Jan. 25, 2012

Recap | Final Stats

South Carolina Head Coach Darrin Horn
Opening Statement…
No question, it was great to finally get a win, put one in the left hand column. It wasn’t boring by any stretch, but I think that it was one of those things where we did the things that we needed to do and made the plays we needed to make. Especially down the stretch. Huge stop at the end and a couple of big offensive plays and put backs. Obviously Bruce (Ellington)’s drive, and I think Anthony (Gill)’s put back, which was his only basket of the game. Really this group is a resilient bunch. Obviously, we have been through a lot, we have been through a really tough stretch here to start SEC play. For us to come out and show the kind of fight and resiliency that we did really for 40 minutes regardless of how we played, just the way we fought, I couldn’t be prouder of our guys. I thought it was a total team effort, we were able to keep people out of foul trouble, everybody for the first time I think in league play, which definitely helped. We wanted to come out and be more aggressive offensively, run more, maybe take some shots a little quicker than we had been taking them, if they were good ones, and I think we did that. I think that is one of the things that led to us having a great offensive rebounding night. That is something that is a strength for this team and so that was a huge difference in the game tonight. We didn’t shoot a good percentage, but we got almost 20 more shots than they did because of our effort on the offensive glass. I think attacking and running and maybe shooting some of those shots allowed us to do that. Huge, huge night on the glass by Anthony Gill and RJ Slawson. I think when RJ Slawson’s mind is right and focused he is as good an offensive rebounder as there is in this league. For him to grab six in this game is an absolutely huge number, so it was a really positive thing. Now we actually have a win and we can start building on it and continue to do what we have been talking about from day one and that is just keep getting better.

On the last play…
We thought about running something over the top to the rim, because there wasn’t a ton of time on the clock, you had to assume that they were going to try and foul and waste a foul there. At the same time you feel better when the ball is in his (Bruce Ellington’s) hands, because not only can he go do what he did but it puts pressure on the defense to where he can get it on the rim, you can offensive rebound it or maybe he can find somebody. Both plays were set for him to get the basketball and try to go make a play. Maybe that means go to the rim and finish like he did, maybe it means take it and put in on the rim and let somebody tap it in, something attacking the basket with the ball in his hands. That is something philosophically that I have always believed in, give it to the guy that makes plays at the end of the game and see what happens, and he made the shot.

Alabama Head Coach Anthony Grant
On Alabama’s play tonight…
From my vantage point tonight, you had a team in South Carolina that played inspired basketball. They played as a team, we didn’t. It’s been an issue for us and it continues to plague us. We play an entitled brand of basketball and it’s very frustrating as a coach. For me right now, I have to self evaluate what I’m doing as a coach when it consistantly feels like winning is not the priority that it needs to be on our team. So we have to reevaluate what we’re doing as a coaching staff.