Jan. 5, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening statement
It’s always good to get a bounce back win, especially heading into league play. To do it and do it by being better in the areas we wanted to be better in regardless of the opponent was good. I think we had a lot of guys come in and do what we wanted them to do for us. (It started) with Ramon (Galloway) getting a little more athletic with pressure and scoring the ball for us.

On starting a small lineup with Ramon Galloway
It’s our best lineup right now. In terms of being able to defend the way we need to defend, it gives us another scoring option out there. We think it’s the best way for us to start games.

On the offensive production by Evka Baniulis
Anytime a guy can shoot over 50 percent from 3 we’ll take that any night from him. We think he’s capable of that. We’re not worried about Evka. He’s going to make shots. Whether he’ll be 5-for-8 I don’t know, but even one or two will help us. I think the biggest difference is he still grabbed a couple of boards, had some assists and no turnovers. He’s still doing positive things for us.

On the team’s intensity
I thought it was better tonight. A lot of factors go into the game. The emotion level was great. We wanted to make sure that we played more the way we need to play. I think we did that. We got a lot of loose balls, had a ton of deflections and took a lot of charges. We got four and maybe attempted five or six.

On working with the new lineups
Our guys are working hard. We’re almost at a point where we have to refocus on exactly what we need to do to be successful. I don’t know if we’ll come in and overwhelm anybody necessarily. That said I think we’ll win league games on the road and at home, especially when our students get back. We just have to keep understanding what we need to do to be good.