Clemson vs. Coastal Carolina Postgame Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell

Overall thoughts:“This was a good performance by our team. We were very locked in defensively. I thought we made it hard on Coastal most of the night. We played poorly at the end of the first half. I thought we were going to put it away at the end of the first half but to their credit they kept fighting, made a couple of good plays, found a good rhythm. Again, I thought our defense was outstanding tonight.”

On the intimidation factor his team provided:“I think our guys were just locked in defensively. When you hold a team and they don’t score for a long time at the beginning, the basket looks a little smaller. We were talking to our players about that, the longer you hold them to zero it’s going to be harder for them to make one. I don’t think we’re as physically intimidating as we were last year. We play pretty hard and pretty long into possessions and I’m really proud of how hard our guys played into possessions.”

On his team coming out mad after Sunday’s loss:“I don’t know that we were mad or anything like that. It was just good to get right back to a win and get back to some quality play. That’s what we’re looking to do: put together back to back performances that are quality and competitive. We did a better job competing for 50-50 balls and rebounding. I think it’s important for our team at this stage to keep putting good performances together back to back and keep building confidence.”

On the contribution of Devin Coleman:“Obviously he and Jordan (Roper) are similar in a lot of ways. They’re guys that are wired to score. Their roles for our team are to score and make shots. They’re guys that I call runaway shooters, guys that can run away from the basket and shoot on the move. K.J. (McDaniels) is becoming like that more, but he’s not really that way yet. Those are the two guys that are the best at it. But those are the two guys that are the most comfortable shooting shots on the move when guys are chasing them. It adds an element to your offense to have guys on the court that can do that. Without Jordan playing tonight, we knew Devin was going to get more minutes and we knew that coming in and we practiced that way. He started out slow. He didn’t make some shots early on but he really heated up in the second half and played well.”

On showing film of last year’s game, using it as motivation for this year’s game:“I think players get past things quickly. It was more just to remind them how focused Coastal would be and how hard they play. They’re a physical team, they’re strong. They pack it in defensively and so it’s hard to get to the basket. It was more to let our guys know more than anything that you’re going to have to be ready for a physical battle. It was more knowing that if you’re not prepared for it, we’re going to have a problem. Thankfully we were prepared for it. Guys came out focused and we came out early and knocked a couple shots down and got a lead from the start.”

Coastal Carolina Head Coach Cliff Ellis

Overall thoughts:“We have no excuses. There was no match. They beat us in every facet of the game. I’m very impressed with Clemson. They’re long. Their length bothered us. I think their shot-blocking really bothered us. Two things stood out to me that were intimidating. Number one was their shot blocking and number two, they’re very superior on the boards. I think it got to us, and you have to give them credit. This is a long, athletic team that has very good chemistry. I’m very impressed with the team and they beat us in every aspect tonight.”

Difference of Clemson team this year and last year:“Chemistry. The guys seem to be in it and pulling in the same direction. The chemistry seems to be good. (K.J.) McDaniels – good gosh. We have played him the past two years and he is really turning into a high-level player. His game has picked up. All of their perimeter players have stepped up their game and their big guys are new, but all are so long. They give them defense, they give them rebounds, and they give them blocked shots. They are a force on defense. This is a very, very good defensive basketball team.”

On starting out cold:“Again, we were intimidated. They intimidated us.  Even when we got some wide open lay-ups, we were missing them. I think they felt someone coming behind them. I just think there is something about a team that can block shots. I’ve seen a lot of great shot-blockers in my time and when you establish that, it takes away a lot. You sit there waiting for it to happen. They don’t just have one or two; they’re all good at it.”

On message to team after being down 13-0:“We got it cut to 12 (at half). Our message to the team was that this is a shot-blocking team and they’re going to  block shots, so when you go in there make the second and third passes off of that. We simply didn’t do that well enough. If you don’t do that against a good shot-blocking team you will struggle. We practiced it, it was our game plan, but we didn’t do it.”