Jan. 27, 2004
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Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell
“Tonight’s game for our ball club is a little tough to take mainly because I thought we played much better. We played a pretty good half against Maryland Sunday, but tonight I thought we played much better here today. We gave ourselves an opportunity and this is about our third or fourth game in league that we’ve done that but we’ve only pulled one of them out. I’m actually very pleased that they feel that way because when you hate to lose that’s an impetus for you to keep working and keep improving. We did a lot of things better out there today and we battled and all of those things and obviously made a very good basketball team struggle to win. All of those things are good, but it’s not what we need right now, we need a win and we’ve got to continue to work hard. I give Georgia Tech credit – I didn’t think they played well early but they played very well coming down the stretch. This is not a situation where we lost, they just beat us down the stretch by playing well on their home court. We’ve just got to keep at it, take a day off, come back, work and continue to try and get better and get that next win.”
On the play of BJ Elder
“Well obviously he was huge for them just in terms of giving them an anchor on offense. But we allowed them to get rolling and he’s such a good player that once he’s on a roll he feels very confident. He hit a big shot, and he went to the glass and was a match-up problem for us and then he posted up. He was outstanding and obviously the player of the game.”
On the ability to continue to battle back throughout the game:
“I thought we were mentally tougher and more together and demonstrated winning behavior and I think you have to do that consistently to get to the point where you are winning most of these game, especially on the road. We were positive and talking positive throughout the game and I would assume thinking positive, and that’s a good place to be. Obviously we’ve got to build on that and use it as a stepping stone and not be discouraged and I anticipate that we will.”
Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt
“Yesterday, B.J. Elder was fighting a stomach flu, and I was actually worried about him. During practice, he had this look on his face, and with all the cramps he’s had, I thought, he’s not going to make it through the game, he’ll get dehydrated. I told him after the game, if this is the price you’ve got to pay to get 36, you’re going to get a stomach flu more often. He came up big, obviously. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good, but they were very good defensively. They did a great job on the boards against us. We’ve got to get back to winning some of those one-on-one battles. We’ve been a good rebounding team. I can’t really explain. We’re paying attention to it. We need to break loose and shake this little malaise, in terms of rebounding. Everything else we’re doing well, and B.J. played like B.J. tonight. He got it going early, and we just kept riding him and trying to run things for him. He started to become aggressive again a couple of games ago. That game he shot 3-for-13 (Maryland), I told him, if you take shots like that, you’re going to be fine. I think tonight he showed that if he’s aggressive and assertive and he takes shots that good for him, he’s going to put up big numbers.
“Clemson put out a very good effort. They’ve been in a lot of games. I watched all of their ACC games, and they’ve competed. I thought at the end, we could have maybe distanced ourselves a little more if we had shot free throws a little better and hit a couple of shots, but they compete. That’s a credit to Oliver, and it’s a credit to their players, especially on a one-day turnaround.
Noting Georgia Tech:
B.J. Elder’s 36 points tonight are a career-high (previous high was 25, most recently vs. Georgia this season) and the most points scored by any ACC player this season … It was the most points by any Tech player since James Forrest scored 36 vs. Maryland in 1994; the last time a Tech player scored more was in 1990-91 when Kenny Anderson topped 40 points several times. Elder’s effort was also one off the Tech record for points in an ACC game (37 by Dennis Scott vs. North Carolina in 1990 … Elder equaled his career high with six three-pointers . . . Tech has won 12 straight at home and 25 of its last 27 games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, dating back to the end of the 2001-02 season . . . The Jackets have won five of seven games against Clemson under Paul Hewitt.
