Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Mercer at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Saturday – Feb. 10, 2018

Head Coach Lamont Paris
On how tough was it stop their 3-point effort
"They shot the ball well from there. No doubt, 11-for-17. Even if they're wide open threes, that's still a good number, good percentage. There were a couple costly ones at the end that were completely mistakes on our part, based on how we wanted to guard, that was what bothered me the most out of that. They made a couple where the guys momentum was going away from the rim. He's four feet behind the three-point line and made them. I thought there were a couple at the end that were unnecessarily good looks for no reason. We had played the play 90% of the play and then 10% we fall asleep as the guy makes a hard cut to the ball. It had nothing to do with what they ran. We got caught watching the ball while other guys were moving and they made them. It's funny sometimes it works out that way. You do the right things plays can turn out in your favor; if you do the wrong things the go the other way."
 
On getting back into the game and effort it takes
"I think we take the lead with three-and-a-half minutes left. There's two teams that are there. Whatever had transpired in the game had just happened. So if you ask either team which side, of 72-73, who wants to be on which side of that no one doesn't want to be on our side of that. Having made a comeback, switch momentum to your way and you were up by one at that point. I think we didn't play well at that point. We gave up threes after threes at that point."
 
On the resiliency of this team
"I told them in the locker room they showed me some things I ultimately want to be defining characteristics of our team. The way we played was relatively lethargic at times. They had a comfortable lead by most standards for most of the game. So there was no reason for our guys to really think that we could come back and take the lead. There was no real reason to believe that other than they have some things in them. Sometimes you don't even know what they're made out of, but that spoke volumes to what they have inside of them to do that. It wasn't because we made a whole bunch of shots, a lot of it was getting stops. We had a relatively small window of time where we got a bunch of stops, then we combined that with scoring a couple of buckets here and there. So that's how you erase a deficit and take the lead. I liked what I saw as far as what we are made out of. It spoke volumes to what you have on the inside in order to be able to do that."
 
Rodney Chatman – So., G
On second half comeback attempt
"It was a 10-point game, not down by a lot. We just had to get a couple of shots like we did, a couple baskets, free throws. The hustle plays you've got to make. We always believe in ourselves when we're down. We've been in a lot of close games. We've been in a lot of games that we came back in. That experience made us confident in this game."
 
On the effort in the final three minutes
"They made the effort plays leading up to three minutes. I think under three minutes we didn't make those plays. We didn't get the stops we needed. They made their shots. That's when the most important plays you make of your career have to be in the last two minutes to win the game."
 
Joshua Phillips – Sr., C
On the last three minutes
"First half we came back and got it under 10. I feel like there was confidence going into the second half. When we got it down to three, I feel like we had all the confidence in the world, but we let a couple of plays slip away. I feel like the past games we've been in have given us confidence. We just need to finish out close games."
 
On the crowd support
"The crowd is always amazing here. I feel like the crowd tonight really did help us, especially when we were hitting the clutch free throws and clutch shots they were getting real loud for us. I really appreciate the fans coming to the game supporting us."
 
On showing resiliency
"Our team can bounce back from anything. We have seen people go down for many reasons, injuries, anything. We have always found a way to keep playing and stay in the game. We might not have our best players. I feel our resiliency level is up there."