Chattanooga at The Citadel
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021
Charleston, S.C. – McAlister Field House
Postgame Quotes
 
Lamont Paris, Head Coach
On poor defensive effort leading to loss.
"I'd say that's an accurate description to what happened. We gave them some good looks but they also made some tough ones. We weren't getting back in transition. You can't do that. We didn't get matched up in transition. We didn't play rules on guys based on scouting reports. It just wasn't a good defensive performance. On the offensive side, we didn't perform well at the very end also. You can't give up almost 60 points in one half and feel like you can win the game."
 
On first half performance.
"We could have played a better first half. We did some things from a rules standpoint that led to some open looks. We did enough and fought back enough to be up one at halftime. I didn't think it was a tremendous effort in the first half, but it was acceptable. In the second half, you can't give up 56 points."
 
On what went wrong defensively.
"We didn't get back in transition. We didn't match up where we needed to match up. We got into foul trouble at times. I don't know. We just weren't playing well defensively. We weren't making rotations, we weren't playing to the scouting report at all."
 
On successful post play today.
"I thought they did a good job. I thought Josh [Ayeni] was pretty consistent with his effort and came on strong late with some aggressive moves at the rim. That was a bright spot in the whole thing to be able to do that. We talked about having one-on-one opportunities coming into the game and we were able to produce at a pretty high clip so that was good."
 
On moving forward with reduced roster.
"I don't know what the other option is. It's sustainable because tomorrow we'll be doing the same thing. There's no option. We had two guys foul out today. We need to get some bodies back."

Malachi Smith, RS-So., G
On defensive efforts and what went wrong.
"It's what we didn't do against VMI and what we did against Samford. The Samford game, we talked, we communicated, we had effort. We didn't do that today. And when teams can shoot and they make one or two, they get confident. We put ourselves in a hole in the second half being down 10, 12 points. We can't do that."
 
On the offensive play from Josh Ayeni.
"That'll help us take a load off the perimeter. It'll get us in the bonus early. It'll create lanes for us to attack since teams will have to double on him. It's great to see him hit his stride and we need him to keep going."
 
On limited roster and need to gain depth.
"It helps because when you get in foul trouble like today, it allows you to have some different looks. Hopefully some players get healthy and play soon. But like I said, it'll say Chattanooga lost and not that Chattanooga lost with only six players. It's frustrating because I know the team we can be, and we can still get there. It just has to click at some point."
 
Jamaal Walker, RS-Fr., G/F
On what went wrong.
"Our defense was not as good as the first half. Not at all. Night and day really. They had a lot of points in transition and we allowed them to score 56 in the second half. We just can't do that."
 
On gaining players back and fatigue playing a factor today.
"That would be really nice obviously. We only have six or seven players at the end of the day and nobody cares about that. We're all going to be in the game a lot. It'll be nice to get guys back so we can get a break and not having to play with our tongues out. It's always nice to have other people. It may have played a role. They get up and down so it's easy to see that's putting a toll on us."