Dec. 2, 2006

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Columbia, S.C. – SOUTH CAROLINA VS. CLEMSON
December 2, 2006
Post-game Quotes

Head Coach Dave Odom

“The way Clemson played today certainly has been indicative of the way they’ve most every game of this year. They’re an excellent team with excellent talent and are very well coached.”

“The game was a game of missed or lost opportunities in the first half. We go 1-13 for the game on three-pointers, yet we only made 13 turnovers.”

“It was a game that we missed open shots early on.”

“The only good points that we made in the first half were shots against their press and shots inside of one foot.”

“Tre [Kelley] hit one fall away jump shot at the end of the shot clock, but beyond that I don’t think we hit a jump shot [in the first half]. And we did have several jump shot opportunities.”

“They made two 3 [point baskets] in the last minute, which takes the lead from three to nine, which really discouraged our kids, and it shouldn’t have. You can be disappointed, but you can’t be discouraged to the point that it affects you.”

“There were three areas of concern coming into the game; one was being able to defeat their backcourt pressure and we did that. Second was being able to establish a half-court offense, and for the most part we did that, we just didn’t make shots.”

“But then the third area, we were abysmal, and that was controlling our defensive boards.”

South Carolina Center Brandon Wallace

Regarding Rebounding Margins:
“Between me and (Dominique) Archie and their post guys, it was 15-15 on the rebounding margin. Their other guys like Powell and Rivers are what really got us. It’s that rebounding that can help you.”

Regarding coming back from the loss:
“The good thing about the schedule is that it comes quick. You can go into exams and we have a week off to prepare for our next game.”

Regarding Clemson’s run at the end of the first half:
“It was huge as far as the total outcome of the game. Anytime you can go into halftime only down by three, it really doesn’t matter if you’re down or up. But if you go down nine points, you have to fight back.”

Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell

“Obviously I’m very pleased to get out of here with a win today. It was our best basketball game all year long. South Carolina was very prepared for our pressure, so that forced us to get out of our full court pressure early. Our guys did a good job at half-court defense, as well as half court offense as the game went on.”

“Tre’ Kelley’s an outstanding player. We tried to trap him every time he came up with the ball screen because he’s so good when he gets in the lane. We sure had our hands full. Our ability to keep strong athletes off the glass was also important.”

“Our bench has been important to us all year long. With our style, we like to play nine or 10 people. Obviously, we had Mays in foul trouble, we had Booker in foul trouble, we had Manning in foul trouble too, and we sat them all down, and I had to make a decision whether to put them all back. Then we started to spurt with Powell leading us offensively and Raymond doing a good job defensively. They were doing a good job, so I just made the decision to go with the growth of the team.”