|
Head Coach Kevin Stallings 12/22/2005 Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings Opening statement: “It’s not exactly the kind of game that you like to watch if you’re a fan of offense and lots of shots going in, but I kind of liked it because we couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn — we couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn on open looks, we were having trouble making (shots) — but I thought we really played hard defensively. Our main goal going in was to keep them off of the foul line; they’re shooting 75 percent as a team from the foul line and they’ve shot almost 100 more than their opponents. We didn’t get to the foul line much, but that’s what happens sometimes when you play against zone. We did a great job on the boards and I thought a great job defensively. I was really proud of the effort and the way we persevered even though it was not a thing of beauty.” On if the zone defense forced the high number of 3-pointers: “It’s not so much that they force you into shooting shots from the perimeter — we would get the ball inside and their zone would collapse and we had good shots. I’ll give them credit, they’re dedicated to their zone and they’re not coming out of it. But on a night where we just didn’t shoot it very well, we still found a way to really, really be effective. On if the 29 3-point attempts were too many: “Two or three we had at the end of the shot clock. I can only think of one 3-point attempt that was a questionable shot. We were taking good shots, and believe it or not we were running good offense. We were moving the ball and getting it outside and back out, and that defense forces you to be patient. I don’t think we ever lost our patience and we hit just enough. That’s kind of how we feel when people zone us; if we don’t shoot it well, we always feel like we’ll hit just enough because we’re running around with five guys out there that can really shoot it.” On the rebounding of Julian Terrell: “I was happy; especially in the first half he was absolutely dominant on the backboards and gave us a lot of extra possessions. He played with some physicality and brought energy to us, and that’s what you want a senior captain to do.”
|
