Clemson vs. Rutgers postgame quotes

Clemson vs. Rutgers

Dec. 1, 2014 * Littlejohn Coliseum

Postgame Coaches’ Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell

“Disappointing loss.  I have to give Rutgers a lot of credit; they played very well.  They had us on skates a couple of times especially early in the game and then midpoint in the second half.  I think we played well coming out of halftime and then for some reason the game got away from us.  We didn’t have a lot of opportunistic threes late, but at the end of the day they just played too well.  A couple of guys, (Kadeem) Jack and (Junior) Etou, two kids that don’t make a lot of threes, made two each.  When Myles Mack is playing well, he makes their team go.  I need to watch the film to see exactly what it is for us.  I think we’re lacking toughness.”

On lack of defensive intensity:

“I do think defensively, especially in the second halves, we haven’t been as good we are away from our bench for whatever reason.  Rod (Hall) and Damarcus (Harrison) are both quiet guys and I don’t think that’s a good thing in basketball.  I think that’s problematic.  I think that’s showing when we’re away from our bench when we need more people talking.  Our second-half defense has been poor all year and we need to find a way to make that better.”

On upcoming three-game stretch:

“I’m going to watch film and analyze. I just haven’t been happy with our defense in a lot of ways; our defense has to be better. Tonight, we were reasonably good offensively; but we probably have four turnovers a game that are just senseless, crucial turnovers – especially when we have a team on the ropes.”

On surprise of lack of leadership:

“I don’t want to talk about K.J. (McDaniels) all year, but as coaches we are figuring out more and more how much he meant to our team.  I think that his energy level and outgoing personality were two things that affect your team day-to-day.  We just are lacking a little bit of confidence, a little bit of swagger, a little bit of toughness; all the things that K.J. brought, we don’t really have that.”

Rutgers Head Coach Eddie Jordan

On Team Effort:

“Great effort tonight, Myles Mack was key, kept us organized, kept us calm under fire, ran sets for everybody and got people in the right spots, the right tempo, the right pace. And yet when it was time for him to score and we needed him, he took great shots and was very selective to get into a scoring mode.”

On hitting shots early:

“We try to stress to our kids, the offense will get you shots, don’t get shots for yourself when you run down the floor. Allow the offense to work for you, move the defense, break the defense down, get to the second or third side of the floor, use and manage the clock and we did that. The beginning of the first half was almost textbook for us the way we want to play offensively.”

Message he gave to team after Clemson’s second half run:

“It was not so much what I said but the people that are on the floor. We had some good short minutes from the bench. Malick Kone did some things, Shaq Doorson did some good things and they allowed our main guys to get a breath of air. And then we stayed calm and Myles was the key. He kept us calm, didn’t panic. We go down by five or seven, and he wasn’t in a rush to get shots. Junior (Etou) made a couple of good shots. Everybody contributed, it was just a great offensive display. Our defensive back line was key for us. Greg Lewis and Junior Etou spearheaded that.”