2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Women's Basketball
Game 21 – vs. Wofford – Jan. 26 – McKenzie Arena
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Lamont Paris:
Opening Statement
"My only real disappointment was 3,211 was the attendance…I thought we had more at the last game. I was hoping we'd get a packed house but I thought it was a good crowd. That is a scrappy team. They have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball from three. The big's that play in this league are going to have to have a one-on-one class on guarding on the perimeter because so many teams have guys that do that in this league. Our big guys did a good job with that. Josh had really good energy. Defensively, I thought he was outstanding. It was a physical game. For one of the few times, it was physical, and I felt like "hey, it's just physical." Everyone was being physical, and I thought the refs did a great job calling a difficult game. I am happy with the guys, how they competed and beating a great team is always a plus."
On the team's shooting.
"It was good. We shot the ball pretty well. I always put an asterisk next to it because some of the shots that we got, there were 10-12 points that were out there that were the 'gimme-type' kind for the guy in that scenario. That [good shooting] helps, we need to get better at rebounding. They shoot such long shots that typically, when the shot hits the rim, the defensive rebounder is going to be inside the other guy. Some of the rebound comes out so long that some of the rebounding advantage turns into a disadvantage… that's some of them, not all of them. They are scrappy, they compete. The ability to find a way, no matter what it was, we found a way."
On stopping Wofford's comeback
"They are never out of the game the way that they play. It was nice to see that the guys kept their proverbial foot on top of them as they tried to make their move. We made some key passes, Malachi (Smith) made a few big time passes… Intentionally drawing attention and finding some guys that were wide open and he delivered a few with a bow on them."
On the team getting better.
"I do think we are getting better, but we are playing such different types of teams. You can go around the whole nation and I don't know how many conferences have as many different types of playing teams as we do. It's a little harder to gage that because it's a different style than what we were doing at VMI and Greensboro. We are getting better and I continue to talk to our guys about how we can get better, particularly on the defensive end, we didn't handle great. As we are trying to get better, the better you get, the more difficult it is to make an improvement… you have to do two times the work to get half the result. I hope in two weeks we can say, 'we're there.' We can say this is who we are, this is where we are going. Hopefully we can get to the postseason with that being the case."
On how fun it is to coach this team.
"The guys joked about my shoes today. I'm not the flashiest guy. The guys went nuts with a short sleeve shirt. We spent 10 minutes trying to calm down them in the pregame. It's an awesome group…Who can do that with their team. Whose team can you do that to and know in 2:45 from that moment that we are out there and getting after it. There are moments like that during the game. It's a special group of guys. I really enjoy coaching them. I feel blessed being able to coach them. These are their days and that makes it my favorite days."
AJ Caldwell, G/F, RJr.
Beating Wofford
"They are a team that never gives up… it was like that last year too. It's good to see us lockdown the defense in the second half. It's definitely a good win."
On the veteran team.
"A lot of our guys have seen almost everything and that really benefits us. In practice it shows how veteran of a team that we are. A team like Wofford does a lot of different things offensively and defensively and we just try to be as prepared as possible coming in. Seeing a team the second time around is a little bit easier. The preparation is huge and having a veteran team really helps us out."
David Jean Baptise, G, Gr.
On the physicality of Wofford.
"They are a great defensive team. They played really hard, really scrappy. To beat them twice is definitely a statement."
On being a leader knowing what teams in the league are capable of.
"I have to. Every year I've been here, I see how SoCon games go. Any team in the conference can give you a great game. For us, it's about keeping it on the gas, no breaks."
