Chattanooga at Samford
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Birmingham, Ala.; Pete Hanna Center
Postgame Quotes
 
Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On the team gaining depth.
"If we could keep this group of guys we have in uniform right now healthy and ready to roll the rest of the way, I would have no complaints from a personnel standpoint. It was the first time since really November, that I made a decision that had to do with purely about how a guy was playing or how fatigued he was. It felt like a luxury. I haven't been able to that in a long time so that felt great."
 
On what clicked to turn the tide in the second half.
"They got after it and had momentum going. We loosened up a little bit offensively. We started screening to relieve some pressure. And then we got in a groove where we got the ball inside a couple times, drew a couple fouls, got in the bonus. I don't think there was one particular thing to me, specifically. As I watch it as a spectator tomorrow, it'll probably feel more like there was something specific."
 
On the bench play from A.J. Caldwell, KC Hankton and Jamaal Walker.
"That's a huge advantage and I think all three of those guys were in the game together down the stretch. There's a lot of value to sometimes just performing a normal thing really well. There's a lot of value to that. It was really good for those guys. Those guys are guys who don't try to do too much. Some guys roles are to do too much, that's their role. And by doing too much, it turns out to be good stuff sometimes and sometimes it's not. Then you mix some other guys in who have a different role and their role is to consistently perform a lot of things that don't get a lot of attention. It was really nice to have reliable options off the bench."
 
A.J. Caldwell, RS-Jr.-G
On knocking down first free throw of the season.
"It felt like the monkey was off my back a little bit. It really was my mom because ever since being 0-for-6, she's been texting me every day to shoot more free throws. She didn't care about anything else. She didn't care if I was eating dinner, or anything. She just kept telling me to shoot more free throws, shoot more free throws, shoot more free throws. I can thank her for that. It was nice to see a couple go down."
 
On providing a spark off the bench.
"It was big. Coach told me to be more aggressive at practice on Monday. I've been a little passive the last couple games. I just wanted to be able to help the team off the bench and get some energy back. Weathering that and get things back in our favor was huge. It was nice to get in there and be confident in myself, see a couple go down, and really help the team."
 
On gaining depth and the advantage moving forward.
"Physically, I think it's the biggest part of it. Being able to have 10 with us today, having that extra help is big. It's being able to get some minutes off the bench and have some other guys really contribute helped us out. That'll be the same moving forward."
 
Malachi Smith, RS-So.-G
On what flipped the switch in the second half.
"I think it was our defensive effort. I think we did a good job in the first half. And then their run, we weren't getting stops and they were getting offensive rebounds. Coach told us to get back to getting stops and lock in defensively, and obviously we came out with the win."
 
On gaining depth and advantage of playing less minutes.
"It's huge. You don't realize the effect of it until the next day. You're not as sore, not as tired. Being able to do that gives other guys some confidence to step up in other positions and give the other team different looks. I think with this core we have now, if we stick with what we have, we'll be in good shape. This was the first time we played together before. Just the more reps we get will help us down the line because we're versatile in a lot of things."