Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at Samford
Pete Hanna Center – Birmingham, Ala.
Wednesday – Jan. 29, 2020

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On tonight's win over Samford.
"They're a hard team to play. They played well offensively, but we have to be better than that defensively. We just can't let guys put their head down and get all the way to the basket. It's the same team we played really well against defensively last time, but they made some adjustments tonight and good on them for that. That shows they're a good team and Scott [Padgett] is a good coach. We have to batten down the hatches from a defensive standpoint, especially around the basket. We kept making plays, though. This was a game where, offensively, we were able to do some good things. I told them if they don't want me to talk about defense, score 92 points a game. I won't say much on the defensive end if we score 92 every night."
 
On 26 assists on 30 made field goals.
"That's unbelievable. That doesn't happen often. They played zone, so you won't create as much off the dribble by yourself, allowing for more assists. You rip the gap, and most of the time, you'll drop it down or kick it to a shooter. That's just how it goes against a zone. When we have a high assist-to-made-basket ratio, it's a testament to us making shots and the unselfishness of this team. I can't say enough about the unselfishness of this team. They don't care who scores. It's great to have guys that are on the same page with that kind of thing. I thought we did a good job of hitting the gas and pumping the breaks when we had to tonight."

On overall thoughts, expectations of team's performance.
"I was happy. Hard to tell, but I was happy. To be 100% honest, everyone is always evolving and learning. I've been so accustom to certain things, but because what we're ready for and expect us to do, I'm not exactly doing cartwheels inside. These guys have to learn that and know what that's all about. They need to know what to expect from themselves, and the same goes with me. They're learning to know how to expect certain things."

On A.J. Caldwell's big rebound and the team stepping up down the stretch. 
"Big time rebound. He did a good job of being aggressive. It's a sport where aggression is rewarded some times. You have to stick your nose in there and make some plays like that. We need some more of that stuff. We were able to make free throws. I felt like we couldn't get to the double bonus quick enough. We did a good job of stepping up to make those free throws down the stretch. We didn't panic against the pressure, we made a shot when we needed and when it presented itself. They did a good job of doing the things they needed to do to win the game tonight."

Matt Ryan, Gr.-G
On securing an always-tough road win.
"Absolutely. And that's what the coaches said to us in the locker room. We struggled a little bit on the road heading into this game, granted we played probably the three toughest teams on the road [WCU, UNCG, ETSU]. Everyone in this league is beatable on any given night. We're excited to be at home this weekend and next week. We just have to improve our defense. We were able to just hold on tonight."

On moving the ball against the zone. 
"We were getting the ball popping. We saw they were playing zone and my eyes lit up. Ramon [Vila] got it going early and probably had the most dunks he's ever had in a game. We had the ball moving tonight. I thought in the second half, some shots weren't falling, but we were able to get in the mid-range with cutters and get the offense back on track."
 
On key offensive rebound from A.J. Caldwell.
"At that point, we might have only been up a couple. We missed an open three, but A.J. came flying in and got a big offensive rebound for us. He has a knack of getting his hands on the ball in big moments. That's why he's playing big minutes for us this year."