CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Clemson vs UNC: Post-game press conference and notes

Clemson vs UNC: Post-game press conference and notes


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AUDIO: Brad Brownell post-game press conference (WMA Format)

Overall Thoughts:

“Offensively, I thought we tried too hard and were too impatient. We just

had a hard time relaxing and settling down. We did a little bit better for

a while there in the second half, then we had a cold stretch at a bad time

late in the game, then they pulled away.”



On his team’s careless turnovers:

“It’s a mentality that we’re trying to bring to the program. It’s a fight

every day in terms of understanding the value of every possession and

working to get good shots and working together to find a way to get our

team the best shot possible. Instead, we get a little antsy and put our

head down and try to make a play that’s not really there. That’s a small

difference between us and North Carolina right now.”



On his team’s effort:

“It was a missed opportunity, and I told our guys that we should be

disappointed. But we’ve played really well recently. I can’t fault our

guys’ effort. When you look at the way the stats of the game were, we

played every bit as hard as anybody could have played against them. We

outrebounded them, our defense was good, our energy was good, our rotation

was good, our attention to detail was good defensively. When you get to

the highest level, to go from being pretty good to really good, you have

to be clicking on all cylinders. Offensively, we weren’t there today.”



On the play of Milton Jennings:

“I thought he was very locked in. He was very good and he was very

confident. He was aggressive in trying to make plays. It’s that fine line

with Milt; we’re trying to harness that enthusiasm, but there are times

that he’s trying too hard to go make a play that isn’t always there, and

it gets him in trouble. But having said that, there are some plays that he

can make that other guys can’t.”

AUDIO: UNC's Roy Williams (WMA Format)

Overall Thoughts:

“We’re fortunate to come away with a win today. Kendall (Marshall) really

stepped up for us at the end and made some big free throws. Clemson kept

coming. They made three of their last four threes, and some of those were

deep. We just kept coming up with big possessions. The score was tied (in

the second half) and then Harrison (Barnes) comes out of a timeout and

makes a dunk. We have a one-point lead and then Kendall (Marshall) steals

the ball. We kept going to the free throw line and killing ourselves by

only making one shot, but Kendall (Marshall) went 10-for-11.That was huge

for us. Needless to say, we feel very fortunate to get the heck out of

here with a win. John (Henson) was big for us. He’s so long inside it’s

hard for guys to get any inside easy baskets on us. But they just kept

coming after us. It was an ugly game, but a hard fought game.”



On Harrison Barnes’ dunk:

“We drew up a play during the timeout before that. John (Henson) was an

option that Clemson did a nice job defending and Harrison (Barnes) was the

other option. That dunk, for me, was just two points. I wanted us to get

our butts back and guard somebody. There’s no question that play fired

Harrison (Barnes) up, and also the rest of our team. But to me, it’s still

just two points. I still dream of dunking the ball; I’m the only 60-year

old in America that does that.”



On the play of Kendall Marshall:

”He’s been big. He didn’t play very well in the first half today, with

three turnovers in the first half. That’s good against a defensive team

like Clemson. They wore him out a little with all the guys running at him.

We didn’t do a very good job of attacking that pressure. Their defense had

our guys standing still and looking around. We have to do a heck of a

better job against a pressure defense team.”



On Clemson center Jerai Grant:

“Jerai Grant is really a good player. We’re fortunate to have caught him

on two days when he’s been shooting the ball like he shot today. John

(Henson) is really long and he affects some shots that he doesn’t block.

Those guys (Henson and Tyler Zeller) are really big bodies around the

basket.”



On ACC defenses:

“Clemson is one of the best defensive clubs in our league. Some of it for

us is our immaturity or inexperience. But, give Clemson’s defense credit.

They hold people down. You don’t score a lot against Clemson, and there’s

a reason. If they have an advantage, they try to run the ball. If they

don’t have an advantage, they run some plays and that slows you down and

holds you down some. They really do a nice job of guarding.”

AUDIO: Milton Jennings (WMA Format)

AUDIO: Andre Young (WMA Format)

Clemson vs. North Carolina Notes

•Milton Jennings had his best game in an ACC contest of his career with 15 points and 12 rebounds. It was his first career double-double in an ACC game and his third overall. The 15 points were one off his career high and his rebound total was a career high. He added two blocked shots and two steals.

• Clemson won the rebound margin 47-36. It was Clemson’s best rebound margin since a +15 margin against Delaware State, and the Tigers best rebound margin this year against an ACC team. It was Clemson’s best rebound margin in an ACC game since a 47-35 advantage at Virginia Tech last year on Feb. 6. Clemson lost that game also.

•Clemson won bench scoring 23-1 today. Even though North Carolina had a +7 advantage in turnover margin, points off turnovers were tied at 11.

•Demontez Stitt continued his streak of scoring most of his points in the second half. He had four in the first half and 13 in the second half. In the last 11 games he has 41 points in the first half and 120 in the second half.

•Tanner Smith played 33 minutes, his most minutes since he suffered a knee injury at North Carolina on Jan. 18. He had his second straight double figure scoring game with 11 points and seven rebounds to go with four assists. His rebound total was his best since he had eight against Seton Hall.

•That was North Carolina’s last appearance at Clemson until the 2012-13 season. The two teams only play in Chapel Hill next year.

•Andre Young made just one three-point goal, but he kept his streak going when it comes to consecutive games with a three-pointer. He has made one in every game this year and has a 26-game streak over two years, longest active streak in the ACC.

•Today was Clemson’s first ACC loss at home this year. Clemson had won 13 of 14 ACC games in Littlejohn Coliseum entering today.

•Today was the first time in 14 games dating to December 5 that Demontez Stitt had more turnovers than assists. He had three assists and had four turnovers.

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