Jan. 22, 2000

Recap| Box Score| Notes

Gary Williams, Maryland

"Especially today, I thought defense would be the key in terms of us having to shut them down. We had to make our defense work and I thought we came out with good intensity and made Clemson work for their looks and that really helped us get that lead at halftime."

"It's a good feeling to be kind of back in the mix of the league. We can't do anything about the way we started, but we can do something from here on out now. There are some pretty big games coming up and this past week was very important to us. I'm really pleased with the efforts of our guys and they are working really hard in practice and that's why we're coming along at this point in the season."

On Holden:

"Tahj [Holden] has gotten physical. He's had to prove to himself that he can be. When you go up against Mardesich, Lonny and Cephas in practice you have to learn to play physically. I think because he was president of his senior class, seriously, people equate that with not being tough. We have a smart guy who is a tough basketball player."

Larry Shyatt, Clemson

"I thought Steve Blake was excellent early in the game, just eliminating Will [Solomon] with the ball. There were many times where we really executed well offensively when we couldn't get him the ball. Will missed a bunch of shots early."

"We lost the battle of the boards. I thought with 13 to play, down by 11, we were in the game. We were really getting shots and I felt that if we kept executing, we would really be in good shape. We missed shots down the stretch. They deserve credit for their aggressiveness."