Dec. 30, 2003

Recap?|? Box Score?|? Notes

– USC Head Coach Dave Odom: “This was a good game for us. Yale is a quality opponent. They are well-coached and well-prepared. It was a good test. At times we played extremely well and at other times we didn’t. We were sporadic on offense. In the second half, we never could get into a rhythm, mainly because of a lot of nagging injuries we were getting. I thought the first part of the second half was key to us winning the game. I think there is too much focus on Rolando (Howell) right now. He’s not ready to play. He went up and down the floor more tonight than he has since he hurt his foot. Friday night we are playing a team that if you don’t respect them, they are capable of beating you. (Appalachian State). I’ve always believed that if you respect everybody you play, you have a better chance to win the games you should win.”

Yale Coach James Jones: “We did a better job in the second half. We played well but playing well doesn’t mean you are going to get the victory. We competed very hard against a very good South Carolina team. The second half was very important especially the first five minutes. They went on a 14-0 run and we had bad plays and missed shots. South Carolina is one of the better defensive teams that we have played so far. They play a lot of defenses and they get after you. If they had played their normal style against Temple they would be undefeated right now.”