Postgame Quotes
#1 Chattanooga 76, #8 Mercer 61
SoCon Tournament Quarterfinal Round
Asheville, N.C. | Harrah's Cherokee Center - Asheville
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Opening statement after Thursday's quarterfinal win.
"We certainly keep things interesting. Tough first half. Truth be told, we looked a little unsure of ourselves. I had a couple choice words and then we woke up after halftime. Super proud of the guys' response in the second half. I challenged some of the guys individually, some of them collectively;
Makai Richards being one that responded,
Honor Huff was another that responded. How about
Garrison Keeslar? If you know basketball, you know that was a grown man's game on both sides of the basketball. We gotta learn from this and move on, but it's called survive and advance for a reason so I'm proud of the guys' response in the second half."
On how important the team's depth will be moving forward.
"We'e had a lot of guys play a lot of different minutes in games. Everybody that played tonight including someone like
Parker Robison has been thrown into some heated games this season as well. I'm using a cliche, but it's next man up and it's gotta be collectively. I'm super proud of Makai and what he did individually. If there's one guy who maybe over the course of the year that hasn't gotten the minutes that I would've liked for him to have gotten, it's him. He's maintained a great attitude, he's practiced hard and he's never sulked or anything and he's risen to the occasion in multiple games including this one. We had a dogfight at home against The Citadel as well and he gave us some great minutes there as well. I'm proud of him for doing this and we're going to ask them all to be ready to go tomorrow."
Garrison Keeslar, G/F-Sr.
On what the conversations were like at halftime in the locker room.
"Before the coaches got into the locker room we have our own talk as players and we knew what we needed to do. We didn't look like ourselves in the first half and we weren't moving the ball well. Our defense was solid but loose balls and stuff like that that we usually get to, we weren't getting to. So we talked about that and then Coach came in and let us hear it just a little bit. It woke us up and lit a fire under us, but we shouldn't need that. It should start in the first half right when the ball tips and we should be ready to go."
On Makai Richards stepping in and contributing to the win today.
"That was big time. That's a huge testament to who he is as a person. With Frank (Champion) going down, he knew he'd be playing but you get new minutes and you haven't been playing like that all season. For him to step up and do that, that's big time for our team. Our whole team knew that you can't just replace Frank with one guy, it's gonna be a collective effort. Our coaches did a good job at shuffling in the bigs and they all know that when they go in they go in and give it everything they've got. Makai was huge tonight both offensively and defensively tonight and that's just a big time performance from him."
Bash Wieland, G-Gr.
On fighting through offensive struggles but still putting together a really solid defensive outing individually.
"Well I wasn't doing much offensively so you've gotta bring something else. Yeah, I had a tough shooting night but to have the support of my teammates where we're just like 'get a stop, get a stop, get stop', that's the most important thing whether your shots are falling or not."
Makai Richards, F-RJr.
On what his mental preparation was like knowing he was going to get the start.
"Every day my focus was just about getting mentally ready and getting my mind right while also locking in on the scout. Just always trying to be ready for the next move and stepping up for whatever's to come."
