Dec. 19, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin StallingsOpening Comments:“I liked how we played, for the most part… Damian [Jones] was great tonight. Matthew Fisher-Davis was strong on the backboards and outstanding on offense. We did a very good job of defending inside the three-point line. Outside of the three-point line, I don’t know that we did as well… We rebounded. We played together. I really have no complaints. I’m glad we were able to get the win.”
On Matthew Fisher-Davis’ 11 Rebounds:“We need to rebound by committee. Matthew had seven in the Dayton game on the defensive end. He had [nine] tonight on the defensive end. He’ll make the coaches happy if he continues to do that.”
On Coming Off Finals:“We came out in a bit of a funk, which is typical for us coming off finals. Some guys come out excited to play. Some guys come out worn out mentally. That’s to be expected around here. We’re happy to have finals behind us and can focus on getting better.”
On Damian Jones:“During the week, I talked with him about literally trying to score every time he got the ball… In the post, I wanted Damian to try to score every time he had the ball. I want him to be aggressive with the ball.”
On the Upcoming Purdue Game:“You feel better about yourself after you win a game. We haven’t felt that good since that night at Baylor. We have a big challenge. Purdue is a very good team… It’s going to be a very difficult game… Gene Keady is gone. He’s my emotional tie to Purdue. This is just another game for me.”
Wofford head coach Mike YoungOn containing Damian Jones: “I’d like to have him, he’d make me a better coach. I’d throw him that ball every time down the floor. I was so impressed with his hands and feet. He’s got an unbelievable mentor and coach in Kevin, they do some beautiful things to get him into scoring areas. I hate this period. I’ve been doing this for a long time and to see guys get hurt just bothers me. Watching the Kornet kid in the early games, I just love that kid’s game and I know how far he’s come as a player. Maybe they look on it as a time that the’re team had an opportunity to grow without a major component in play. I’m a huge Commodore fan, they do great things and they play the right way. They can all pass it and I knew they were a great shooting team.They don’t miss open shots and that’s a great luxury.”
On Wofford’s inability to capitalize on their two runs:“Yeah, they locked us a bit more and I think we got it down to ten at about the 17-minute mark. There’s a reason that they’re a Top 25 team, they’ve got good players and they don’t flinch. All of the guys have been involved in big games. They’ve been involved in big games this year. Other than that I don’t know of an explanation.”
On Vanderbilt’s size making it tough to score:“They are big and strong and I really like the point guard, four….Baldwin is a difference maker and really carves you up if you take a bad shot. If you take a shot that you’re not comfortable with late in the clock, he just blows your doors off. They’re size and physicality was certainly disruptive throughout.”
Sophomore Guard Matthew Fisher-DavisOn his improvement in the rebounding area of his game over last few games:“With Luke (Kornet) being out there’s a lot more rebounds to be had. He’s a great re-bounder, but the ball is just kind of coming my way. Everybody else is doing a great job boxing out. I’m just the one who ends up with it.”
On how they match up as a team against Purdue’s size without Luke Kornet:“I mean we have all the pieces we need to go in there and get the job done. It will be a fun game.”
On the improvement of play as a team on the defensive side of the ball:“We had a tough ten days since our last game. The coaches really enforced defense on defense to get that back. That was our main focus going into it.”
On if they go into the Purdue match up with the mentality of being an underdog:“I wouldn’t necessarily say that. You know, we definitely have a chip on our shoulder going in there. It’s tough on the road but they had a lot of the same pieces they had last year. There’s just a familiarity there with that. So, we’ll go in and put up a fight.”
On if the Purdue game mean more to the team knowing Coach Stallings history there:“I mean he’s just all about this team, this team we have this year and going in there and getting a win.”
Junior Center Damian JonesOn his aggressiveness on the offensive side tonight, if that was a product of Coach Stallings telling him in practice to shoot every time he had the ball in his hands:“Yeah, he told me in practice just to be more aggressive scoring. So, I had that in mind”
On his mentality of playing Purdue next and facing up against their two seven footers:“It should be fun. I like going against taller opponents.”
On his four blocks in the game tonight, and the improvement of his defense over the year:“Yeah, I mean I’m playing the five more on defense. I’m more inside guarding the big man.”
On what it feels like to be done with finals:“Great. Don’t have to worry about school and just play basketball. It was a good feeling I mean we’ve got test over with, some hard days of practice and just go out and enjoy playing the game”
