Dec. 31, 2011

Recap | Final Stats

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening statement…
When you do what you need to do to play well, it looks pretty good and goes good for you. When you don’t, it doesn’t. It sounds pretty simple and almost elementary. We came into the game knowing they were going to pressure and get after us. They have had a lot of success doing that and are very good at it. We told our guys the key was taking care of the basketball; we did a really good job of that in the first half. We talked about not settling for outside shots, to make sure we got the ball in the paint and attack the basket, and we did that in the first half. Defensively, we thought coming into the game (Ty) Greene with his ability to shoot and (Torrey) Craig with his ability to score were really dangerous. We wanted to defend the 3, know where those guys were at all times and do the job on the glass because they were the best offensive rebounding team we’ve played statistically coming into the game. We did all of that in the first half, but in the second half in the stretch they came back, we didn’t do that. We turned the ball over which led to easy baskets for them. We let Greene get loose for a 3. We let Craig get loose for a 3, which got him going; he’s a high-volume scorer that when he’s feeling it, he’s capable of making several in a row. We let him get going. It was really that simple. Credit our guys for how they responded and handled it. One of the things we’ve been preaching to our team is you’ve got to show up and do what you do every night. If you’re not playing a lot or as well as you want, you’ve got to keep working. You’ve got to show up every day, do your part and stay ready. I think we had some guys that really did that today. Brenton Williams hadn’t played in a couple of games, was asked to play point guard today, played 20 minutes, pressured the whole game, hadn’t played it all year and only had two turnovers. He made all of his free throws and made a big 3 for us. I thought he did a really good job. Brian Richardson did a really good job, hit a big shot but more importantly was just active and aggressive and did some good things. RJ Slawson came in, made some shots and did some good things but rebounded the ball like we know he’s capable of and had a couple of blocks as well. From that standpoint, those were all positives. Can’t say enough about Malik Cooke. He did what you need a fifth-year senior to do in a game like this with a double-double and every big play, especially on the offensive end down the stretch.

On what it will take to put together two good halves…
Today we did what we needed to do to win the game. That’s a good team that we played. The turnovers and all that, keep in mind we were playing without a point guard that plays 20+ minutes a game. That’s the most important position on the floor…Our guys responded really well to that. We were better offensively in terms of points scored than we’ve been all year. We shot a high percentage. On the whole, when you look at the numbers, they are really good. We’ll take the positives from it and build on it.

USC Upstate Head Coach Eddie Payne
Thoughts on the game…
I don’t think we played but 20 minutes (the whole game). The first half we were very lethargic, and in the second half we were able to get turnovers and create some defensive pressure. I have to give South Carolina credit and they played pretty well, but that is mostly because we made them play well. I thought they did a good job. South Carolina won the game. We didn’t necessarily lose it but South Carolina won the game.