Northern Kentucky at Chattanooga
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020
Chattanooga, Tenn. - McKenzie Arena
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On the difference between the first half and second.
"I thought we were pretty solid on the defensive end in the first half, but we didn't finish plays off with defensive rebounds. I thought we did a decent job of rebounding, but we got a couple over the back calls. I think we just did a better job of encouraging them to take the shots that we are willing to take. No one has pitched a shutout in a basketball game in this era. They were going to score some and they did most of it on stuff that we were willing to have them do and we accepted that. That was a big part of it. I thought, offensively, we did a good job of getting the ball in certain situations and converting. I thought we didn't do a good job in the first half converting."

On the play and progression of Stefan Kenic.
"He's made a lot of strides in a lot of ways. To be 100 percent honest with you, I think his biggest improvements have more to do with what he has been doing from the defensive and rebounding standpoint. If you look at his limited minutes last year, only due to his defensive abilities, he was still able to score some. His game has expanded, there's no doubt. He caught the ball in the middle of the zone today and made some good moves, attacks, decisions. He's evolving, it's not a finished product. But he's committed to getting better. He had a productive offseason in the gym. I'm really happy for him. I really love watching a guy progress, and just grow as a player and mature as a person. That growth as a player is very gratifying. He's on the right track for sure." 

On what stood out against a physical NKU team.
"I think it was good for some guys to see that they have the ability to rebound. That team was aggressive, aggressive rebounders and they're good at it. They have a good team and know how to win. Just having some successes and some failures too, it's good to have a couple failures if you can win. With having the real confidence of being able to do that, hold your ground, block out and rebound against strong, aggressive guys. Hopefully this will be a good confidence builder for us to compete physically on the boards."
 
On the play of David Jean-Baptiste.
"I thought he played at a really good pace. I thought his shot selection was much better. I think that has led to some inefficiencies in the first two games, practically in the start of those games. We need him to be an active cog in the wheel that we have on the offensive end. And maybe one of the bigger ones. He's capable of doing a lot of different things and handling a lot of pressure. It's a lot, there's a lot of minutes he played. That kind of performance, it's a winning performance. There's always room for improvement. Overall, it was a really good performance from Dave and that's what we are looking for."
 
On moving forward to MTSU on Monday.
"At this time of the year, I think ultimately you'd like it to be 90 percent of what you do and 10 percent of what the other team is doing. We're not quite to that level right now, we're probably around 75-25. We'll spend a lot of time on us and then we'll give them a couple nuggets on MTSU, but we'll spend most of our time on us and how we can improve what we do."

David Jean-Baptiste, RS-Sr.-G
On the key to a big second half. 
"Instincts. Trusting my instincts and trusting my teammates to just come out and play well. It's just trusting my instincts, believing in myself, and believing in my team that we're going to come out and play well."
 
On what personally changed between the first and second half.
"I didn't really change much. It was just knowing when to attack and when to press off the gas a little. Not much changed between the first half and second, it was just when to put my foot on the gas and when to take it off."
 
On playing basketball during times of uncertainty.
"It feels good to just be out there. We didn't know if we were going to play basketball or not a few months ago. Just having that feeling of being out there, being on the court, it's one of the best feelings and I'm just going out there and reaping the benefits."
 
On the rising play of Stefan Kenic.
"It's confidence. Just believing in himself. He's one of the best players on the team, and really one of the best in the conference. He's going to keep believing in himself, and he's a great player. He has unlimited potential."

Stefan Kenic, Sr.-F
On gaining more comfort this season.
"It's definitely different. Last year I didn't even know if I was going to be able to play. I think I missed six games which is a lot. This year, the team has been together all the time. We practice together all the time. It has made me feel more comfortable and ready for the season."

On what was the key to success today including dishing out seven assists.
"They played a matchup zone so a lot of the times we tried to cut to the middle, get the ball in the middle, and then play out of that. Once we did that, I was open a lot of times and guys would pass me the ball and after that I was trying to pass to our centers or out the three-point line to our guards with wide-open shots. I love team basketball. I love sharing the ball."
 
On the play from David Jean-Baptiste in the second half.
"Great points. Most of them were in the second half when they started pressuring us. He was calm, he was making open threes, he was going to the rim. He had an and-one, made the free throws, it was big time plays for us."