Nov. 20, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats

Head Coach Stan Joplin

"We knew that South Carolina was a very good basketball team. They're one of the better teams in the SEC and to play on the road against them was going to be very difficult. I think our guys will a little bit shell-shocked at first. We did the same thing against Vanderbilt when we were on our heels a little bit and you can't do that. We just dug ourselves a hole and I don't think we contested their shots very well."

(on the second-half comeback)

"We were just a little more aggressive, took better shots and kept them off the boards in the second half. It was like two different games. We shot too many threes in the first half and then we got into the bonus early in the second half and that really helped us. The momentum started to change and we started to hit some outside shots and we got the ball inside. Then we started to get some stops and did the job on the boards. We just couldn't get over the five- to seven-point deficit we were at. Then their talent level might have taken over and we made a couple of bad decisions."

(on South Carolina)

"I told the team before the game that South Carolina is going to be the type of team we're going to play if we go to postseason play. They're long, athletic and can get up and down the floor like a lot of teams in the SEC. We wanted to see if we could compete and play against these guys. I think what we did in the second half was a better indication of what type of basketball team we have. Now we have something to build on."