Jan. 13, 2007

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South Carolina vs. Florida Quotes

South Carolina Head Coach Dave Odom
“[Florida] made a couple of really good adjustments in the second half isolating their low post players on [South Carolina’s] guards.”

“Basically, too many bodies, and too many good bodies.”

“Playing a team like Florida, you’re playing a team that shoots the ball inside, and can really dominate inside with their size and their skill and ability to get the ball inside. If you cover the inside, you know you’re going to give up some outside shots. I’m of the opinion that [in giving up the outside shot], you’ve still got to make them and obviously Lee Humphrey did.”

“Humphrey shot us out of the zone [defense] by himself. We were concentrating inside as much as we could, and you’ve got to give him credit. His ability to shoot the three was a major factor in Florida’s success.”

“Tre Kelley brought us back almost single-handedly in the first half. They were rotating players on him and he was finding gaps in their man defense.”

“Evaldas Baniulis played well. He’s going to be a good player. He’s young and doesn’t know the ways of SEC basketball yet, but he will learn.”

“Fatigue got [Tre Kelley in the second half], but also Florida changed their defense. Instead of playing him one up, it looked to me like their big guys were more involved in helping to defend him.”

Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan

On USC player Tre Kelley:
“I think the first thing is that Dave’s team is a little banged up right now. I thought their kids really competed and played hard. In the first half, Tre Kelley played extremely well and really kept them close and cut into our lead. At one point, he had four guys on him to try and get the ball away from him.”

On the second half:
“Lee Humphrey being able to shoot as well as he did, helped us a lot. We got the ball inside, took care of it and had a number of assists. In the second half we just tried to get the ball out of Tre Kelley’s hands because he shoots so well off of the dribble and is creative when he reads the defense.”

USC Player Quotes

Tre Kelley
“In the first half, I was able to get a few lay-ups and get a few jump shots. I just took advantage of what they gave me.”

“I always have confidence we can win any game. Obviously we’re going to have to fight. We can’t hang our heads down because it’s a long season and we have to move on. I don’t want to wait until the postseason to turn it around. We can do it in SEC play.”

“I didn’t finish like I did in the first half. I missed a couple of lay-ups and jump shots. It wasn’t that I was running out of gas or anything, I just didn’t finish.”

“They tried (to keep the ball away from me). I would eventually get the ball at the end of the shot clocks. They played great defense in the second half and it worked. They didn’t wear me down, I just couldn’t finish.”

Brandon Wallace
“You can’t spot teams like Florida. You always have to stay in the game.”

“The schedule is kind of tough right now, but we have to have everybody besides one person step up and play basketball. The first half, pretty much the total score, (Tre carried the team). We have to find some more people.”

“We always believe we can win the game. They kept coming and we had a lot of dry spells at the beginning of the second half. They made shots and we didn’t.”