Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at Mercer
Hawkins Arena – Macon, Ga.
Saturday – Jan. 4, 2020

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after 70-61 win at Mercer:
"Field goal percentage wasn't great, but when you look at it, we missed two wide open looks at the rim, we missed free throws in the second half, it wasn't great. But we had chances to make up for it. Sometimes it's going to be like that. We challenged the guys before we came in. We challenged for them to win the offensive glass situation and we did that, that was huge. We held them to only two, and we got about eight extra possessions. I think we did a good job of managing game in that way. I thought in ball-screen situations, we were really good. I was really proud of the overall effort. Any time you get a win on the road in the conference, it's a great effort. I was really impressed with some of the things we did defensively."

On the little things adding up:
"I thought we got some deflections which disrupted their offense, and that was significant. Those things, as small as they may seem, cumulatively add up to success. You never know what play will send you over the top, and any one of those plays could be it."

On 10 point lead at the half:
"I felt like I didn't notice it at the half because I'm a very stingy, defensive guy. I wanted it to be 18. I noticed it when they made their run in the second half and cut it to whatever it was. I didn't feel like it was panic mode for us. I felt comfortable. It seemed like every time they made a run, we were ready to weather the storm."

On preventing a late Mercer run:
"End of game situations, there's a couple ways of thought. You can drive to the basket and try to get the foul called or you could come down and shoot the three to get back in the game more quickly. It's a risk-reward situation. We tried to stay in front of the ball as much as possible in those situations and make them take the toughest shot possible. They finish around the basket so well and have substantial size. I think they'll have success against teams because they're very good in that regard."

On the hustle and physical plays:
"We have done a much better in that area. That's what plagued us most in the past; we'd lose those battles. There would also be huge gaps in differential. We had a good effort in that area today, and we have had a couple in that area this year. It'll be whether we can continue to do that or not."

On significance of road conference win and team's 10th win of the season:
"I don't care what league you play in or who you're playing. When you go on the road, it's going to be a challenge. It was legitimate in here today. I normally don't notice the crowd but in this one I did. It was a good atmosphere. The guys played well, competed well. We have to get ready for the next one. When you're building a program, and that's what were doing, literally from the ground up; you have to understand success. I won't let them off the hook because there's no satisfaction there, but you have to be aware of its significance. That's how you build."

Rod Johnson, RJr.-F
On defensive efforts:
"I think we had one of our best games this year defensively. We gave up a couple easy ones at the end when we didn't want to foul, but overall it was great. We stuck to our rules, believed in what we were doing and it worked out."

On tough, physical game: 
"It was a blue collar game, and I think that helped us pull it out. I think we only gave up two offensive rebounds which is huge against a team like that who is good at pounding the boards. That really helped us today."

On defensive emphasis:
"At the end of the day, we have to make sure that we are playing defense. Coach always says teams who win their league are in the top three in defensive stops and defensive categories. We understand that and need to keep working on defense."

On continuing to grind out wins:
"Every game that we won this year hasn't been easy. It's been grinding it out until the final buzzer, even the games that we didn't win. It's a grind the whole time. Nothing is going to be easy for us, especially on the road in conference. We just have to believe in what we're doing.