Jan. 29, 2009
No. 20 Vanderbilt 72 – Arkansas 61
January 29, 2009 – Memorial Gym
Attendance: 4,112
Melanie Balcomb, Vanderbilt Head Coach
On Overtime:
“We played the first five minutes great of each half great and it was really tough to watch us play rough the rest of the time. It was just hard to watch, but we came through in overtime.
On Rebounding:
“We didn’t check out. We have been working on rebounding so much and it didn’t show tonight at all. It’s just frustrating, because they were killing us on the boards, just killing us.”
On Ashley McCray:
“It wasn’t a surprise she was playing and we have had trouble playing post players inside and they just kept throwing it to her. Teams have had the same success against us. What worked down the stretch was taking our post out and playing 4 guards and we went 13-2.”
On Free Throws:
“We showed poise especially as far as free throws. Down the stretch, we made a lot of them in a row. We were shooting under 50% at the free throw line at one point. That’s a lack of focus, we needed to relax.”
On Learning from Every Game:
“Every game has been tough and the nice thing is that we’ve been on the winning side of the SEC except for one game. We can’t beat ourselves up about it; we have to move forward. We have to learn from it and take it seriously and make changes so the same thing doesn’t happen on Sunday (against Alabama).”
Vanderbilt Players
Christina Wirth, forward
On Rebounding:
“I think we didn’t rebound well. They’re really athletic. As a spectator, you don’t realize how much goes into getting a rebound before the shot goes out. We were trying to out jump them, which will never really happen with any of the teams we play.”
On Winning:
“We’ll definitely take a win. It’s about more than a win. Bottom line: we need to win, but we need to get back to what we need to do. Every game matters, but we have to prepare ourselves for down the road. We need to get better.”
Merideth Marsh, guard
On Issues Tonight:
“I don’t know if I can pinpoint one specific problem, but I think we probably played about 15 minutes total. In between, we just blew our lead and tried to relax too much. We didn’t bounce back. We get comfortable with our lead. The last five minutes of the game were crucial, because we didn’t play well, so we had to take the 5 minutes of overtime to make up for the rest of the game.”
On Free Throws:
“Free throws are definitely a mental thing. I think we are just sick of missing free throws in close games. People did step up and make them in crucial points in the game.”
On Performance Tonight:
“I was just taking advantage of opportunities. If you are setting someone up, you’re going to set yourself up with a screen. I wouldn’t have gotten any of my shots if Tina (Wirth), Hannah (Tuomi), and Chanel (Chisholm) didn’t set up amazing screens.”
Tom Collen, Arkansas Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“You guys sat and watch the same game I did. If your perspective is the same as mine, then… it was a game of spurts, there were times we played incredible hard. We defended so well and rebounded so well. We looked like we could beat anyone in the country. There were phases where we would throw the ball away. We wouldn’t care and made bad decisions. We’re a young team; we have young guards. The bottom line, when the game went into overtime, Vanderbilt’s experience took over and they have smart kids who knew where they needed to go, what they needed to do, and they did it. I’m proud of the way our kids play, we’re young, we’re 1-5 in the SEC, and we’re still playing well. We’ll be a 1-5 team that no one will want to play, we play hard and we challenge teams.”
On Rebounding:
“We’ve played 4 guards most of the year and starting with Tennessee, we started putting Ashley McCray on the floor. She did a solid job. We did the same thing against Auburn. She’s been progressing well. I’m not afraid to look in the mirror and ask myself why I haven’t had her in there longer. I can tell you why I need her there and she’s going to make us a better player in the long run. She and Whitney Jones were excellent tonight.”