University of Tennessee Athletics
North Alabama-Tennessee Postgame Quotes
October 30, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2009
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Bruce Pearl: "We were trying to have controlled chaos out there, but, to me, it looked like we had more chaos than we had control. We tried to apply pressure, but it is very hard to press a small and quick team like North Alabama.
"We had way too many turnovers. We gave up too much to them offensively rather than taking a charge. Our press is not as effective as I want it to be. We shot well, hit our 3-pointers well, and had an excellent overall percentage.
"We were trying to get a lot of guys playing time tonight. This was the best Scotty Hopson has shot this year. We will learn a good deal from studying the tapes."
NORTH ALABAMA HEAD COACH BOBBY CHAMPAGNE: "Coming into a game like this, we are obviously overmatched. They are the No. 10-ranked team in the country in Division I. We have 12 new guys; there is a big gap.
"We just wanted to come in and play hard and compete, to try and do some things we do well. Their press really bothered us early, bothered us a lot. We have only had 13 practices, so it was kind of hard for us to work on those kinds of things with this game coming so quickly. We were only able to work on the press for two days.
"I really appreciate coach Pearl giving us the opportunity to come here and play this game; he's very gracious because he had a chance to blow this thing out, but with five minutes to go, he has some of his walk-ons in there. There are some teams in our state who will not play us, so we really appreciate this opportunity to come up here and play. It is a great experience for our guys."
