Postgame Quotes
Chattanooga 65, North Carolina Central 59
Chattanooga, Tenn. | The McKenzie Arena
January 3, 2024
 
Head Coach Shawn Poppie
 
Opening statement
"Thanks to our administration once again. As many of you know, the [Southern] Scuffle has been going on here the last three, four days and they finished late last night. We were able to flip the court to allow us to play one more nonconference game here at home. So for all the work they've put in to allow this to happen, very, very thankful and appreciative. For the fans that came out, thank you. It was nice to see everyone back in McKenzie Arena. It feels like it's been forever since we've been in here. It was good to get us a win. You know, a little sour taste in our mouth a little bit after the Cherokee Tournament right before Christmas. It's felt like we've had a long, long break and I think you saw some of that rust with us today. I'm not sure we were in quite good enough shape. We're gonna have to do a better job as we lean into conference play starting next week. With that said, winning is hard, and we take every one we can get. I think the best thing about this team is we're nowhere near our potential yet. So to be 12-3 and headed into conference play, we know we have a long way to go we have to be much better than we were today. But I am pleased with that locker room, with who we are."
 
On the return of Raven Thompson to the lineup after injury
"I think it's hard for me is as a coach you're trying to balance get healthy yet stay in shape. I don't know today, she played 30 minutes but she looked gassed and that some on me right some on her. You got to be honest with me so when we practice, I can get the right buttons so that she's all the way ready. I do think the good news is she knows she's healthy. I think that the first couple games back you're worried about some of the things that could go wrong. 'Is my knee all the way there?' She's been put in some situations where she now knows it's healthy. She's been really good. She's a really good basketball player, but we got to get to where she's playing 30 minutes that at Raven's pace and doing Raven things. She had a half and where she ended up with 15 and 11 or 15 and 13. Like she was gassed, right and they had a little guard on her and she you know we gotta identify some of those things. Some of it she's got to have a dog mentality that I'm the potential Player of the Year in this league Throw me the ball and I got us. So it's me as a coach. It's her is a sophomore. I think sometimes we all forget that. She's still learning too."
 
On the second half
"I don't think we played with a sense of urgency coming out in the second half. We allowed No. 3, a left handed driver, just straight line drives with the left. We missed a couple of layups. Simple exchanges we're not understanding. We think we're playing five-on-0 offensively. Well, they picked the pressure up. They're down 11. They're trying to push this thing forward. And that's the dog mentality that I'm talking about. They're gonna come after us. We got to be ready for that. I think for us, you go on an 8-0 run to start the half and it's 19. Instead I think they got it to six or whatever it was and now you're in for a fight and we got to learn. It would be different if we hadn't been in this situation, but we have and we've got to learn as we head into conference play. We're making the game way harder than it needs to be for ourselves."
 
 
Raven Thompson, So., F
On losing at the Cherokee Invitational
"It was definitely an eye opener. We didn't play our best the first game and the second game, we came up short. But we competed and we just need to get back on our feet and I think this is the game to do that."
 
On how to keep sense of urgency in second half
"Just staying together and staying poised with things like when we're not getting stops. We just know we've just got to come together tighter when things aren't going well."