Chattanooga 63, Furman 52
Southern Conference Tournament
Asheville, N.C. | Harrah's Cherokee Center
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Postgame Quotes
 
HEAD COACH SHAWN POPPIE
Opening Statement
"I know we're happy to be up here right now after that finish. I wish we could just skip to the end of that. It was 30 minutes we were scrambling trying to find it and proud of this group, right proud, especially these two seniors [Yazz Wazeerud-Din and Abbey Cornelius]. They didn't want it to end today. And they showed it there down the stretch and we got a lot of work ahead of us. We know that short turnaround against either Samfod or ETSU, both are really talented, so we got to figure some things out overnight. Try to get some rest, but very, very happy for my group.
 
On being down by 10 late in the third quarter
"I mean, I was trying to press their buttons. We just wanted it so bad for them. We did try to go to a smaller lineup. Abbey [Cornelius] picked up her third foul. We kind of went small and got a little momentum scoring the ball and they couldn't get enough stops but they did a really good job of really staying with us. I thought when we played them the first time, we had a lot of airspace to get into some gaps and they weren't there tonight. So it was a struggle until we could find ways to spread them out. I think what happened the last 12 minutes we're gonna have to move them around and spread them out and then take advantage. So again, with that said, players to my left stepped up in a big moment and they place"
 
On defending Grace van Rij
"She's a load in there and she's physical and she you can get in foul trouble if you put her on an island and so what we did is we put Yazz [Wazeerud-Din] on the point guard to try to put some height when we came into double. I think when the ball is out in front of us, it allows you to have size on the double, it can be difficult to get out. I thought early on, we didn't rotate when it was on the weak side. The point guards, number two got a backdoor layup. out of it. We kind of made some adjustments saw both and just tried to make the game difficult. She's a good basketball player. And I thought it was pretty effective for the most part."
 
 
YAZZ WAZEERUD-DIN
as the adjustment this year and now you know, you're basically a full season NBA and one of the new people but just what's it been like making that transition from being in a program for several years to this wasn't anything that jumps out as you reflect this is a big part of that and just
Something that really jumped out was like believe in myself and have confidence. That really stood out to me and of course my family-like environment. We are real close.
 
ABBEY CORNELIUS
"It was a lot of fun. Our bench was insane like always. March Madness comes with a lot of excitement.
 
On the history of the Mocs program
"I always want to leave a place better than I found it and we're all a part of that. So we kind of know the history but we also know that it's the focus is on this group this year. We just want to return to that championship glory."