Jan. 21, 2015

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South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin
Opening Statement
Well that was pretty. We continue to slide instead of grow, and that’s why I’ve been talking about leadership, focus and energy. We have had none since we got back from New York. We haven’t handled success real good. Unless that changes, we’ll continue in the world that we are in now, instead of the world we were in in December and earlier this month. This league is too good, and it’s a shame. You deal with November and December, and try to learn lessons so you don’t get into all these selfish games that we’re playing right now within our team. It hurts more in league play because these teams are too good for us to play like that. We haven’t handled winning the right way. I’ve tried to stay positive but we have been no good since we got back from New York. The attention to detail, enthusiasm, energy, everything we worked to create for leading into that game in New York, stayed up in Brooklyn, it didn’t come back with us. I’ve tried to stay positive, I’ve tried to figure out a way to get guys into that mindset we had. But the selfishness and individual talents aren’t going to help us win. Unless our players realize that, it’s going to be hard to change. We’re back in school and guys have to go back to class. We haven’t shot the ball worth a you know what since school started, not one time have we shot the ball well since school started. Guys need to find the time to come to the gym and shoot balls. They had the time in November and December, but now they’re not doing it. But unfortunately, we have these things called rules that force them not to do things past a certain time period. All of a sudden we’re too good, and we don’t need to come in and practice. We got what we deserve.

Sophomore Guard Sindarius Thornwell
On the offense against Tennessee’s zone defense
I felt like we took good shots. I think that ran our offense, for the most part. We took good shots tonight and they weren’t falling for us.

Sophomore Forward Demetrius Henry
On his performance tonight
I had zero points, zero rebounds and zero blocks in the last game. I had more fouls than points, rebounds and blocks, combined. I just wanted to just be aggressive and do whatever to help the team. Some of the shots fell and some didn’t, but I was just trying to be aggressive.

Tennessee Head Coach Donnie Tyndall
Opening Statement
Let me start by saying that I’ve known Frank Martin for 20 years. There is no one that I respect in college basketball more than him and the job that he does with his team. They are always tough and hard nosed. We knew that this was going to be a physical game and a tough game. I felt that both teams competed for 40 minutes. I felt that our team was able to make about one more play than they did and get out of the gym alive. As good as they are defensively, for us to shoot 57 percent is impressive. The 18 turnovers isn’t impressive and their defense deserves a lot of credit for it. I thought we didn’t settle (for shots) and we drove the ball. In particularly, on five or six possessions late in the shot clock and we either got a good look or drew a foul. That was very important and this was just a tough, hard fought basketball game. That was a very good team that we just beat.

On South Carolina’s comeback late in the game
The turnovers and when they hit the back-to-back 3s gave them momentum. We have the least experienced team in the league and sometimes our guys play not to lose rather than playing to win, there is a distinct difference. I thought the last five or six minutes, we started to play not to lose. We missed a few free throws and weren’t quite as aggressive, but give South Carolina credit. They got some stops, forced some turnovers and made some timely 3s to get back in it.