Jan. 8, 2009
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.
Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening statement:
Our team has played solidly. We’re getting better. We’re very young as everybody as knows. I really enjoy my team and I hope I continue to enjoy them as we enter the most difficult part of our season. They’ll be a challenge in front of us going to Kentucky because, not only are they a great team but it’s a great atmosphere and a tough place to play. We look forward to that and hopefully we can go and play well.
Jerry Tipton, “Lexington Herald-Leader”:
How much have A.J. Ogilvy and Jermaine Beal developed since the opening game at Kentucky last year?
I would say quite a bit. I think that was a real shock to A.J.’s system in particular to see a crowd like that for the first time. I think he was overwhelmed. Jermaine has really, really played well for us all season long and is really having a terrific year thus far. Our fortunes will go in direct correlation to how those two guys play. Those are the two experienced guys that we have play who play the most minutes. They’ve played solidly and at times better than that, and that’s what we’re going to need from them as we go forward here.
The SEC only has one team ranked, and they got beat last night. What does that say about the league and the quality of play?
I can only speak for us and maybe a couple of other teams, but we had a number of really terrific upperclassmen either graduate or go pro or what have you. This could be a year of transition. I know we’re starting two freshmen and two sophomores and come off the bench with two or three freshmen. I think there are some other teams that are very similar to that. I think that could be why that is. I think you can point to how many teams that we have that are ranked, but we’ll turn around and point to the fact that Arkansas has beat two top 10 teams, and Tennessee’s had success against top 10 teams. So, our league has still continued to some level hold their own. It’s not like it’s been in past years obviously, but I think that’s just because of the lack of experience.
Maurice Patton, “The Tennessean”:
With the injuries and other factors keeping people off the floor in the non-conference schedule, who do you think benefited from the increased experience with those people out?
I’m not sure really. I think maybe Darshawn McClellan has benefited some. He’s playing very well for us right now. Early on he was struggling with a foot injury, but he had to play because, as you mentioned, guys not being able to suit up for one reason or the another. So, I think he has benefited. Probably Tinsley and Taylor have benefited because they’ve probably been out on the court more with the loss of Andre Walker to the ACL. So, I would say maybe those guys have been the one’s who’ve benefited the most.
As the team moves forward, how do you expect to make up for the loss of Andre Walker, particularly on defense?
Well, we’re just going to have to do it like we’ve done it thus far, and do it as a group, because our thing is playing good team defense. We might not have the outstanding individual defender, but as a unit thus far we’ve been pretty effect. So, we’re just going to have to continue to defend as a team. Andre was probably our best individual defender, and that loss certainly hurt. But, we’ve been able thus far to manage and make up for that loss through good team defense.
Larry Vaught, “Danville Advocate-Messenger”:
Can you talk about your impressions of Michael Porter and DeAndre Liggins at point guard for UK?
I think they both bring different things to the table, and I think they’ve both been very effective in their own individual ways that they play. One might make more perimeter shots. One might get to the basket a little better. But, if you look, they both have good assist numbers. So, they’re getting the ball to the right people, and they’re both very effective defensively. I think it’s one of those things to where it’s a real position of strength for them, because they have two guys that they can count on and can do the job for them, that’s really a benefit and a luxury and an asset to have when you get into league play.
Billy Gillispie, Kentucky Head Coach
Opening statement about the Vanderbilt matchup:
We’re really looking forward to it. It’s a good team. They have one of the better point guards any where, and one of the better big guys any where. They’ve done a really fine job of building around that with really talented young players. We look forward to it, and it should be a fun and exciting matchup for us.
Larry Vaught, “Danville Advocate-Messenger”:
Talk about the Vanderbilt defense and what has impressed you about them, and about the play of Perry Stevenson.
As far as their defense, I guess they lead the conference in field goal percentage defense and also points allowed. They’re just a really sound defensive team, and they do a really good job of not letting you beat them to the paint, and you have to score over their defense. You don’t get a chance to get through their defense and get easy baskets too much. It’s just a great job by Coach Stallings to implement, like he always does, offensively and defensively. The guys are really carrying out assignments.
As far as Perry, we need Perry to continue to play well. I thought he played very well in our last game. We need him to play very well, and we need him to expand his offense a little bit and continue what he’s been doing for us defensively.
Brett Dawson, “Louisville Courier-Journal”
Can you talk about the play of Vanderbilt’s freshmen, specifically Jeffery Taylor and Brad Tinsley?
Those guys are really good, and they’re getting better every single game too. They were good and they’re getting better. We recruited Jeff Taylor a little bit. We recruited him very heavily when we were at Texas A&M, but just a tremendous athlete. Some guys who were recruiting him as well at the same time kind of compared him to Clyde Drexler back when he was coming up, and that’s probably a pretty good comparison. It’s yet to be determined if he ends up being one of the 50 greatest players in the history of the game, but he’s really a nice player. Then, Tinsley’s just fantastic. He’s shooting 47 percent from the 3. He’s just a very, very smart player who can play more than one position, really shoots the basketball well. You don’t see a whole lot of freshmen shooting those kind of percentages. So, just two great freshmen, and they’ve just done a very good job of evaluating players and getting those guys who fit their system and then building around those kinds of players – a great job of evaluation with their recruiting effort.
Jerry Tipton, “Lexington Herald-Leader”:
How much has Beal improved and in what areas since the matchup last season?
He just gets better and better. Last year at this time, I haven’t looked at his stats but I don’t think his shooting percentages were nearly as high they are, especially from beyond the 3-point line. He’s a great 3-point shooter as far as percentages go. I think he led our league last year in assist-to-turnover ratio, 3.5-to-1 or something like that. I could be wrong in that, but he just continues to develop as a player. He’s another player who I saw a lot because he was in the Dallas area as a high school player. So, I saw him a lot from an early age, and every single year he just continues to get better and better and better. He usually takes one phase of his game and totally improves upon it, and I think it would probably be 3-point shooting this year. He’s a great 3-point shooter, a real hard guy to keep out of the lane, a great leader, just does a ton of things for their team.