Clemson vs. NC State Postgame Coaches’ Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Brad BrownellOverall thoughts:“Obviously a very painful loss, though our guys competed really hard today and really played well in certain segments. We turned the ball over too much and unfortunately didn’t make a late free throw and missed a layup late that could’ve sealed it, but NC State hit a big shot and won.”

On the play of Jordan Roper:“I was glad to see him make plays. He’s a guy who can score and he came in aggressive and played very well in his first start.”

How tough is this, especially on a young team?“It’s hard on every team. To lead the game for most of the game and then obviously walk away in the last second a loser. It’s a tough day.”

On strategy during the last timeout:“Guard the three. They’re probably going to go to (Scott) Wood. Try to play on the outside shoulder of him and be riding his numbers on every catch. If they don’t do that they’re probably going to try to find (C.J.) Leslie at the top of the key and do a drive by. So we’re not helping and if he scores we’re playing overtime.”

On Roper not scoring the final 15 minutes:“I have to watch the film, he passed up a shot late where we brought him off of a ball screen at the top and he needed to make a shot, make a play and I think he deferred to K.J. (McDaniels), and that’s just a little bit of inexperience. Certainly he is an aggressive guy, but I really don’t know why he passed up that shot. I’m sure they did a better job of guarding him at the end as opposed to the beginning, so that was part of it.”

On the decision to start Adonis Filer and Jordan Roper:“Damarcus (Harrison) and Rod (Hall) hadn’t played very well and they practiced hard the past two days and I thought those two guys outplayed them (Harrison & Hall) and we were coming off a very disappointing performance and I don’t think those guys (Harrison & Hall) merited a start for any reason and then in practice for the past two days those guys (Roper & Filer) were better.”

On not subbing until the 12:25 mark:“I thought our guys were playing well and had a decent rhythm. It’s disappointing Milt (Jennings) got in foul trouble and couldn’t really get a good flow; he played more minutes than I thought he did, but that was part of it. I thought that the group that was playing was playing pretty well.”

NC State Head Coach Mark GottfriedOverall thoughts:“I’m extremely proud of our team because we didn’t play very well early in the game. I thought we were in a position, again, when we could have dropped our heads and maybe lost some effort. But we didn’t do that. We kept fighting, kept battling, and we found a way to win the game. I’m extremely proud for that. On the last offensive play for us, I thought Lorenzo (Brown), Richard (Howell), and Scott (Wood), as you want veteran players to do, executed about as well as you possibly can. You still have to make the shot, obviously, at the end of that. It was an unbelievably huge shot by Scott Wood, but it took all of them together to make that play. I’m proud of our guys for fighting and not giving in. They certainly could have.”

On if the final play was specifically designed to go to Scott Wood:“Absolutely. We had just gone, on the play before, to Calvin (C.J. Leslie). Calvin had a nice drive there with (Milton) Jennings, but he traveled. We came right back, and running a play for Scott Wood to make a three is like running a play for somebody to try to get a lay-up sometimes. It’s about the same percentage. He’s that good. I was completely comfortable that we were going to go to him and go for the jugular, and he made it.”

On calling a timeout to set up the final play:“Calvin had the ball, bringing it up the floor. Although, at times, he’s good there, I thought it was important we got exactly what we wanted. There are times I’ve let me team play before. If I feel like we’re in a good place and the ball is in the right guy’s hand and guys seem to be in the break running and there’s a good feel for where we are and what can happen, then certainly, I want to play. But I didn’t feel comfortable there and I felt like it was important for us to get organized.”

On how difficult it is to play in Littlejohn Coliseum:“I was talking with Mike Gminski before the game. He had the game on television. He said even back when he played at Duke, it’s always been one of these places. It’s hard to play here. They play awfully well at home, a lot better than they’ve played on the road at times. They had a great crowd today. They did a lot of things well. We were fortunate there at the end.”