Jan. 17, 2004

Recap?|? Box Score?|? Notes

– South Carolina vs. Tennessee
The Colonial Center, Columbia, SC

Dave Odom, South Carolina — “Our team came out today with a great intent. They showed a passion for getting the job done. I thought our press bothered Tennessee some, especially early on. From the beginning, our press helped to set the pace of the game. I told the team before the game, to let their passion out and to respond to the crowd, which they did. It was a great atmosphere in here today. We expected a great crowd and they are to be congratulated. I think a lot of our fans are impressed with how this team playing as opposed to the number of wins we have now. I was disappointed we didn’t finish strong the last media timeout of the first half. I thought we played we played pretty well against their zone. Anytime there is a crack in the foundation of this team, someone steps up and seals the crack. For the second straight game, Renaldo Blackman helped do that for us. We need to get back to playing better man to man defense. I thought we were much more aggressive off the dribble and the pass. I thought our team’s unselfishness today was extraordinary.”

Buzz Peterson, Tennessee — “They got out to a big run, a 21-3 lead and just never looked back. We got to get our guys to get the outside game going so we can get the inside game going. We have to get our guys some inside touches but we need Scooter on the outside as well. He had some looks but couldn’t knock them down. We have to look at this game and mature as a team. At home we are fine but when we go on the road we have problems. Usually with about eight minutes remaining we like to be in the game but we weren’t in that position tonight. One of the things we wanted tonight was not to get into a fast tempo game and keep the turnovers down but we got into that situation early and that led to them jumping out on top.”