Chattanooga at Tennessee Tech
Monday, Nov. 30, 2020
Cookeville, Tenn. - Hooper Eblen Center
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after 62-54 win at Tennessee Tech.
"I was frustrated with our overall performance, I thought we would play better basketball than that. But sometimes it's like that. Especially in a year like this when you don't have a rhythm of playing, it's early in the year and then you have all the things we've had to overcome. As a rhythm and timing standpoint, it's been a little weird that way. We're fortunate enough to come out with a win on the road and those are always good no matter what. We're not giving that back."

On the team's toughness down the stretch.
"I thought there were some good things that way. Honestly, earlier in the game, I thought that was part of the reason why it got us where we were. We weren't great offensively for sure, but I thought there were some toughness plays on both ends that we didn't make. We were able to make some and fight when we needed to. We manufactured some stuff. It wasn't beautiful but we manufactured some things to put points on the board when we needed. We got a couple stops and rebounded by committee and sometimes just flying in there and getting a tip on it is enough for one of our guys to track it down. Those kind of things make all the difference."

On biggest takeaway from tonight's game.
"There's always lessons that you'd like to learn if you can't win a game by 20, then the next best thing is to have a game like this. Where you must inbound the ball against pressure, where you must get a stop when you need it, where you must make big free throws or it's going to be nip and tuck down the stretch. Almost all these guys are in a completely different role than they've ever been in their lives. I thought overall it was a good effort and I thought it was good that we could learn a lesson in a game where we still came out with a win."

On coaching in 100th career game and the gratefulness of being able to compete.
"I'm so oblivious to stuff like that. We sure didn't [know if we would see it this year]. There was a lot hanging in the balance and we've talked to our team about it. We want to play well, we want to win, and we want to compete. That's why we're here. But more important than that, it's just the ability to get out here and play. Our guys are grateful for it. We remind them all the time about what it was like four or five months ago. We're grateful just for the opportunity to come out here and compete. I think it's good for their psyche and their mental status, I'm happy we're able to do that. I think part of that normalcy is coaching them hard and coaching them to win and that's what we do. I think if you weren't doing that it wouldn't be realistic. We're just grateful to be out there. I'm very grateful to be here and be the head coach of this University and we have some really great guys here."

Malachi Smith, R-So.-G
On the importance of coming together down the stretch.
"It was very important. Sometimes shots aren't being made and that's not something you can control. You can only control things on the defensive end and I think after coach's technical, we huddled up and we knew it was going to take a full team effort to get the stops to finish the game out."

On success of rebounding as a guard.
"You have to have the mentality of going in there and knowing you might not get it. You know your chances are low of grabbing it but knowing that it's helping the team. With me being a bigger guard, I know I can affect the game in multiple ways. Nights like tonight where my shot isn't falling, I didn't want to be a liability on the floor. I want my team and my coaches to be able to rely on me to rebound and play defense, and make shots open for my teammates. That's my mentality."
 
On takeaway from tonight's win at TTU.
"I think that it just feels good knowing that when things aren't going right, you can still pull a game out. It's easy to celebrate when all the shots are going in and everything is going your way, but being able to grind out a win and play defense, doing the stuff you can control, I think it's a good stepping stone for us to build off of."

Trey Doomes, Jr.-G
On providing a spark off the bench.
"We weren't shooting too well all game and at the end we needed some aggressive plays going to the rim and that's what I like to do. I know we weren't getting the three going much in the first half, so I wanted to try and bring a spark to the team. I felt like I was able to bring that tonight."
 
On getting comfortable with more minutes on the floor.
"It's very important for me, just trying to get that chemistry with my teammates going again. I feel like that's big for us, us staying together the entire team and making sure we know who we are. I love playing with these guys. It was very important for me to keep everyone together during the game and make sure we were making the right plays down the stretch and that's what we were able to do."