January 18, 2006

South Carolina Head Coach Dave Odom

1/18/2006

On the win:

“To be able to come back and play like that in the second half I think speaks volumes about where our club is right now. They still believe that they can play well, they believe they can win, they believe they can win on the road, they believe they can beat quality teams like Vanderbilt.”

On Tre Kelley’s game-winning lay-up:

“We had said two or three times during the last timeout that with that small lineup in there, we knew they could not go smaller than that and that was going to give us a definite quickness advantage at the half-court level. We said spread with Day, Kinsey and McDowell, bring Brandon (Wallace) to the top, pick and roll and have him go down the seam and let Tre find a hole where he could. We didn’t have time to bring Brandon up, but (Kelley) found a hole and he’s a good lay-up shooter when he’s got a run at it. I thought about calling a timeout when we crossed half court but I thought we had an advantage with the quickness so I let it go.”

On Kelley’s performance:

“Tre is a much better player than how he’s played. How to keep him unlocked, I don’t know. We just have to keep feeding him a good dose of confidence every day and maybe give him a little more of a leadership role.”

On the importance of this win:

“It means very little if we don’t use it to better ourselves. If we let it be a one-time wonder, it means nothing.”

On the comeback victory:

“It’s the first one that we’ve had that we’ve come back on. We’ve had plenty of people come back on us, but we haven’t come back on anybody. Those kinds of games mean a lot to you, particularly beating a team like Vanderbilt – who I think is capable of being in the Top 25, I think is extraordinary. That’s college basketball.”

On Brandon Wallace’s tying three-pointer at the end of regulation:

“It’s probably not one I would have drawn up, but we tell our players that if you’re open and you’re in rhythm, shoot it. He felt like he could, so he stayed with it.”