Jan. 24, 2004

Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes

– Dave Odom, South Carolina: “This was a great basketball game. For our team to beat a team like LSU, as well-coached and as talented as they are … this was quite an accomplishment for our team. Our will to win was more dominant that our play tonight. Tarence Kinsey diving on the floor for the ball, securing our possession … that was the kind of game it was tonight. At every timeout we kept saying … “keep shooting …don’t back away” Carlos Powell kept saying — “I can get open on the baseline … get me the ball.” Two years ago, that would have been Carlos saying, I want to shoot … this year, it’s Carlos saying I can help our team … We go on the road now. We will miss our crowd. We really will. We beat a really good basketball team tonight. I thought the 3’s we shot were all good looks. I kept telling them all to keep stepping up and taking the shot. Carlos Powell stood up and made the key plays both offensively and defensively in the second half.”

John Brady, LSU: “I thought both teams played very hard tonight. The game was very bizarre in some ways and it was out of control. When the game is like that it is very hard to manage it. The two teams played very well and it was very physical out there tonight. The difference of the game tonight was us making 23 turnovers and the Gamecocks turning that into 25 points. Until we improve our perimeter play and stop making the turnovers, we will struggle against well coached teams. Tonight, USC had a wonderful crowd on hand. The arena is great and playing in an atmosphere like this is fun and it gives them a great advantage. Our team battled through all of that and held them to 38% from the field, out-rebounded them and made 22 trips to the free throw line but that wasn’t enough to win and like I said, it was a very bizarre game.”