Chattanooga at UAB
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020
Birmingham, Ala. - Bartow Arena
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Overall thoughts following win, slow start to first half.
"After we got off to a slow start, we settled in to executing some rules defensively. I thought that was the biggest part of it. We had some good stretches where we were able to keep them from scoring. I don't think we had an unbelievable offensive day, but we had a pretty good variety offensive day. If you do enough defensively, I think that's what you hope for. We finally settled in to guarding them a little better and that kept the press off when we would get stops. It allowed us to come down and run the offensive a little more efficiently. Stick-to-itiveness and just hard-headedness. We were just hard headed enough to just stay in there, stick your face in there, and keep grinding."

On the play of Jamaal Walker.
"He's turning into a really good defender. If this kid continues to grow, and it's the words I always say to him. If he'll continue to grow, I think his stamp he'll put on this league and in college basketball is what he can do defensively. I think he can be a tremendous defender. He has such good length, reflexes and anticipation. He tightened it up a little bit defensively as did our whole unit. Ultimately, that's where we want to hang our hat."

On what caused UAB's second half run.
"We might have been worn down a little bit with eight guys even available to play today. We're playing four perimeter guys a lot of minutes, too. I think when they made the run, and I have to look at it, my gut tells me that we got manhandled. Just manhandled. It was either head down and drive to the rim all the way, or it was on the boards. I felt like that was a key component in them making the run that they did. That's something that will be in the next video session."

On continuing to set program firsts.
"It feels great. I don't ever really know that stuff until I hear it. It feels great. It just feels great to have a team go out there and execute some stuff, and more importantly, fight. They just fight. That's what this team has shown through a lot of things that weren't pretty. We didn't execute on a couple things, and didn't perform on some shots that we normally make. We did fight. We clogged and got rebounds when we needed them. It feels good to come down here and get a road win against a good team in a good league. We're just going to keep trying to improve. That's been our thing. We've made enough mistakes where we can show it and get better at. We'll see wherever it ends up, but we'll just keep trying to improve."
 
Malachi Smith, RS-So.-G
Thoughts following road win at UAB.
"We've won multiple ways. We've been in a variety of different positions at different times. We started out slow and we weren't even phased in the huddle. We knew that if we did what we had to do then we'll be fine. We let them back in it but that's being on the road and having the crowd get into it. That's going to be more experience for us moving forward. Our team chemistry is that we'll do whatever it takes to win and that helps us get through tough moments."
 
On playing with eight available players.
"At the end of the day, no one is going to feel sorry for us. We're in a pandemic obviously and a lot of teams are going through different stuff. We're probably not the only ones playing with eight players, but if we lose, they aren't going to say that they only have eight players. You have to go out there and play with confidence and a sense of togetherness. During the week we're practicing hard and taking care of our bodies off the court. We know we can be special and we won't let the fact that we only have eight players stop that."
 
On Jamaal Walker hitting go-ahead shot.
"He kind of saved me. I tried to pass to KC [Henkton] one handed but couldn't. He was just confident in himself, he works on that shot all the time. I knew that was going in as soon as it left his hands."
 
On moving forward.
"We just keep doing things that haven't been done before here. We're not satisfied. We have more work to do and we can't just dwell after this win. Now we have a target on our back because other teams see what we're doing. We have to work even harder. As a leader of this team, I won't let us get complacent where we're at right now because there's more we can do. It was a good win for this team but there's more we can do."
 
On off-season conditioning program with strength coach Tyler Dobratz.
"I remember it vividly. A lot of tiredness and how you can't move afterwards. Even in those moments when we're tired, he's always pushing us through. So when we're in the game he's yelling at us to remind us that we've been tired before. It's all mental. If we're tired we know to push through it because it takes a whole effort to win."
 
Jamaal Walker, RS-Fr.-G
On hitting go-ahead jumper late.
"All I remember is KC dove on the ground and threw it to me. I saw a little lane for a one dribble pull up and I knew I hit one earlier, so I thought that was the best shot and I took it. Thanks to KC for making a play on the ground. It's hustle plays like that."
 
On off-season conditioning program with strength coach Tyler Dobratz.
"Those are big, and they translate to times like this where you have to push through things. Like Malachi said earlier, it helps to push through these hard times and especially when you're playing a lot of minutes."
 
On moving forward and buying in.
"This is a good win against another undefeated team. The in-game, late-game, type situations are good for the future. It's good that we get the experience and get the win. We can celebrate a little bit because it was a good win, but it's on to the next one. We're bought into what coach has to say and everything that he teaches us. We don't care about who scores the most, we only care about winning and holding each other accountable to do what's best for the team at all times."
 
On individual praise from head coach Lamont Paris.
"That just makes me want to work even harder. I feel like maybe the sky can be the limit if I just keep working, who knows. Just building from these situations and getting more experience. It's only my eighth game ever. I just internalize it by staying even kilt and just keep working and improving and never to be satisfied."