Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga at UNCG
Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, N.C.
Saturday – Feb. 20, 2021

Head Coach Lamont Paris
Opening Statement:
"Frustrating loss.  I thought we played hard.  I don't think we played particularly well, offensively, but I thought we played hard. We wanted to win badly, but it just came down to … when you have a lead it dissipates for a couple of reasons.  Extra possessions by way of turnover, extra possessions by way of offensive rebounds, or a team gets really hot.  It wasn't like they got really hot, necessarily, but were giving them second-chance opportunities.  They got 12 second-chance points in the second half, 15 for the game.  That is one that is hard to swallow … that number.  That number is too high.  Even with the worst of luck, that number has to be half of that.  With bad luck and some rebounds that don't go your way."

On the shot selection today and most the offense in the first half coming from the three-point line:
"Those are looks that we can make and we do make.  We got the ball inside some.  We didn't get to the free throw line.  It was physical in there. I didn't think there were a lot of fouls called in there, but we got the ball in there some. Probably could have got in there more with a couple of our guys, but those were shots what we were willing to take.  We can make those. 

"Stef made seven threes in the last game … 7-7 … I know water finds its level, but he had some really good looks and missed them.  Two of them I thought were really good.  One was wide open. 

"Certainly, I thought we could have attacked more, but the way that they played, it is hard to attack off the dribble.  They are physical.  They reach and smack and sometimes it is ball and sometimes it is not ball.  As they do it, you have to be prepared. They have a couple of rim protectors and you have to be prepared to pass to somebody else. 

"I didn't think we were effective around the basket either.  I didn't think we were efficient with the times we did touch it around the basket, making strong moves and getting the to free throw line.  I though we had some good shots, we also had a couple that weren't. 

"Dave ended up in a one-on-one with Abdul-Salam and settled for a three. That is one we typically like to attack unless a guy plays way off.  I thought he had another one that ended up being a long two-point, pull-up jump shot that is mathematically not my favorite thing.  The guys play the game, so if he shoots it at that moment, what are you going to do? 

"There were a couple times, a few instances, we could have done something different, but I didn't think we were particularly effective around the basket either." 

On the play on the defensive end:
"Aside from rebounding, yes, unfortunately, that is a component of defending his rebounding. So that was not good. You can't do that. There's gonna be days when your offense is AWOL, particularly against a team, that's a good team. You know, they're a good team. Again, it was a physical game, it wasn't called in a manner where we were going to be able to get to the free throw line with some of our initial attacks from the perimeter. It ended up that we had more jump shots, and today wasn't a jump shot making day for us, not in the way it normally is.

"There was definitely was some struggles, there definitely was some offensive struggles. Even down at the end of the game was a microcosm of what happened throughout the second half.  I think it was a three point game, shoot a shot at the rim, if it misses, we got an opportunity. They rebounded, stick it back.

"There's got to be a way that we can do a better job of, of not every rebound being a jump ball. It's not, we're typically on the inside, we have some sort of advantage in that deal. I know sometimes we're scrambling around based on a ball screen that happened.  A couple times it's a rebound that's to the advantage of the offensive guy, but we got to do a better job rebounding the ball."

KC Hankton – Jr.-F
On the rebounding in the second half:
"I feel like that's always the worst thing in basketball, you go 28-29 seconds, you're playing great defense, you got the stop. All of a sudden you give up an offensive rebound and you gotta go another 20 seconds potentially. A lot of times with that, there's a lot of open people around the perimeter and it just, it's just easier shots coming off the rebound. So it's just frustrating to let that happen so many times."

On the difference in the offense from the first half to the second half:
"I think we got good books. I think we might have fell in love with the shot. Because when you hit so many at such a high clip in the first half you're gonna want to try that in the second half. I feel like we got a great looks, they just didn't fall in the second half. 

On refocusing for Mercer on Wednesday:
"It is huge.  We are definitely gonna look to rebound, get a lot better in practice, watch the film, see what we can get better at and then really lock in these last two games and prepare for the conference tournament.

Darius Banks – Sr.-G
On the frustration of giving up offensive rebounds:
"I think it just kills you when you play good defense then at the end of the play, they put up the shot and get the rebound. It just kills you.  I think we just need to focus on getting that rebound that should be like the end of our defensive stop wish it wasn't.

On the difference in the offense from the first half to the second half:
"Like Casey said, I think we fell in love with three too much.  We didn't get into the room and get to the line as much as we needed to. When the game came down to it, we didn't get to that line, we didn't get to that rim. I think we just need to go back and watch film. Just talk over as a team and work on it. We'll be fine."

On refocusing for Mercer on Wednesday:
"That's just basketball in general when it comes to conference play. You just move on.  You can't let this hurt you in the end, just focus and move on to the next one. Mercer's next, we got Mercer next game. If you dwell on it too long, it's gonna hurt you in the long run."