Jan. 8, 2006

Recap | Box Score | Notes

USC-UT Coaches/Player Quotes

USC Coach Dave Odom

“I am disappointed that we did not win the game. I thought we prepared well.”

“One of the things that we harped on was you can not let their three point shooters get comfortable. Somehow that was lost at halftime.”

“Scoring 53 on us in the second half, and making 10 three pointers was the difference in the game.”

“We built on the halftime lead, early in the second half, only to fall asleep on both ends of the floor after that.”

“We are close to being a good team, but we are not there yet. We have to learn how to put away leads in the second half.”

“We are not a deep team, we have not proven that we could be a deep team.”

– on UT’s Chris Lofton
“You got to make it tougher to catch the ball, and put a body on him, and make him drive.”

USC Player Tarence Kinsey

“We lost control in the second half and could not regain it.”

“Tennessee is a great team and it can win on the road.”

“We weren’t as focused in the second half.”

Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl

“We’ve come from behind three times by nine points or more, so we knew we could do that.”

“South Carolina had a lot to do with disrupting us in the first half. They played really well, and we didn’t play well. South Carolina had a great game plan and they played very well in the first half.”

“Offensive rebounds were key. South Carolina is a great offensive rebounding team, and we limited them to six.”

“In this league, because there’s such balance, if you’re trying to figure out who’s going to do what and when, you’re going to go crazy. There’s balance from top to bottom. (League play) is going to be crazy.”

Tennessee Guard Chris Lofton

– On Dane Bradshaw’s shot with 31 seconds remaining
“It was a big shot. I thought it was bad in my mind, but he let it go.”

“At halftime we just said you’ve got to keep your head up. There’s still 20 minutes left to play and we came out and played with a lot of passion and energy.”

“We were down by 12` points at the half. To come back in the second half with the poise we had showed we can play on the road.”