South Carolina Head Coach Dawn On the difficulty today
[Charlotte’s] speed and athleticism really gave us some problems. I knew that was going to happen, and that is why we started in a zone for a little bit. I thought our team played great for 40 minutes. They never gave up, and they never had the look of defeat. They were always moving and into the game. Our offense just failed us today. We didn’t hit enough shots and we could not keep up with them in transition.
On the 2010-11 season
We reflected on this a little after the game. Nobody but us expected us to have a winning season and to be .500 in the SEC. Nobody expected that but us. But with all of the things that happened to our program in the past three years, I thought our team played incredible. I thought they fought through a lot of it and let the process work. If you believe in the vision and everyone buys into it, you will find a way to be successful and that is what happened to our basketball team this year.
Valerie On being a Gamecock
It is just hard to finish up this game the way we did. It has been great being a Gamecock. I just thank God for the opportunity to play in this program, for the coaches, and with my teammates. It has just been a blessing. I think that we have all grown. I am proud of the way that we have come this far – ever since Coach Staley started. There are a lot of positives. I am very grateful.
Jewel On the season as a whole
It is obviously an honor to be a Gamecock. We love our garnet and black. Every night we go out there and try to give our best and leave it all on the court. I feel like that is what we have done all year. We came out with a better season than was expected from us, I’m sure. We finished off our years on a good note.
Charlotte Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement
I’m just really happy for our team. It’s always fun to still be playing this time of year. We have two seniors that I’m really proud of; they’ve led our team to this point. I’m happy for our young players. Our practices have been productive, and I think the way we played was a sign of that today. I’m just happy for them. They’ve worked hard, and they deserve to still be playing at this point.
On guard play in the game
I think both teams’ guards are really good. I think we got started early. It’s always a confidence thing with players. We’ve got some young players, and we hit some shots early that got their confidence going. If we had missed some early, it may have been the opposite for them. I think their guards are tremendous. I knew that it would be a bit of a battle of guards.
On turnovers
They play in a physical league, and we weren’t handing their physical play very well. A lot of our turnovers, we were just getting stripped. We were loose with the basketball. We talked repeatedly in preparation for this game about how they live on hustle plays. They outhustled us a lot of today, but I thought we did a better job in the second half in protecting the basketball. We didn’t get stripped of the basketball in situations the way we did in the first. Their guard play is just good. We watched game after game, and it’s hard to keep them out of the paint.
On their game plan…
I thought the best thing our team did tonight was we had a game plan. There were times that, because we were young, we forgot the game plan. We talked about in time outs, not to forget the game plan, which was to keep them from penetrating so much. All in all, I thought we did a pretty good job at that. We’re learning. We’ve got a lot of young players and this extension of our season is great for them. They’re getting a taste of postseason play and extra practices. It’s helped us improve in some areas.
