The Citadel at Chattanooga
Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021
Chattanooga, Tenn. – McKenzie Arena
Postgame Quotes

Lamont Paris, Head Coach
Opening statement after 70-66 win over The Citadel.
"Our guys like drama, that's for sure. I thought we had some chances towards the end to have a finish that favored us that involved less drama. The guys did a phenomenal job defensively. I can't say enough about that. To hold those guys to almost 20 points below their average and to only eight made threes on the game, in this stretch of games, that's really been what we've hung out hat on. We've been able to defend, and that gives you a chance to win, barring a terrible offensive performance. I don't think we performed that great offensively. We generated some high-quality shots, but we missed some of those. We defended in a way that kept us right where we needed to be."
 
On drama of the game, fluctuation of big leads and being in a close game.
"We had some things we didn't do, but they had some good old fashion shot making. I know there were a couple in there. I felt guilty having to go into halftime and tell poor Jamaal [Walker] that he had to chase even harder than he was chasing. You're risking fouling at that point if you get any closer to the guy. Kaiden Rice is a big time shot maker, too. Those are HORSE shots. Basketball is a game of runs. They did a great job of making tough shots."
 
On having more success guarding Hayden Brown with KC Hankton and Darius Banks.
"It was a huge difference [having those guys]. God gave everybody different gifts. The gifts you need in order to guard him, the two guys that guarded him the most, have those gifts more than other guys on our roster. Those two guys are Darius Banks and KC Hankton. You get in trouble when it's a steady diet of a not-great matchup and a guy gets in a rhythm on how to manipulate that and how to score on that. [Hayden Brown] is a very aggressive offensive player."
 
On Josh Ayeni's play off the bench.
"I thought he was really good. The minutes weren't tremendous. I thought he really helped set the tone. We wanted to throw the ball inside some and he was our most effective guy at doing that. When he is fresh, he is a really active guy, particularly on the defensive end. You don't normally say that about a guy that played six minutes, but he was a huge part of what we did defensively and really valuable to what we were doing."
 
On moving forward with current roster.
"I feel really confident with this group. You always want your full complement of guys, but if this group right here is the group for us to ride onto the sunset with, I feel really good about where this team can get to. They are unselfish, we've got a level of toughness, we've got skill."

Malachi Smith, RS-So.-G
On fans back in McKenzie Arena.
"It felt good, it most definitely gave us some energy. And when they started coming back, the crowd got loud again. It was good to have everyone back here."
 
On today's defensive efforts.
"We knew the last two games we won because of defense and they are the best offensive team in the conference, so they have a lot of good players. You have to stay alert and you can't take a possession off. They hit some tough shots, and that's going to happen, but I feel like for the most part we were solid."
 
On the team's confidence.
"A lot of confidence. I think it's because we aren't playing musical chairs anymore. We've had the same lineup for the past two or three weeks and that's the longest it's been. You aren't worried about any surprises happening and I think that's where the confidence comes from."
 
Moving forward to ETSU on Monday.
"We just want to get better every day. With a quick turnaround, you can't dwell on this game too much. You have to figure out what you did and move on. It's a big game, but we don't need any extra motivation. We know our goals and we see we're getting close to them. We'll go and try to get a win."
 
KC Hankton, Jr.-F
On today's double-double effort and defensive assignment of Hayden Brown.
"I think it was just playing hard. Before the game, mentally, I wanted to bring a lot of energy. I was really locked in and just wanted to bring as much energy as I could. He's [Hayden Brown] a really great player. Watching him go for 40 wasn't fun to see. Mentally, I challenged myself to stay locked in and give my best effort on him."
 
On working the ball inside on offense.
"That's something we talked about all week and the way they play us defensively with me, Darius [Banks], Stef [Kenic] and Josh [Ayeni]. We really worked on that in practice this week."
 
On having a consistent rotation.
"All year we have had people in-and-out. It's been nice for the last two or three weeks to have a constant rotation and having people in practice. We used to have seven or eight guys practicing now we have 10 or so. Just being able to go against each other at practice every day has helped us and made us stay locked in defensively."