2022-23 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 17 – vs. VMI
January 7 – McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes
 
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after 85-78 win over his former team VMI.
"Coach [Andrew] Wilson is doing a great job over there and they're playing with supreme confidence. I thought we moved the ball pretty well, it was tough because they do some things defensively where they mess with you mentally. After we were a bit tight early, I thought we moved the ball a lot better and then we made shots in the second half. A win is a win any way you can take them."
 
On limiting the turnovers.
"We've done a better job of taking care of the ball post-Christmas break. That is a stat, or metric, that we pride ourselves on. We want to take care of the ball as much as possible. I like to think it's an element that our guys are taking to heart, and it was good today. We were more active on the ball and were able to turn them over 17 times. Hopefully, that's a formula moving forward."
 
On Jake Stephens' performance.
"I'm really proud of him. He seemed a bit tight in the first minute or two, and we weren't quite sure how they were going to defend them. He feels like a son to me because I've been with him so long. I see that, and I'm super proud of him. 37 points and 15 rebounds is unbelievable. But we let Tyler Houser [VMI] shoot threes and then I got on him. We had a little talk and he took great ownership of that like he always does and come out and played better after that."
 
Jake Stephens, Gr.-C
Overall thoughts after the win.
"It wasn't our prettiest game, but it was great to get a Southern Conference win nonetheless. It's kind of cool. You see some things we need to improve on and we will. It's special when you can get a win and have that."
 
On playing against his former team.
"It was awesome. I love those guys and credit to them. It's a VMI team so you know they're not going to quit. They played hard to the very end. I'm proud to be from there. But, I'm proud to get the win because I'm a competitive person."
 
On limiting turnovers.
"We've been preaching it. We want to be more active on the ball, active hands, get more deflections. That's something we've really been working on and taking pride in it. They shot the ball over 50.0% from the three-point line so we need to get better there."