Reaction from coach Mark Fox and players after their team fell 92-90 in overtime to Chattanooga on Friday night:
J.J. FRAZIER, junior guard
The poor free throw shooting (28-for-45):
“It was a bad performance from the line. It was a bad performance from the overall game standpoint. We didn’t play that well in any area of the game of basketball, and you’re not gonna win games, no matter how talented you are, if you don’t play well in every area of the game. You’re not gonna win.”
Starting the season with a loss, even if Chattanooga is picked to make the NCAA tournament:
“Nobody expects to lose. But it’s a long season. If we pack it up now after one game we’re never gonna be good. It’s just one game out of 30. We’ll get it back together.”
On the failure to switch well on 3-point defense:
“We knew what they wanted to do. We knew how they played. We just couldn’t guard it. At the end of the day no matter how good your scout is if you can’t guard the ball you’re not gonna win games.”
YANTE MATEN, sophomore forward
What went wrong:
“They came out and they were determined to get a W. And we needed to fight back a lot harder than we showed. We didn’t fight back to our fullest capability. But we did put a lot of energy out there. I just think we had more in us, that we didn’t deplete the tank.”
Playing in a game with so many fouls:
“They kept calling so many fouls. it is a little bit difficult. Because when you keep going up and down (the court) you get into a rhythm after awhile. But you’ve just gotta play the game.”
MARK FOX, head coach
Opening statement:
“Certainly not the way we wanted to start the year. Scored 90 points and got beat. Shot 54 percent from the field and got beat. Shot 50 percent from 3 and got beat. Missed 17 free throws, did not defend the 3-point line and did not rebound the ball. You’re not gonna win if you don’t do those things. So hats off to Chattanooga’s team, because they do have a good team, and they made more plays than we did.”
Which of those – free throws, 3-point defense, rebounding – concern you most?
“Because we had to play small, that the rebounding is probably something that with a normal lineup wouldn’t be as big of an issue. Obviously we had some injuries (freshman forward Derek Ogbeide and junior small forward Juwan Parker) that we were dealt with this week and we had to play with a smaller lineup, which we normally don’t do. So that I think we can correct. But we’ve gotta be better defensively, certainly to win. And we’ve gotta do a better job of shooting free throws. We obviously got there a lot but we didn’t make the percentage (we needed to). We make free throws we win the game.”
On the officiating:
“Oh they called a good ballgame, they really did. The game is gonna be officiated differently. And as coaches and fans and players we have to understand it’s a new world. And you get in a situation where you have massive foul trouble, where experience really shows, and our inexperience really showed at a couple key points tonight with a couple of our young guys. But that’s gonna happen with young players. But I thought the officiating was great.”
Maten’s game (17 points and 13 rebounds):
“I thought Yante had a nice game. I think that we need him to be productive, and obviously with a small group we had a lot on his shoulders and he made his share of plays.”
On E’Torrion Wilridge (eight points in 26 minutes) and the freshmen:
“Obviously these freshmen are going to be in situations and guard things that they’ve never seen. And obviously in the first game when you don’t really have a scout (report) and you’re going in blind there’s going to be some defensive mistakes, just because as coaches we don’t know what’s coming. … So I don’t think their defense was great. But they’re gonna learn more and more as they go on. But obviously E’Torrion made his share of plays tonight. But we’ve got a long way to go on the defensive end.”
