Nov. 19, 2008
Head Coach Dawn Staley
Thoughts on the game
Our players have to play with more of a sense of urgency. We don’t play all the way through plays. In order to be successful, we have to even out the opponents by playing with sense of urgency and playing through plays. With the type of crowd that was here, our team was feeding off of it, but you have to make it work in your favor for 40 minutes.
On the inexperience of the team
We padded in the fact that we are inexperienced. That has nothing to do with effort. You can’t teach it. You can’t coach it. They have to do that. They have a coaching staff that has a lot of mojo. We come in and think we’re going to outcoach the opposing team’s coaching staff. (Our team has) to come in and think they’re going to outplay the other team no matter how many All-Americans are on the other bench.
On the offensive struggles
We struggle to score. We struggled against Penn State, and we struggled tonight. A lot of it had to do with our seniors. They’re going to have to fill up the offensive side of the stat sheet more than they did. We saw some good things from our younger players. They can get better quickly. We need a better balance of them playing better, along with our seniors.
How often do you preach the importance of good defense? Every night. I think defensively they scored 52 points, which is good to hold a team right at 50. We have that part in check. We just need to get better offensively. I think it’s a lack of leadership from the point guard position. That’s a work in progress. We just need to start better.
On the atmosphere of the Colonial Life Arena I think our players were energized. When we were making a comeback, they were feeling it. They were trying hard, but closeness only counts in horseshoes. We have to win.
Freshman Guard Miranda Tate
“We knew they were going to come in and put on pressure. We wanted to just get the ball down the court. I think we were able to do that.”
On the intensity of the game
We came out with less intensity than I expected, but we picked it up. We were able to come out with more intensity in the 2nd half and get it close.
On the feelings of the first home game
It was emotional because it is (Demetress)’s and (Brionna)’s last year. We wanted to come out and get the W for them. It was also Coach’s first home game, so we wanted to come out and have a strong showing.
On the slow start
I was shocked, but we picked it up. We fought hard to get back in it, but we just got down by too much.
Clemson Head Coach Cristy McKinney
Thoughts on the game
We’re really glad to come to Columbia, South Carolina and get a win. I feel like our team was really ready when we went up, we played and coached orderly, and played hard. You cant really relax with a team like South Carolina, they never quit and they play hard
With all the rivalry between Clemson and South Carolina, how nice was it to beat South Carolina?
Very nice. They don’t have to say it, I just know it. It was a really big place to get a win. I knew it was important to South Carolina fans, so it was a big win.
How is looking down the bench and knowing you have options?
As a team we think we are going to get better. We are going to get better. We are a team overall and we have a lot of kids that are really going to get better as the season goes on.
