March 4, 2014

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Head Coach Frank Martin
Opening Statement…
Credit Florida, they’re good. Even though we were in a two-point game, I still didn’t feel good. We were scoring off their mistakes and I just didn’t see us having the feel in tank you have to beat them. I said it when I prepared to play them the first time, you don’t get anything easy on either side of the floor when you play them. They don’t make any mistakes defensively, they don’t let you get easy points off their offense, they take good shots, and credit them, they’re real good. They’re hard to deal with and they are finally healthy this season, coming down the stretch. It showed in the last 16 minutes or so in this game.

On the play of Florida’s Michael Frazier…
We never put a hand in his face. When you play against a shooter, once that ball gets above his temple, I don’t care if your hand is up, your defense before he gets that ball up in that pocket is what matters. We were late to him every single time and I don’t think we got to him. We didn’t communicate as well as we should that Michael Frazier can shoot the basketball.

On the progress Brenton Williams has made since he got to South Carolina…
I’m extremely proud of him. His growth as a human being is something that make me feel real good. He has gotten a lot better as a player, but he has gotten a lot better as an individual and as a person. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters. His self-confidence is something that as grown in him. That’s a big part of our responsibility when we coach these young kids that when they leave here, they’re prepared for life, to take on jobs, and embrace their responsibilities that comes with manhood. I think Brenton is headed in that direction. This university has served him well. It’s helped him grow as a human being, made him a better person and player. He has served this university back by sacrificing himself and representing us the right way.

Senior Guard Brenton Williams
On Florida’s defense…
Yeah, that was by far the best defense I’ve seen by a team, that has defended me. They did a pretty good job of communicating as a team where I was at on the floor at all times, from what I saw.

On the feeling at halftime and the second half…
The belief was there and everybody’s energy was there, being down by 3 to the number one team in the country. We knew that the second half was going to be a tougher battle keeping it to three. Then we came out flat and Florida capitalized on every opportunity they had.

Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan
On what it meant to have his team have that kind of scoring night…
The way South Carolina defends, and Frank [Martin]’s team always has done a great job of this; it is really hard to get to the basket. They converge, they challenge you at the rim, nothing is easy, and everything is contested. In the first half, more than half of our shots were three point attempts. I actually could not say that one of them was a bad shot. I thought our guys made really good reads, we didn’t force anything to the basket and we did not take ill-advised shots. Michael [Frazier] carried us in the first half. He had 15 points and I thought South Carolina in the first half won all the loose ball plays. They hurt us on the backboard. They had a plus-nine rebounding margin against us and shots were not falling. I thought in the second half, it reversed for us a little bit and at the end of the game we ended up outrebounding them.

On how they keyed in on South Carolina Senior Guard Brenton Williams…
We fouled him on that one 3-point attempt and we should have let him take that. He was sort of off balance and you just have to tip your hat to him there. This is his fourth year here, just to see where he has come from, and where he is today, I told Frank [Martin] this today, one thing that he does not get is the level of recognition that he deserves. He shoots an incredibly high three-point percentage, and over 90 percent from the line.

Sophomore Guard Michael Frazier II
On getting off to a good start fueled his success…
The ball felt good in warm-ups. My shot looked good and felt good. In the game, my teammates did a great job of finding me. I was able to get in the zone there, but I did not really feel anything, I was just there.

On if he has ever had this sort of game at the middle or high school level…
Maybe in high school, this is definitely my first college game that I felt like that. I cannot really describe it. My teammates told me that if I had a crack, just to let it go and like I said they did a great job of finding me. It was a total team effort but the ball was able to go in.

Senior Center Patric Young
On how important Michael’s 3s were especially in the first half…
It was good for us to keep running our offense. For us, to get an open Michael Frazier 3, that is what we wanted to get. We were amazed at how open he was getting and the fact that he kept knocking them down was helping us even more. He carried our team today.