Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga 88, King (TN) University 32
Chattanooga, Tenn. | The McKenzie Arena
Monday, November 6, 2023
 
Head Coach Shawn Poppie
On the style of the team's play
"Well, it's what we're hoping our identity is it's something we preach a lot with our culture of there's no one better than the other. Let's do this together and you sharing it, we'll return the favor. I said at halftime, Karsen I thought made a heck of a play. She hadn't got a ton of shots in the first half. She makes an extra one of the corner to get Hannah [Kohn] one into the first half. And halftime I said 'that's how we play. I'm gonna get you one open this this third quarter.' We drew a little play up, pick and pop and she hits a three. That's what we are about. It ain't just one person. I think we do have a lot more depth than we had a year ago. We have different options and different skill sets and it's just one game. We got a long way to go but it's nice to get one up under our belt and kind of see where we go from here.
 
On difference between last year and this year
"I think a year ago we were just in a different space. We didn't have as many bodies we were relying on just a couple kids. We're relying heavily, don't get me wrong, on Raven Thompson and Jada Guinn. They're gonna be big time for us. But at least we got more threats and we're playing a little bit different style and it's a little different brand. Hopefully the defensive side is not any different. I thought we did a much better job rebounding in the second half. We gave up seven o-boards in the first half. We can't do that. We're already undersized. So we better be scrappy."
 
On the play of the "bigs"
"Hopefully sooner than later. We're going to need them. It's the deepest position we have as far as bodies and they bring something different. And I think for me as a coach, I want it to be sooner than later but the reality is there's not a bunch of experience."
 
On the play of Hannah Kohn
"Every time it leaves her hand we all think is going in. She's got a gift. We knew that recruiting her. We got to work on some things for how to hunt that right? Because what's gonna happen is you play a couple of these games and everyone's watching and now all of a sudden the space is a little different. But sometimes that can be utilized for us too. We can you know continue to work on her on the defensive side of the ball.
 
Caia [Elisaldez] I thought she played better than her number state. I'm sure she's gonna be disappointed but she does a lot of good stuff defensively. She can get after a ball and we can play fast in transition with her so she did some good things.
 
On what you learned today
"I learned that we're I think we can be as good as we want to be. You feel that in practice and we've had a different energy to ourselves here the last three or four days, but you don't see this team out there. You always think as a coach, you're looking at your deficit, you know what your deficiencies are? How are we going to be exposed and that hopefully keeps you one step ahead. But because you think about that all the time you forget that you actually are and have a chance to be a pretty good basketball team."
 
On continuing to coach despite the large lead
"I don't care what the score is this every opportunity out here we get is we got to keep getting better, right keep getting better. We want to do things the right way for all 40 minutes, no matter that score."

Raven Thompson, So.-F
On off-season work turning into results.
"I just have to trust and believe in myself. I know that I put the work in, so it will show if I just keep believing. My teammates believe in me so I just let that go."

On gelling with the newcomers.
"It's been fun. We know the system Coach Poppie runs and that helps showing the newcomers how we do things and how things get done. It's been really fun."

On becoming a team leader as a sophomore.
"It's a little out of my comfort zone. I'm getting used to it every day, knowing that the newcomers believe in me and trust me. It helps knowing that they'll listen and accept trying to get better."

Jada Guinn, Gr.-G
On the first quarter output.
"It was just to try and do us. We knew the game plan and we knew how we wanted to play, and we went out there and executed. We talked about it before the game, we felt like we could fuel our offense off our defense, and that's what we did."

On registering 1,000th career collegiate point.
"I wasn't thinking about it at all. Coach Poppie let me know in the third quarter that I was two points away, I had forgot about it. It was great to do it today and celebrate with all my teammates."

On learning new team & system.
"There's always bumps with new teams. I trust the coaches and why they brought me here and what we want to do. I've been finding my role and just trusting my teammates and it's going really well."