Jan. 8, 2005

Recap | Box Score | Notes

Post Game Coaches’ Quotes:

Dave Odom, South Carolina — “I was concerned at the beginning, but I knew we would start playing better. We tried to pick our defense up a bit and we made a couple of changes in our half court traps. Overall, it was a very good win for us. You don’t want to go 0-2 in the league to start things off. It was an important win for us. We play at Georgia, I believe the first weekend in February, and I can guarantee you that Georgia will be a much better team. We’ve got to be a better team, too. They are a tough-minded team that will only get better. Carlos (Powell) is playing extremely well … probably playing as well as any of the good players in the league. His shot selection is much better and that is reflective in his shooting percentage. Tre’ Kelley is developing nicely at the point guard position. I think our team is very unselfish. We understand that we are a team without any superstars.”

Dennis Felton, Georgia — “(We learned a lesson) about how quickly things can get away from us if you let it. There were a couple of possessions that got the best of us emotionally and that caused us to lose focus. We let it become a distraction. The most efficient way to say it is mental toughness, to have the tenacity to keep your composure and to stay poised. We need to have experiences like this where u do fight through. Certainly we know the game got away from us. We lost control of it in seven to minutes tops.

They got an emphatic block, I think it was on a breakaway off a steal. It looked like we were going to score on a wide open layup. They made a great effort. It was emphatic and then it became a dramatic play the other way. We lost control of our capacity to execute and what was bringing us success early on. “