Clemson vs. Long Beach State Postgame Quotes

Nov. 27, 2009

Long Beach State Head Coach Dan Monson’s Overall Statement “Unfortunately it’s the same result as yesterday. I felt better about our basketball team coming in today than yesterday. I thought T.J., Casper and Eugene really took an athletic team and were some of the best athletes on the court today, I’m really proud of those three players today. We just didn’t have enough help for them and our bench isn’t’ deep enough and experienced enough. When it was 61-60, I think we just got fatigued. I’m proud of the way they battled, but you’re not going to beat a team like Clemson with three guys, it’s going to be a team effort. We could have lost this game yesterday, but I told the players it’s going to be a team effort and a learning experience.”

On the irony of playing Clemson again since Minnesota: “I don’t know or consider the irony of it, but I know how much they attack the boards on us and how relentless that press was. But, I had a different point guard today. Casper Ware was a one man press break.

On good things to come on playing top 25 teams: “I told our guys at the start of the year to go from the laughing stock program where we won just six games and to being a respectable program to a good program is a hard step. Playing and winning a game is another, you have to be in them. They know that they can compete against them, so if it’s Butler tomorrow, then they’ll get another chance. If not, our players have Texas in another week.”

Player T.J. Robinson (On the confidence level of competing against top 25 teams) – “Of course it give us confidence, especially to come in and compete against top teams, it’s going to give us some confidence. We came in and competed and this is going to give us more confidence, especially when we get ready for conference play.”

Player Casper Ware (On his confidence level) – “I think definitely it give us a lot of confidence, especially for because I missed four free-throws that should of went in and if we can make our free-throws, it’s going to be a whole new game.”

Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell “Obviously we are happy with getting a win, especially any win in this tournament. We played better today and stuck to what we do to win. Offensively we did a good job in the post and with the entry pass and penetration. We shot a high percentage in the second half.”

(on staying focused in the game) “It’s a toughness call. It’s important to deal with frustration and adversity because you are going to have missed shots and balls that don’t go in. We can’t lose our focus or panic. It made us play well defensively today. They shut down (Devin) Booker in the inside so we had to work on better passes.”

(on their expectations against LBSU) “We expected this type of game with them. I told them it was like a home game because they are a local team. They are a hard-nosed team and it’s great to finally get a win in this tournament. We had chances to ice the game, but they kept clawing back.”

(on representing the ACC) “Anytime you go somewhere to play with the ACC on your uniform you feel proud. We think the ACC is the best conference in the country. Playing in the Big 10/ACC Challenge is a big source of pride for our team. We like to do two things: Represent the ACC in the right way and win.”

Player Demontez Stitt (on having six players with double-digit scoring) “If we space the floor and play as one unit we can really move the ball around and score. Long Beach exposed (Devin) Booker tonight so others had to be ready to shoot. We showed that we can share the ball as a team and don’t have to rely on one person to do all the scoring.”