Clemson vs. Florida A&M Postgame Coaches’ Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Brad BrownellOverall thoughts:“All in all, this was a good win for our guys, coming out of finals with a busy week. I thought we played pretty focused. It’s one of those games where you can lose your discipline a little bit and have some bad habits at times because the game feels soft. We came out in the second half with a better start and did a really good job establishing a tone. We were able to pull away and enjoy these last ten minutes.On Jordan Roper‘s first start:“He made shots which was good to see. He’s got to get better defensively but he plays with confidence. I think our guys feel like he’s a guy who can make shots for us. It was a looser game so there were more shots to be had but, give him credit, he made the ones where he was open. For our team right now, that was something we desperately needed.”On adjustments at halftime:“I wasn’t in there going crazy or anything at all. I was more just talking to them in a way that they know that discipline is important and it’s real easy to lose it. I don’t like when we don’t play the right way. I told them this was a game where you were either going to have really good habits or really bad habits. You’re not going to make a lot of shots all the time and when you don’t make shots you need something else to play well. Just reminding them to have discipline and good habits that’s what we talked about at halftime extensively.”On the status of the guards:“It all just kind of depends. Roper’s been playing more off the ball because that’s what we need. Rod (Hall) has done a good job and gotten better. And Adonis (Filer) and Jordan (Roper) both, I don’t know that either one of them are pure point guards. Rod is turning himself into more of a pure point guard. I think that’s what good about those guys is that they’re just players, and you can just play them. Certain decision making skills need to get better for both of them but they both have an attack mentality to where if there’s a crease they’re going to attack and go score. They’re not hesitant to take a shot. That can be a good thing as well because you need guys who are thinking about making baskets.”

Florida A&M Head Coach Clemon JohnsonOverall thoughts:“We did about what I thought we would do against this level of competition. We knew we were going to be outmanned coming in, and we just didn’t want it to turn into a practice game for Clemson. We wanted to make it competitive for them so that we could get an invitation to come back because it’s my second year with FAMU and we’re trying to get the team better and better. We love playing against this level of competition because it teaches me what I need to do with my offensive and defensive philosophy when I get into our conference, when we’re playing on our level. Overall, I’d give us a C. There were points in the game, especially in the second half, when we had good looks at the basket and we missed our shots and our heads fell. Then they went on like a 27-6 run. At that point, I got kind of disgusted with the players on the floor. We settled them down, we said, ‘Hey, gentlemen, let’s not let them blow us out. Let’s keep playing basketball,’ and that’s what happened. We were able to play as best as we possibly could against this level of competition.On his team’s first half shooting:“The gameplan was to come in and shoot the basketball and hope it goes in the basket. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for us that well in the second half because Reggie Lewis, who was the individual who was shooting the ball that well, wasn’t able to carry that over into the second half. We kept trying to go to him and go to him, and I think we started pressing. The thing that caught my attention was that they took Jamie Adams, our leading scorer, out of the ballgame. I knew right then that it was going to be a long night. Was that a surprise to us? No. That’s why we made other people become point guards and run the offense and things of that nature. I just didn’t think he would have a zero. That’s the thing that threw me.”