Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Western Carolina at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Saturday – Feb. 1, 2020

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after 64-61 loss to WCU.
"Too many missed shots. You can't shoot 33% and feel like you're going to win the game. Having said that, we had opportunities to win the game and that's what frustrates me. I try my hardest to not get frustrated at poor offensive performances. We had some of those this year. We went to Virginia Tech and that's our game. We performed poorly as shooters and shot makers. We left with our tail between our legs. I did not, for one millisecond, have any anger or frustration. Disappointment, I would have liked to win that game. That's completely different than what I feel at this stage right now based on some of the things that happened that allowed us to be on the wrong side of the loss column."
 
On WCU fouling late up three points.
"We were about to get an open three for Stef [Kenic]. I have to go back and watch it again, but I know he was open. Our timing was off by a millisecond, which allowed them to foul. We got set up a fraction of a second late, and if we had been there earlier, we maybe could have delivered and had a three to tie the game. It was there, it was open from what I saw. Any time it gets down to that point you're going to anticipate a foul and that's what they did."
 
On both team's poor offensive shooting performances. 
"Basketball happens sometimes. We could have been in the same scenario with both teams blazing from the three-point line and shot the ball well. Instead of 64-61, it's 84-81. We'd be sitting here in the same deal. It would have been the same exact plays. Offensive rebounds, loose scrap balls, the same exact plays. We would look and be saying that we lost by three and it was in the eighties. I could care less where we are with points. They didn't shoot the ball well, we didn't shoot the ball well, for whatever that was for. Statistically, they are a good defensive team at the three-point line and so are we, maybe that's why it worked out that way. They shot poorly, and we one upped them. That's why it got to where it was but we had a chance to close it out."
 
On moving forward to ETSU on Wednesday. 
"I don't know if there's any correlation. We just have to get better. Maybe if there's a scenario that presents itself like this in the ETSU game, then it's a 100% correlation. I don't know if it prepares us any more. It was a winnable game and it came down to a circumstance where as a competitor, I'd call it more than a winnable game. I'd say at one point, we should win the game. If you're mindset is not there, then it's not going to dictate how you respond in your actions. Your mindset has to be there. It has to be your game and you must win at all costs. No matter what that means. Whether it's my shot selection, whether it's my decision making, whether how hard I'm going to block out, how tough I'm going to be on this one play. Whatever that is. When you do those things, you often find yourself on the right side. I just felt like there were some scrap plays at the end. I'll look to see what that looks like. We needed the ball, and they got the ball."

On how the team will respond.
"A lot of that has to do with the character of your guys. So, how are you going to respond to this? Do you want to do this again? Everything that you say as a coach, is in an attempt to get a response. Physical, mental, reaction. Whatever it is, you are trying to get a response. We need to respond in a way that prevents a situation like this from happening again. That's what we need to do. I made some challenges and pointed out some facts."

Trey Doomes, So.-G
On high production in 18 minutes played tonight.
"I felt pretty comfortable, pretty confident about where I was when I first came in. Just trying to be that person to come in off the bench and bring a little energy. I saw we were kind of in a little slump, and I wanted to be that person to come in and do what I could do as far as bringing energy."

On the frustrating things following today's loss.
"I feel like the amount of points we gave up, especially toward the end, and I'll go back with Matt, for offensive rebounds, as far as how many times we could've grabbed it, and them grabbing it and scoring. We know we should've grabbed it first when we could have, and that's probably the most frustrating, when we could have, should have, and didn't."

On the confidence moving forward from a personal aspect.
"I feel like the more comfortable and the more opportunities I get to show that I can do this on a regular basis, I feel like I could help and be a big contributor to this basketball team."

Matt Ryan, Gr.-G
On last minute shot attempt that missed the mark.
"I don't know. It hit the back of the rim, it felt good. I got a ball screen, and my guy was nowhere to be found. When I came off the ball screen, the big was dropped deep, it was a wide open shot. It hit the back of the rim, but it felt good. Maybe I could've driven it all the way in; I've got to see the film where the big was, but it felt wide open."

On the team's response moving forward.
"One positive about this group is that we bounce back after a loss. I don't think we've lost two in a row since early in the season. We'll be ready to go, I'm not worried about that. It really hurts right now, and it's going to hurt tomorrow, too."

On Coach Paris's message to the team.
"Making shots is usually out of the players' control, but getting defensive rebounds down the stretch, those are in your control, so he just emphasized making plays like rebounds and not giving them second-chance points."

On WCU snagging a few late game offensive rebounds on a single possession.
"It happened really quick. I think the ball was being bounced around, we had opportunities to grab it, and we didn't. It got tipped out, I think twice like that got tipped out to one of their guys. I've got to see the film to see but I think we had opportunities to grab it and we didn't. I think they scored on that possession, they got two offensive rebounds. It's really frustrating."