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Post-Game Coaches’ Quotes

Nov. 28, 2007

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Clemson vs. Purdue Post-Game Coaches’ Quotes November 27, 2007

Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell:

On game “It was a good win. I didn’t think that we played as crisply as we should have especially with James Mays and Sam Perry out. We went small a lot because of their line-up. It took a while for our guys to adjust to their physical style of play, but we were able to make it happen. David Potter gave us a big lift tonight which was a huge plus.”

On being without Mays “I think we are a better team today than we were two years ago when we were without him. It is tough to lose him, but we improve each year. The guys really stepped it up on the half court defense too. We did not have everyone playing well at the once, but each person contributed something important.”

On Maturity “We have definitely matured in the past few years and that helps us to recover from those missed free throws and turnovers. We were also able to continue to put pressure on defense even when those turnovers were happening.”

What does this win mean? “It was a good win over a good team. It will help our rankings out and is a big win on our resume.”

Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter

On game in general: “I thought we did an alright job on the boards for how athletic they are. We were in position a lot of times. Clemson was more aggressive tonight. They had 11 blocks, and that’s the stat of the game. I think we got in some foul trouble and needed to do a better job of getting them in foul trouble.”

On key to the game: “It was a great learning experience for our team, in our first road game. We have a lot of things to learn and grow from. We were fortunate they missed so many free throws. If they shoot better from the line, this is a ten point game. I was a good step for us, and they didn’t have [James] Mays, so it’s all in perspective.”

On reason for struggling down stretch: “I thought we did a poor job of adjusting to how the referees called the game down the stretch. We as coaches need to do a better job of making that adjustment, and we have to play defense with our feet and keep the hands off.”

The difference in the game: “I thought we had some things go our way with missed free throws. We have to give Clemson credit, especially [David] Potter. He hit a very important pull up jumper when they were struggling a bit. They were still messing with some different lineups, with Mays out, rotating [Raymond] Sykes and [Jerai] Grant. They are great without Mays, but can be really special with him.”

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