Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Tennessee State at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Saturday – Nov. 9, 2019

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On the two late three pointers from Matt Ryan & David Jean-Baptiste.
"Those were big shots by both of those guys. I felt like we were due for one of those to go in. I felt like we had a lot of quality shots that didn't go in at multiple times during the game. Those guys had good confidence and continued to shoot and we created well. The one was a great pass, it was unselfish basketball in a big moment like that. We challenged the guys at halftime and said that the offense was going to come around, but we have to keep them in the 50's and we were able to do that. We've struggled shooting the ball the last two games, but those two tonight were huge shots for us."
 
On handling the full-court pressure.
"Yeah it wasn't great. If you don't handle a couple of those early, then it makes it harder to handle it late, and that's what we did. When they started pressuring us, we had a couple normal mistakes. As that momentum builds, they got more and more aggressive. It was a great experience for us, we had a lot of guys that haven't been in that situation yet so that was great for us. We have to stay as far away from the panic button as possible in those moments. This was a big teaching tool."
 
On the inside game becoming a key in tonight's victory.
"I think those two threes will get all the credit because of the timing of them, but I thought that was a big part of what we did in the second half. We got the ball down there and made some good, strong aggressive plays around the basket. That sustained us. We weren't shooting the ball well around the perimeter so that sustained us and kept us in the game. That was good to see."
 
Rod Johnson, R-Jr.-G/F
On posting double-double and importance of rebounding.
"It's huge for me. It's really coming down to me crashing the boards and that's what gets me going. It's every single play. Coach has held me to that standard that if I'm not rebounding, I'm not out there playing. We need someone who can be a main rebounder so I take that lead and try to get to the glass to grab everything possible."

On what was the difference tonight.
"Just staying solid, sticking together. The defensive end, it all came down to defense. We had to grind it out on defense and make sure that we got stops. WE had to keep them off the boards and that was a big adjustment after halftime."
 
Matt Ryan, Gr.-G
On creating stops and changing the course of the game.
"We were giving up layups. Just easy and simple layups. We had to cut that out. We went on a run to close out the first half and kept up our defense in the second half. A lot of teams that are down that much in the first half can fold, and we didn't. We settled in and got comfortable on defense. We took what the defense gave us on offense, clawed away and pulled it out."

On the team's response and experience gained.
"This was a great game for us. Coming off a loss, and for us to bounce back after falling behind in the first half, not shooting extremely well. We cut down on the turnovers and definitely made some improvements in some areas that we talked about. We were put in a really good late game situation being up three with six seconds left and fouling them to put them on the line. It was really good experience for our group.

On hitting late three-pointer.
"I think it was a loose ball, and I knew if I caught it on that play, I was going to shoot it. So I was ready to shoot and I'm happy it went in."