Clemson vs BC: Post-game press conference and notes |
Brad Brownell post-game press conference (WMA Format)
Overall Thoughts:
“That was a really good basketball game tonight. Both teams executed very
well. A lot of times you watch a game on TV and turn it off. But this game
was worth watching. Both teams had kids making plays. I thought our kids
played an outstanding first half. We had every one of our guys
contributing. That’s a good team we played. We pressured them as much as
we possibly could, and they only had ten turnovers.”
On the level of play required to win the game:
“It takes a lot to win the game like this. We played good basketball
tonight. That may be the best we’ve played all year, because that was a
good team, so we had to play well. I thought we approached this game
really well.”
On his team’s aggression down the stretch:
“I called a timeout with six minutes left and told our guys to just play
to win. If we get an advantage, then try to score. If we don’t, then let’s
get a couple of passes and get a good look. We had a couple of good paint
drives at the end of the game.”
On the fans’ energy:
“I was really excited tonight that with ten seconds left on the shot
clock, on several occasions, our fans stood up and cheered. It shows that
they saw a good team playing and how hard it was for us to guard them, and
they appreciated the effort that our guys were giving. They understand
what we’re trying to do here with establishing a defensive mentality in
this program. That really meant a lot to me, and it meant a lot to our
players too.”
Demontez Stitt post-game comments (WMA Format)
Andre Young post-game comments (WMA Format)
Tanner Smith post-game comments (WMA Format)
Boston College Head Coach Steve Donahue
Overall Thoughts:
“I feel like Clemson has gotten better under Brad (Brownell) and his
staff. They were a terrific defensive team, especially in this building.
They played great the whole night. I felt like we competed and were trying
our hardest. We didn’t play great and I think Clemson had a lot to do with
that. I was proud of our effort and I felt like we competed for a whole
forty minutes tonight.”
On second-half performance:
“The dynamics on the road are that they get the offense in front of their
bench so that we don’t have our defense in front of our bench. I feel like
we did a better job guarding them in the first half. They have good
basketball players, they spaced us out and we got a little winded at
times. They were able to drive it more than we’d like and it just wasn’t a
good team effort defensively in the second half. We have to do a better
job of defending the dribble penetration.”
On Clemson’s style of play:
“They spread us out offensively and I don’t play defense like [Brad
Brownell] plays defense. He’s a terrific basketball coach. Their team is
very fundamentally sound; there’s no nonsense to their actions. They guard
you well and take good shots and no one cares how it gets done. I thought
they did a very good job on the offensive end, especially in the second
half. “
On Clemson’s defense:
“This is my first time at this level after 20-years in the Ivy League and
it’s amazing how teams play so differently at home, especially this team
in this building. They play faster, they play more energized. The fans
really help this team out. They got off to a great start and you could
just feel the energy in here.”
Notes
•With the victory tonight Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell set the school record for ACC wins by a first-year Clemson coach. It was his sixth league win of the year against four losses. Five Clemson coaches had reached five league wins in a season previously.
•Brownell and the Tigers have 17 wins overall, the third most in Clemson history for a first year head coach. The record is 20 by Larry Shyatt in 1998-99.
•Clemson is now 5-0 all-time against Boston College in games in Littlejohn Coliseum and the Tigers have 9-4 overall lead in the series.
•Clemson has won 13 of its last 14 ACC home games. Clemson’s only home loss since Feb. 26, 2009 it to Duke on Jan. 23, 2010, the day ESPN College Gameday came to town.
•Clemson shot 53 percent from the field for the game and the Tigers are now 10-0 this year when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
•Clemson was very efficient inside the last five minutes of the game Tuesday night. The Tigers made 4-5 shots from the field and 9-11 from the line and scored 18 points. Andre Young scored nine of those 18 points.
•Demontez Stitt continued his recent trend of scoring most of his points in the second half. The Senior guard had two points at the half and 14 in the second half on the way to his 16-point night. Over the last 10 games he has scored 37 points in the first half and 102 points in the second half.
•Clemson is now 15-1 this year when leading at the half.
•Grant shot 7-9 from the field this evening and is now 20-26 in his career against Boston College.
•Andre Young scored 15 points off the bench this evening on 4-8 shooting, including 3-6 on three-point shots. He was 3-18 from the field and 2-12 on three-point shots in three career games against Boston College prior to tonight.
•Reggie Jackson’s 27 points tonight were the most against Clemson in a game this year.
•Clemson committed seven turnovers this evening, tied for the fewest in a game by the Tigers this year. Clemson also had seven against The Citadel earlier this year.
•Clemson had a 16/7 assist/turnover ratio tonight, Clemson’s best ratio of the season. The previous best was a 15/7 against The Citadel. It was Boston College that came into the game ranked 10th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.44 to 1). The Eagles had a 13/10 ratio tonight.
•Jerai Grant had three blocked shots tonight and moved ahead of Sharrod Ford into sixth place on the all-time Clemson list. He now has 178, one more than Ford had between 2001-05.
•Devin Booker scored Clemson’s first field goal of the game this evening, the 10th time in 24 games he has scored Clemson’s first field goal of the game.
•Tanner Smith scored 11 points in 25 minutes tonight, his top scoring game since he returned from suffering a knee injury at North Carolina on Jan. 18. It was his high scoring game since he had 16 in the win over Georgia Tech at Clemson on Jan. 12.
•Jerai Grant led Clemson in scoring with 17 points tonight. It was the 12th time in the last 13 games that seniors Grant or Stitt led Clemson in scoring.
•Clemson has won six of its last nine ACC games.
•Clemson improved from 72 to 64 in the RPI with its win tonight. Boston College had an RPI of 42 entering the game.
Upgrade Your Account
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now
