Post-Game Coaches’ Quotes

Jan. 22, 2008

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Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell

On his general thoughts of the game:

“That was another walk in the park. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to a young Wake Forest team. They came in here with a short turnaround and played well. The most surprising thing, to me, was that we got beat on the boards in the first half. I thought they outplayed us for about three-quarters of the game. But our guys kept fighting, and we got it to overtime. I felt like we were the better team during that stretch. We had a lot of guys step up and make plays for us.”

On the play of Sam Perry:

“Sam Perry was one of the heroes tonight. He was great on the boards, he was great with the putbacks. He was huge tonight.”

On the Littlejohn Coliseum crowd:

“Our crowd was great. I was concerned, with us missing free throws, that they might get discouraged. But they were positive and stayed there till the end. Our crowd’s been great all year.”

On his thoughts when Terrence Oglesby shoots a deep three-pointer:

“It’s going in. He can shoot the basketball if he gets a good look at it.”

On the level of competition in the ACC:

“Look around the league, even last year, at the number of close games. A lot of times, in the last four, five minutes, it’s anybody’s ballgame.”

On what he saw on Wake Forest’s final possession of regulation:

“I saw them scoring.”

On the team’s free throw shooting:

“We talked to the team a lot the past couple of days about taking their time. We have taken thousands of free throws; we’ve just got to trust ourselves, trust our forms, and take our times.”

On improvements that could be made:

“We have to be smarter. There’s always things to work on; we’ve got plenty to work on from this game.”

On Cliff Hammonds:

“I thought he showed leadership and assertiveness, getting our guys in sets, hitting big shots. On that three-point play, he was tough-as-nails. He is one of the most underrated players in the ACC in a long time.”

Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio

General thoughts on the game:

“I thought our kids played their hearts out. I thought they played very hard and put themselves in a position to win the game. We had one day to get ready after FSU, and we came down here with a lot of heart and emotion but couldn’t put the game out of reach. But give a lot of credit to Clemson. They played hard and hurt us on the boards down the stretch.”

On cumulative effect of pressure.

“When you have one day to get ready, it’s tough. It’s a smart move on Oliver’s part to keep the pressure on.”

On Oglesby’s threes:

“I give a lot of credit to Oglesby, and they were contested. Ish [mael Smith] is a pretty good leaper and was right on top of him. Give the kid credit, he made the plays.”

On the upcoming week:

“It’s good for us to have a week off where we can rest and lick our wounds a little bit. We’re just a little beat up right now, but that’s everybody.”

On Clemson’s press:

“I just think we were relying too much on Ishmael Smith. Guys didn’t come back to the ball. The guy played 42 minutes and went a hundred miles an hour. We could have had that one. It breaks your heart.”