Clemson vs. Florida State Postgame Coaches’ Quotes

Jan. 13, 2008

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  AP Action Photos 

Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell:

On his general thoughts of the Florida State game:

“I don’t think any of our fans that have seen our first two ACC games will miss another ACC game all year. That was a wail of a basketball game; we had some heroics from Book (Trevor Booker), he hit a big shot, then Mays gets a tip-in to send us into the next overtime. I think our three-point shooting, along with our full court press, kind of wore them down in the end. We hit some big shots tonight. It seems like a long time ago we were playing regulation. I thought our guys played with determination and passion. It was great that we won.”

On the mental hangover from the Charlotte loss three days earlier:

“Obviously, we are upset about the Charlotte loss, but we have to throw that out. It was tough to get ready for this ballgame, but we met this challenge.”

On Terrence Oglesby:

“If the ball goes into the paint and he’s open, he can shoot it. Tonight, we put him in to play against the zone. He works really hard; he spends hours and hours in the gym, even during the season, sometimes six, eight, ten hours. Tomorrow he’ll be in there shooting.”

On the development of Trevor Booker:

“Book’s developing his game all the time. We’ve been working with him on the three. He needs to be able to shoot that shot to keep teams honest. I told him he needed to take more of a leadership role with Mays’ injury.”

On how much more confidence a win will give his team:

“A lot more. If you lose three in a row like that, it hurts your confidence.”

Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton

General thoughts:

“You have to give Clemson a lot of credit. They made two exceptionally tough shots that they had to make. It was the mark of players with a lot of focus and determination. Booker and Mays’ shots were shots that big-time players make. I thought we kept fighting back against a very good basketball team, but we came up a couple plays short. We were fatigued, we probably stayed in our zone a little too long. They made some shots and we couldn’t recover.”

Difference in the game – fatigue:

“I could tell in our shifts that we were trying to catch a couple of spots to catch a breather. Our rotation is a little short. To battle with them on the board takes tremendous effort. When the game was in doubt and they got stops, we couldn’t get it done. I remembered on three or four occasions where I thought we had a stop and they got uncontested layups.”

Big Shots:

“I thought our guys played with a tremendous amount of character. We came in with a lot of respect for Clemson and we brought out the best in them. If there were a moral victory, it would be that we played to our potential. The ACC is very unforgiving. You can’t let yourself get to high up after wins or too low after a loss. We’ve got Duke coming in this week. We have to grow from it, and give Clemson the credit because they made the plays the needed to make.”