Feb. 25, 2009

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South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening Statement…
It was really a terrific team effort tonight from our guys. When I say team, I really mean team. I think it was everybody. It started with our defensive intensity. We got some points early and we got a bucket or two off of our defense. We really just played with a lot of confidence tonight. I challenged Sam [Muldrow] last night in the film room. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a player respond so well as Sam Muldrow did tonight. He showed over a period of a whole game some of the flashes of what we’ve seen as a staff. I really think our bigs were the difference tonight. You know (Jodie) Meeks and (Patrick) Patterson are going to be good and (Zam) Fredrick and (Devan) Downey are going to be good. They’re going to do what they do. That’s what all SEC-caliber players do. I thought our bigs and our bench were the difference. They were terrific. This crowd was absolutely unbelievable. I challenge anybody to say that we don’t have a home-court advantage now. Our fans were phenomenal. That building was as loud as I’ve ever heard ever and I’ve been in a lot of nice venues in my time. It was a really great win for our team and our program. I’m really pleased with our team.

On weak-side defense…
Not so much that specific aspect of it as much as what we call flying around. It’s part of our defensive philosophy to be really active and really aggressive. I think that we did that. I think it started early on and the great part was that it maintained throughout the game.

When asked if it was the most complete game of the season…
I think when you consider playing well offensively, playing well defensively, and every individual also being close to their best, I would say it’s the best that we’ve played.

On the importance of maintaining the lead in the second half…
It shows a step for our team and its progress. We felt that our team is still getting better. We have felt that in games that have been close or maybe when individuals haven’t been as sharp as we want. We’ve been weak in areas. I thought we played really free. I thought our guys played with a tremendous amount of freedom on both ends of the floor and ultimately that’s what we want.

On keeping the team focused…
There are a lot of games to be played. Everybody wanted to talk about how big this one is and everybody was kind of disappointed when I said I wouldn’t keep talking about it and (I’d) say `all we can really do is just come out and practice well today.’ Well, we’re going to do that again tomorrow. That’s how you get yourself in these positions. That’s how you build a program. Like I said Tuesday, we’re in this for the long haul. We want to build a program that’s hopefully in this position, playing for first place in late February, more often than just on a given year. The only way I know how to do that is to just come out and keep working hard. We have an extremely tough game this Saturday against a good Vanderbilt team. It’s a road game in the SEC, which we know is hard. The only way I know to get ready for that is to come back tomorrow and start working.

On the play of Dominique Archie…
I think he helped us get off to a really good start. Again, Dominique is as valuable to our team as anybody. He does so many different things. He scored early tonight and so that stands out and makes it seem like he did better. What was bad the other night were the turnovers, not that he didn’t score. If you remember, he had two huge buckets for us late. That’s just what he does. He does all the little things. He’s the ultimate warrior.