South Carolina 81, South Carolina St. 46

The game was more of the same for the Bulldogs, who have yet to play a home game this year and have three more games on the road before their first game on campus Jan. 16 against Florida A<br> <br> ``We obviously beat a tired basketball team tonight,&#39;&#39; South Carolina coach Dave Odom said. ``I can&#39;t imagine many more teams having a more rigorous nonconference season than have the Bulldogs. They have not played a home game yet. I&#39;m just absolutely blown away by that.<br> <br> ``It&#39;s almost impossible to carry a basketball team that way, just being on the road that long. I feel bad for them. That&#39;s really a tough road. That&#39;s too bad because I think they&#39;re a much better team than we saw tonight.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> South Carolina State coach Ben Betts Jr., however, would have none of that, refusing to use the Bulldogs schedule as an excuse for their performance.<br> <br> ``I felt we weren&#39;t ready to play. I don&#39;t think our intensity was high enough,&#39;&#39; Betts said. ``I don&#39;t think it was an issue where we were very tired. I&#39;m just being honest and very candid, we were not ready to play. I felt we definitely should have played and performed better.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Still, Odom said while several players either tied or broke career highs, ``I certainly wouldn&#39;t be misled by that. I wouldn&#39;t look at it and say Tarence has found his shooting touch or Renaldo (Balkman) is walking on water again or whatever or Brandon&#39;s this.<br> <br> ``You have to put everything into context. And tonight we played a tired basketball team.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)