Quotable Purnell |
On the upcoming game with Georgia Tech:
"I think we've got another important ACC game coming up. Once again, we're entertaining somebody's Senior Night. With that comes a certain amount of extra motivation and emotion on the part of the players from the crowd. I'm sure Georgia Tech is gearing up for that. They will be motivated. "We've got plenty left to play for, without question. We're still in a situation where we're not guaranteed a bye in the first round of the ACC Tournament. We need to win this game in order to have that happen. Obviously there are a whole host of reasons to play well. There's NCAA seeding on the line. It's about playing your best possible basketball going into the ACC Tournament. That gives you the best opportunity to win that, and we certainly feel like we've got a shot at it." On the injury status of Cliff Hammonds: "Cliff practiced today. We didn't keep him out there long. It appears he can take care of the basketball. He didn't appear to be experiencing a lot of pain. We're going to tape him up and see if he can go, if he can get through practice tomorrow feeling the same way. Everything else is pretty typical. When you've got somebody banged up, other guys have got to step up." How does the injury affect his dribbling: "He didn't appear to have any pain dribbling the ball with his right hand. Hopefully it won't be that much of a problem." On whether his playing time will decrease slightly: "Not necessarily. He's in great, great shape. Right now we're going into the game as we would any normal game. Obviously we hope the wrist won't give him any problem." On momentum carried after the Maryland win: "Any time you can win even a couple of games in a row in the ACC, you consider it momentum. But the reality of it is that we're a little bit of a high wire act. We didn't play a good half against Miami, and we didn't play a good half against Maryland. We've got to understand we must put two good halves together, or we're going to fall off that high wire. I'm not ready to suggest that we have tremendous momentum, but we certainly feel good about that comeback. That's something you can't deny, it's the greatest comeback in Clemson basketball history. That's certainly something to reference when you get down. But we're not putting two halves together right now. Our short-term goals against Georgia Tech are to put two halves together and win the game."
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