Jan. 11, 2008
Audio: Listen to the entire teleconference at SECsports.com
Vanderbilt basketball head coach Kevin Stallings and Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie discussed Saturday’s game with the national media during Thursday’s SEC Teleconference. Find out what each coach had to say about the matchup.
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings:
Opening statement: “We were fortunate to win a game Wednesday night. We survived a very sub par shooting night. Fortunately, our defense held us in and enabled us to get a victory. It’s always a big but exciting challenge anytime you get to go to Rupp Arena and play Kentucky. I know it’s something our players will look forward to. We’ll have to play a lot better than we’ve been playing in order to go up there and be successful, but we’re excited about the challenge and look forward to it.”
How has Andrew Ogilvy developed a low post game being an international player? “I would like to tell you that it was my and my staff’s great coaching, but he’s a natural down there. He had great coaching before he got here. He is very fundamentally sound. He knows how to use his body. He has great hands and feet. He’s not a guy that fancies himself as a perimeter jump shooter. He likes it down in the paint, and he knows that’s where he’s good.”
How well do you think your team passes the ball to the open guy? “I think that’s a strength. I think that we are very unselfish. I don’t know what we’re thinking sometimes in some of our passes, but I think we always are attempting to hit the open man. That’s a different way for me to say we’ve turned it over a little bit more than I would like, but we have an extremely unselfish basketball team. That starts with Shan [Foster] and goes all the way through. I think all of our guys take a lot of pride in the fact that we try to move the ball and share and get it to the right guy.”
What are your impressions of Kentucky? “My overall impressions of Kentucky are that they are very athletic. [Patrick] Patterson is a tremendously imposing guy inside. [Ramel] Bradley and [Joe] Crawford are seniors. [Jodie] Meeks and [Derrick] Jasper are both very good players. Like always, they’ve got players all around the court that are very capable of having big nights. They’ve got some inside depth. They’re very aggressive defensively. They really get out in the passing lanes and do a great job of putting pressure on the ball and trying to make you speed up on offense. They obviously know what they want to do on offense in terms of spacing the floor and getting the ball inside.”
How do you feel Shan Foster has played this year? “Shan has been nothing short of incredible. He’s been great in every way. He’s scored and shot great. He’s been pretty effective on the boards for us. He’s usually given the top perimeter opponent to defend. He’s been a rock for us. He didn’t have a good shooting night against South Carolina, which was understandable with the way he’s been shooting the ball, but he’s been an unbelievable leader. He’s the best that college basketball represents in every way.”
How do you view the fact that many teams around the SEC have to rely on freshmen? “I think in one respect it’s why our non-conference record was not quite as gaudy as it normally is. There’s always an adjustment period for freshman to go through. Maybe some games were lost in the non-conference season because SEC teams are playing these guys a lot, but obviously there is a great freshman class in our league. If enough of them stick around, then it bodes well for the strength of the league in the future which is never usually a question. I think that we had a lot of turnover in our league from last year. We had a lot of really good seniors and a lot of guys that left the league that had great careers, and it was time for some new guys to come in and have an impact and that’s what happened. It’s happened all over the league.”
What makes Patterson a guy that concerns you in the low post? “He’s got great hands. He catches everything. He knows how to use his body. He’s very physical. He creates angles for himself. He’s got good touch. He’s very gifted.”
Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
What is the status on Joe [Crawford], Derrick [Jasper], and Jodie [Meeks] after having injury problems? “There’s a lot of reoccurring stuff with Jodie. Joe is getting a little bit better. Derrick is getting a little bit better but is not moving around very well.”
Will Jodie play against Vanderbilt Saturday? “I have no idea. It’s been frustrating for us and for him.”
What is the reoccurring injury with Jodie: stress fracture or the hip? “It’s his hip that’s bothering him right now.”
Has the intensity level in practice contributed to the numerous team injuries? “I don’t know. I think in Derrick’s case, he’s probably in early September or October mode. With Joe, he has plantar faciatus. With Jodie, I think he’s got too many muscles. He’s like one of those football players with big thighs, but it has nothing to do with practice intensity. Our practice intensity has been shorter and probably quite a bit less than what we’re normally use to. That has nothing to do with it.”
How does having a shorter roster than what you would like to affect dialing up or down intensity? “I’m not ever going to get into dialing down intensity. I think that we can shorten the length of practice, and that’s what we normally do at this point in the season anyway as we get into conference play and go through conference play, but I don’t think, especially with our group right now, we need to lessen the intensity level.”
Do you expect Derrick and Joe to play against Vanderbilt? “As far as I know, they both have been with the trainers most of the time. Hopefully, they’ll be available.”
What are your impressions of Vanderbilt? “They’re really good. They’re real fun to watch. They really understand their roles. They have very good players. They’re getting really good point guard play. They’re very talented and deep. They play well on both ends of the court. The thing that’s really impressive to me is that they play for 40 minutes every time, and that’s the way it should be. That’s why they’re undefeated. They have so many strengths. They hustle hard on defense and on the glass. They don’t let the last play affect the next one. It’s a very fun team to watch play.”