Nov. 9, 2007

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

South Carolina vs. South Carolina State<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

November 9, 2007

Coach and Player Quotes

South Carolina coach Dave Odom

“It looked like South Carolina State possibly wasn’t ready for the pressure our team put on them early. It got them playing a little faster than they were comfortable playing. We were able to turn some deflections and turnovers into baskets. It energized the crowd quite a bit and as a result we pretty much had our way.”

“If you look at the game itself, from a coaching perspective, you have to be extremely pleased with the approach that our team took to the opening game. I give our players a lot of credit for that. Some of our players, Devan [Downey], Zam [Frederick], Branden Conrad, have waited an awful long time to have a Gamecock uniform on, and they really took advantage of it and took a lot of pride in it. It spilled over to their teammates and as a result, we had a really energetic performance by our basketball team tonight.”

“I was very pleased with the way we executed defensively. We had that entertaining run in the first half where we were raining drop shots, stealing the ball, and in general having fun.”

“What is going to stick in my mind about tonight is this is a great start to our 100^th year of basketball here at [South] Carolina.”

“By far, this was our best opening night crowd, in terms of number and in terms of energy they brought to the building. I think we can build on the fact that we played well, and the fact that our crowd supported us, and let that spill over to Monday night.”

“Devan [Downey] played tremendous basketball on both ends of the floor.”

South Carolina State head coach Tim Carter

“[South] Carolina did a great job, they jumped on us early and had us on our heels. We got a lot of work to do.”

“We got a long way to go, that’s what it showed me tonight. This is as poor as a performance in my 14 years of being a head coach and I’ve gone into Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas. This is as poor as a performance I have ever had in one of my ball clubs.”

“Everything was a problem; our spacing was a problem, our rebounding was a problem, our aggressiveness was a problem. We played on our heels.”

South Carolina Player Quotes

Dwayne Day

“We are just out there playing basketball. We are excited for this season especially with this great start tonight.”

“We knew coming onto the court that we were a tempo team.”

“The guys are working hard and playing well. There was good defense tonight. As long as we keep together, we will be good for this season.”

Zam Fredrick

“I’m just playing the game, staying within the offense. So I guess I played okay today. I am contempt with just playing well.”

On being Sr. Fredrick’s son:

“We made eye contact throughout the game. I can tell by his facial expressions whether if I was doing something wrong or something right. I told him before I came here that I wanted to make a name on my own and not as Zam Fredrick’s son.”

Devan Downey

“It felt really good to play tonight. I have been preaching that we needed to play hard and things will take care of themselves. We played hard, we played good defense. Our guys are trying hard – I want fans to know we are trying hard to make a change and believe in us.”

“If I have two points I’m happy as long as the Gamecocks win. It feels great to play. I’m speechless right now. It felt so good.”