play together and be smart. The biggest point was for us was that, in the first half they were crashing the boards and getting a lot of offensive rebounds. Late in that game, we had guys boxing out and laying themselves on the line. Credit to us."

On big second half performance.
"It was big. I think it's good momentum for us. I think Rod [Johnson] and Dave [Jean-Baptiste] came out in the second half with some big threes. Once Dave gets going, a lot of the time our team goes with him. Then Matt [Ryan] got going. Once those guys get going, guys like me can play off the back doors and get open looks. If we can do that, we're hard to beat."

On late and-one conversion.
"Coach called a great play. He saw what they were running and my defender flew at me knowing that I'm a shooter, so I shot fake and took a couple dribbles in the paint. Coach has been preaching shot fake and jump stop all year. I jump stopped, shot faked, and luckily it went in for the and-one."