Nov. 16, 2008

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening statement…
I’m really pleased with the start that we got off to tonight. It was fielded by a defensive effort that created some turnovers and got some points early. We went through a stretch in the first half where we played the way they wanted to play. We took too many quick shots and were too stagnate offensively, which affected our defense’s intensity on the other end. It’s just something we’re going to have to grow and mature at. In the second half, our guys gave a tremendous effort and created a lot of stops with our defense. We had the game playing at the pace we wanted to play at and obviously Mike [Holmes] gave us some shots, which always helps. We said coming into the game that rebounding was going to be the key so with the rebounding team we played tonight, we knew that they’d play hard and try to get to the glass. Our guys did a terrific job especially off the offensive glass. We had two guys in double figures and Evka was short one rebound from getting in double figures.

On missed 3-point shots in the first half…
I have to watch the film to know about all of them but I know there were a handful of them that weren’t the kind of 3’s that we want to be taking. They were kind of `I’m open, I think I got a chance to get this one off’ type 3’s, as opposed to the kind that we work on getting. I think that was some of it, but sometimes they just don’t go in either. But we took great ones in the second half in that stretch where I think we made four in a row.

On if he was satisfied with the defensive play…
I think with our effort and our guys trying to do the right thing, we are really pleased. Our effort has been outstanding. But obviously we’ve got some improvement to do. I need to see the film because we tried to take a ton of charges today and I think we only got one to go our way. We need to see why we’re a little late getting to those and why we’re not getting squared up on them.

Junior Guard Devan Downey
On the effort of the defense…
To get adjusted to Coach Horn’s system is going to take time. We were able to show a little bit of what we can do when we decide we’re going to pick it up defensively. From the start of the game we really set the tone defensively. It was just a great team effort. That’s what we need to do to win games. Anytime you have guys like that playing hard on the boards and you have five guys flying around the court, playing as one, you know you’re going to be competitive.

On the progression of the team…
We’re still growing. We’re still learning. Coach Horn says that it’s going to take time. We’re going to come to practice tomorrow, we’re going to get after each other, and continue to grow as a team.