Jan. 30, 2010

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Georgia Head Coach Mark Fox
Opening Statement
It was certainly a hard fought game. Credit South Carolina for making the plays late. It was a good college basketball game and we came up short.

On losing after leading most of the game
Certainly, it’s frustrating. We’ve competed very hard and given ourselves a chance to win and come up short, but we’re competing hard. We keep responding to each experience to get better. That’s been a focus of this team. As difficult as this one is to get on the bus with is, we’ll get back to work and continue to try to improve.

On having his players stand back during free throws at the end of the game
We had one guy on the line. Devan Downey is so good (and) we were out of timeout’s. Your concern (as a coach) is he has time to go coast to coast. We wanted to make sure we were organized in our pressure. I had confidence in Dustin (Ware) at the line. That’s why we had one guy there.

On what contributed to the loss
I don’t think turnovers is something that cost us the game. Nine is a season low for us, I believe. We had chances right under the basket in the second half, probably four or five shots we didn’t finish. I have to give Devan (Downey) a lot of credit for making the plays.

On Devan Downey
He’s terrific. We don’t’ have a guy with his quickness so its hard to play man defense. We played a lot of zone all year and did a lot tonight. We just mixed it up a little bit to keep them off balance, but it wasn’t enough.

On Travis Leslie
There are not many guys like Travis Leslie. He’s a special athlete and becoming a special player. We just hope we have another one – add one with him.

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening Statement
It’s great to get another home win. Once again the crowd was terrific, especially considering the weather. The crowd was great and the students were awesome. The team wasn’t great but to win games in this league you need to get some wins like tonight when you’re not at your best. Credit Georgia; they played well and made huge shots at the end. We’re really glad to get the win and I thought it was a huge game for Sam Muldrow with his first car double-double and asserted himself on both ends of the floor.

On team growth
If you’re going to be a good team you have to bounce back from adversity, handle success and find a way to win when you’re not at our best. I think its growth for our team and our program. When you continue to build that’s what good programs do – they handle those situations. We’ll take a positive out of it. We are off Wednesday so it is a crucial week in terms of getting better.

On containing Travis Leslie in the second half
We actually guarded Leslie in the earlier segments. He’s a phenomenal athlete. I know he had one dunk in the second half because we reached for the ball. The game-plan was to make him drive and use his athleticism.

On Stephen Spinella
He’s starting to play with confidence more than anything. It starts on the defensive end. He’s playing well defensively and it’s transferring into confidence offensively. He had a really nice block. He’s deceptively athletic. He got up and got that easily with both hands off the glass. He’s a freshman but we’re pushing February and he’s starting to get confidence.

On Sam Muldrow
I believe he can play like that all the time. I’ve been accused of having too high expectations of our players, but I think Sam is skilled and athletic. It’s good to see that. I don’t know if it means we’ll get 19 and 11 every night (from him) but sometimes when a young person does it the glass ceiling is broken mentally.

On Georgia holding the players back on the free throws at the end
As a coach you’re always thinking one or two plays ahead. Had he made them both we would need to get the ball in very deep and get the shot off as quickly as we could.

On having a player with a run of games as special as Devan Downey’s
Not like this. Obviously Dwyane Wade was a special player to be around. The way he played was a different kind of player. It was a pretty special run to be a part of. But to see a guy who’s the guy that has to be stopped as options one, two and three and still gets 30 points at this level is pretty special.

On the two-game winning streak
Just to get two wins is huge given the circumstances. Bouncing back and beating a team, those are two positive things to build a program and show you’re making progress. That being said, it doesn’t mean we’ve arrived. We still have to come back Monday and get back to work.