Dec. 30, 2008

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening Statement…
We obviously knew coming into this game that Clemson was a good basketball team. After playing them, I think they are worthy of their ranking. I am really impressed with their basketball team as a whole. Our guys fought, that’s not good enough. We’re here to win. We’re not happy with how we performed. But I think we can take from this game that there are some positive things coming from our team. The start of the game was terrific.

On the atmosphere…
I thought it was a great atmosphere. It was a good crowd. It’s what you expect it to be when you have two good teams and two teams that are rivals go at it.

On Devan Downey…
I wouldn’t trade Devan Downey for anyone in America. Period. He has tremendous heart. He has a tremendous will to win. I think what you saw tonight was that. I think as he continues to grow as a player and as a point guard and understand all the other little things to do to help your team win besides just going and getting the 37 tonight, I think you’re talking about a guy that is really, really special.

On SEC teams…
They are going to have to be really good to be significantly better than the team we just played. The thing that makes this team good, is not only are they good because of their talent level, but they have veteran players that are tough and always seem to make the play that they need. This game and our next game are going to give us looks that we will see in the SEC. Again, there are some good things to take from it, but we have to learn to do it for forty minutes.

South Carolina Player Quotes
Senior Guard Zam Fredrick
On the start of the game…
I think we started the game really strong by taking care of the basketball and making shots. But then they made a run and we turned the ball over and they capitalized on all of those opportunities. They are a good team and our turnovers led to points that started runs. Them capitalizing on our mistakes was what was the difference in the game.

On being prepared for the game…
We were prepared and we knew what we had to do. We had goals coming in and one of them was taking care of the basketball, which we didn’t do in spurts [of the game] and they just played harder than us.

Sophomore Forward Mike Holmes
On the team’s play…
We turned the ball over too much and that was the key to us losing. Like what coach said, we have to take care of the ball, rebound and hustle for a loose ball.