Jan. 18, 2014

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin
Opening Statement
I am really sick and tired of losing and I can’t emphasize that enough. We really have to grow up and we have some guys that have played four conference games and still do not have a defensive rebound. Until we have guys change that it is going to be hard to help some of the guys who are really trying. Great weekend by the way. I couldn’t be prouder of our fans and all of the former players that came back and made this weekend great. I have never been one to be scared to work but after seeing how much those former players care about their school I am ready to work more than ever.

On Anthony Perez’s performance…
He takes the ball and drives it to the rim and our guys can’t guard him. I wish that I could give you a better answer than that. They threw him the ball and even though our guards are working their butts off out there when he gets the ball and drives it, and our big guys are just standing there, or get out of the way, that is on me. We obviously have to adjust our practice schedules to emphasize guarding the dribble from the big spot. That has been occurring all year, not just tonight, it has been a problem all year.

Freshman Guard Duane Notice
On the turnover at the end of the game…
When I drove the ball I saw Sindarius’ (Thornwell) man come in and help and I took my eye off Sindarius for a second and I felt like the big stepped up so I was instinctively going to Sindarius, but by that time his man had recovered. I have a bad habit of jumping when I pass the ball so when I jumped and saw Sindarius’ man retreat I turned it over. I should have just shot it and gotten the ball around the rim. That would have been the better decision.

Freshman Guard Sindarius Thornwell
On running the point and being a scorer…
Playing point helps with the scoring because you can get more people the ball. But it is more difficult because I get tired bringing the ball up, but I just have to step up and lead the team.

On the last shot of the game…
Laimonas (Chatkevicius) was supposed to look for Mike (Carrera) on the slip and we didn’t get that so I should have popped more towards the rim to get a better shot.

Ole Miss Head Coach Andy Kennedy
On the crowd in today’s game…
What a great crowd. What a tribute to the South Carolina fan base. They had a back to the wall mentality and they played that way. I know there was an honoring of Coach McGuire, which is noble, but I thought the energy in the building was great. I thought South Carolina fed off that early and our guys withstood it.

On cutting the deficit early in the second half and getting back into the game…
It’s not unusual for me to be disgusted at the half. Most especially after how poor we played in the first half. The most encouraging thing for me was that our players were equally as mad. I think South Carolina out-toughed us, which is certainly an element you will get with a Frank Martin coached team. The lead changed 12 times and the game was tied nine times. I’m just happy we came away with a road win.