Feb. 9, 2011

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn

Opening statement…
I think this game is actually pretty simple to sum up. I thought our guys came really ready and responded well to [Florida’s] 9-0 run. We were getting really good looks and they just didn’t go down. Even after we cut it, I think it was 11-9 maybe, we had a bunch after that didn’t go down. It took the wind out of us. We really never recovered from that. Florida did what a very good veteran team does. They took advantage of it and every opportunity. As we’ve said so many times, we’re not a team right now with our experience level where we can afford to do that against a team of this caliber. Because of that we were never able to get over the hump. I thought they really hurt us inside. We didn’t get a lot from any of our inside guys tonight and that’s going to be a challenge for us. That’s something that a team in our situation has to learn. There’s going to be nights you don’t do that. That’s why defending and rebounding is so important. But credit Florida for taking advantage of it and I thought they played really well.

On leaving Florida open for transition…
That hadn’t been a problem for us when we were rebounding the ball well. I think the offensive rebounding leads to better transition defense because they’re not out running on it. When we don’t offensive rebound well, it leads to opportunities for them to do that. The bigger thing was, again, we had so many easy ones not going in. There were at least five layups there in the short stretch, or right at the basket shots. We never recovered from that. There’s no excuse for that but it’s reality with a young team.

On how to get shots to go down…
There is no magic formula to it. It’s something that you have to understand how important it is to practice well everyday, how important it is for each individual to come in and play. Ramon Galloway is a great example of that. He had some quick points that helped us out, then didn’t really score but another bucket in the rest of the game, and turns the ball over five times. A couple of those I don’t know who they were being thrown to. He’s a guy in our situation that has some experience. But we’re not in a situation with our team that we can have that kind of stuff happen. Individuals have to learn that. Damontre Harris is very talented. He’s been really good for us in games. But he’s a freshman and goes out tonight with two rebounds and no points in 15 minutes. It’s just something I think you have to go through, to be honest with you. It’s something that we’re going to have to learn and grow from.

Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan

On getting off to a good start and setting the tone for the game…
I think there were a few possessions there early where both teams kind of turned it over too much, I think both teams came into half with 10 turnovers. We turned it over a couple of times against their pressure, but I thought we had some careless turnovers. We were able to get some stops, and we got to the 3-point line early in the game. In Gainesville they made some 3’s early, and when we got midway through the first half I thought Patrick Young had some great minutes off the bench, so we were able to extend the lead. Getting off to a good start is always a good thing. It’s hard when you have to fight from behind.

On the maturity of Florida’s team…
I thought our guys came out and they were ready to play, I think also we were playing against a team that really dominated us in a lot of ways, I give them a lot of credit when it came to Gainesville, they showed a lot of toughness and resiliency on their part. Our guys came in here with the understanding of a team that beat us on our home court and understood that we would have to play well on the road.

On South Carolina’s size…
I think the game sometimes gets going up and down, I though really the first few minutes of the game we really missed some opportunities to go inside. We talked about getting the ball inside and just seeing what would happen. I thought Vernon Macklin really established himself and Patrick Young had some finishes around the basket. 22 of our 38 points at the half were from inside and that’s what we really wanted. (Sam) Muldrow is a great shot blocker; it’s a lot more difficult to make shots when Muldrow is inside. South Carolina is a great shot blocking team and tonight they only had two which is a big factor.