Clemson vs. Boston College Postgame Quotes

Feb. 9, 2011

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Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell

Overall Thoughts: “That was a really good basketball game tonight. Both teams executed very well. A lot of times you watch a game on TV and turn it off. But this game was worth watching. Both teams had kids making plays. I thought our kids played an outstanding first half. We had every one of our guys contributing. That’s a good team we played. We pressured them as much as we possibly could, and they only had ten turnovers.”

On the level of play required to win the game: “It takes a lot to win the game like this. We played good basketball tonight. That may be the best we’ve played all year, because that was a good team, so we had to play well. I thought we approached this game really well.”

On his team’s aggression down the stretch: “I called a timeout with six minutes left and told our guys to just play to win. If we get an advantage, then try to score. If we don’t, then let’s get a couple of passes and get a good look. We had a couple of good paint drives at the end of the game.”

On the fans’ energy: “I was really excited tonight that with ten seconds left on the shot clock, on several occasions, our fans stood up and cheered. It shows that they saw a good team playing and how hard it was for us to guard them, and they appreciated the effort that our guys were giving. They understand what we’re trying to do here with establishing a defensive mentality in this program. That really meant a lot to me, and it meant a lot to our players too.”

Boston College Head Coach Steve Donahue

Overall Thoughts: “I feel like Clemson has gotten better under Brad (Brownell) and his staff. They were a terrific defensive team, especially in this building. They played great the whole night. I felt like we competed and were trying our hardest. We didn’t play great and I think Clemson had a lot to do with that. I was proud of our effort and I felt like we competed for a whole forty minutes tonight.”

On second-half performance: “The dynamics on the road are that they get the offense in front of their bench so that we don’t have our defense in front of our bench. I feel like we did a better job guarding them in the first half. They have good basketball players, they spaced us out and we got a little winded at times. They were able to drive it more than we’d like and it just wasn’t a good team effort defensively in the second half. We have to do a better job of defending the dribble penetration.”

On Clemson’s style of play: “They spread us out offensively and I don’t play defense like [Brad Brownell] plays defense. He’s a terrific basketball coach. Their team is very fundamentally sound; there’s no nonsense to their actions. They guard you well and take good shots and no one cares how it gets done. I thought they did a very good job on the offensive end, especially in the second half. “

On Clemson’s defense: “This is my first time at this level after 20-years in the Ivy League and it’s amazing how teams play so differently at home, especially this team in this building. They play faster, they play more energized. The fans really help this team out. They got off to a great start and you could just feel the energy in here.”