Clemson vs NCSU: Post-game press conference and notes |
Brad Brownell post-game press conference (MP3 Format)
Overall Thoughts:
“We just got rocked early. N.C. State played really well. I didn’t think
our defense was terrible, but they made shots. I thought offensively we
were better than the score was indicating. We just didn’t make shots. We
got a little tight, but we just kept imploring our guys to hang in there
and improve defensively, then we could go on a run and momentum would help
us a bit. In the second half, both teams struggled. We won the game with
our defense in the last 28 or 30 minutes.”
On how his team came back throughout the game:
“I just think that things get going well for a team and things get going
bad like they were for us at the beginning. I’m calling timeouts and
coaching and everything and nothing is working. We didn’t make any drastic
changes that changed the game, and I don’t think Sidney (Lowe) did
anything different. We got momentum and our guys just started to make
plays.”
On his team’s rebounding edge:
“We got them to shoot a low percentage, but N.C. State is a pretty good
offensive rebounding team. For us to keep them off the glass and not give
up those putbacks that break your back was key for us in the run.”
On the impact of Scott Wood:
“The scare was that Scott Wood would start making shots and it would open
everything else up. Then the inside game gets going when you over-help to
Scott Wood and you can’t get it shut off. That was a major concern. A
couple of times, our big guys switched out onto Wood to take away a shot
or at least make him take a tougher shot.”
On the play of Bryan Narcisse:
“He plays hard. He’s out there giving it his all, and he’s long. He covers
a lot of ground and space. His arms are long and he has big strides, so he
just covers a lot of space. He’s been doing it a while now. He is a
junior, so it’s time for him to do these things.”
Bryan Narcisse post-game comments (MP3 Format)
NCSU's Sidney Lowe post-game press conference (MP3 Format)
Overall Thoughts:
“After we had a good start, Clemson just became more aggressive. They
turned up the defense and started going for the ball a lot more. They got
more physical with us. We stood around too much; we didn’t come around and
get the ball from the dribbler like we talked about. They just turned up
the intensity. It’s a game of runs. We made a run at the beginning and
then they made runs that we just couldn’t stop. We talked about not giving
them the game by not taking bad shots or turning the ball over and making
them play defense. I thought we took a couple of questionable shots, but
we had a lot of open shots that we just missed inside. Some were
questionable (whether they got hit or not) but we just didn’t do our job
tonight.”
On Clemson’s comeback:
“They don’t have a clear cut superstar, but they know how to play hard.
This isn’t a young team; they have plenty of guys that have been here
before. They know what type of effort they needed to give to get back in
the ballgame. It showed a lot of character and a lot of toughness. They
did whatever they had to do to win the game. I saw one guy body-block
Scott Wood. They did what they had to do to get back in the game. When
you’re down like that, you do whatever you have to do, and they did it.”
On today’s game compared to Sunday’s game vs Miami:
“We made shots Sunday. We were able to score. When Miami made a run, we
were able to make a shot to keep ourselves in it. Today, we had trouble
scoring. Their defense was good and they took some things away. Jerai
Grant was on the inside, taking that away and blocking shots. Once again,
we had five shots on the inside and he blocked at least two. We just
couldn’t get that one basket we needed to break the momentum and I was
running out of timeouts. I used them all in the first half, trying to stop
that run, and I was trying to hang on to them in the second half.”
Clemson vs. NC State Postgame Notes
•Tonight’s win assures Clemson with a winning record in the month of January for just the second time since 1996-97. Clemson is 4-2 for the month so far with one game left against Florida State on Saturday. The only year in the last 14 that Clemson has had a winning January was in 2008-09 when Clemson was 5-2.
•With Clemson’s win tonight, the top six teams in the ACC (those with at least a .500 league record) are a combined 17-1 in home league games so far this year.
•Clemson is now 10-1 in home ACC games over the last two years. The only loss is to a Duke team last year that went on to win the National Championship.
•Clemson trailed NC State 31-12 at the 6:10 mark of the first half after a layup by Ryan Harrow. Clemson then overcame the 19-point deficit to gain the 60-50 victory. This was the greatest comeback for victory in an ACC game in Clemson’s history in Littlejohn Coliseum. The facility opened in 1968-69. The previous best in an ACC game was a 16-point comeback against Wake Forest on Feb. 28, 1970. Clemson trailed in that game 51-35, then won 105-95.
•This tied for the third best comeback in Clemson history regardless of site and opponent. Clemson has overcome a 20-point deficit twice, against The Citadel in a game at Littlejohn Coliseum in 1978-79, and at Maryland on March 2, 2008. Clemson trailed by 20, 59-39 in the second half of that game. Clemson also trailed by 19 and won against LaSalle in the 1990 NCAA Tournament in Hartford.
•Fourteen minutes into the game, Clemson was 4-18 from the field and NC State was 12-17. Clemson then made 19-36 the rest of the game and NC State was 7-31.
•Demontez Stitt had four assists and no turnovers tonight and now has 44 assists and just eight turnovers since he came back from his knee surgery for the College of Charleston game on December 22. He has a 28/6 ratio in six ACC games so far this year.
•Jerai Grant had a double-double this evening with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of the season.
•Bryan Narcisse scored nine points and had five rebounds in his first career start in Littlejohn Coliseum, his fifth career start overall. He is now 14-21 from the field over his last five games.
*Milton Jennings had two of Clemson’s four three-point goals, just his second with game with a pair of three-point goals. The other was the home win over Miami on Jan. 8.
•Clemson won the rebounding 36-26 this evening and won second-chance points 13-0.
•Clemson held NC State to 16 points in the second half on 6-24 shooting. It tied for the fewest points allowed by Clemson in a half this year. UNC Greensboro had 16 in the first half earlier this year.
•Andre Young made just one three-point goal, but he extended his streak of making at least on three-point goal to 21 straight games over two seasons.
•Stitt and Young now have a combined 25-4 assist/turnover ratio over the last two games.
•Jerai Grant had four blocked shots tonight and now has an even 50 for the season.
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