Dec. 5, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Vanderbilt 67, DePaul 54
December 5, 2009
Memorial Gymnasium
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Remarks:
“This was exactly what we thought it would be. They screw it down and hold the ball for long possessions. I know Jerry [Wainwright] and he has their team the way they have to be to be effective and beat people. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for him.”
On the Crowd Given the SEC Football Championship Game:
“It was a pretty convenient start time. There must have been a lot of people who wanted to watch football. I didn’t think we had that many Alabama fans in Nashville.”
On Vanderbilt’s Second Half Defense:
“It was a lot better than in the first half. Our offense was also a lot better in the second half. We got the ball to A.J. [Ogilvy] and he did something with it. A.J. and Jeff [Taylor] gave us life on offense. Charles Hinkle came in and gave us energy like he does in practice. He has as good of an attitude as anyone I’ve coached. He made the most of his opportunity today.”
On A.J. Ogilvy’s Free Throw Shooting Improvement:
“We made a slight adjustment. He shot free throws great as a freshman, but not as well in the second half of last year. We pointed something out about keeping his foot down to get a better balance.”
Vanderbilt player quotes
Center A.J. Ogilvy
On strong finishes inside the paint:
“I was more aggressive tonight and I just came out and tried to get some good touches inside.”
On coming back from first half deficit:
“Maturity plays a big part in being able to come back from a first half deficit. Last year, that was something we lacked. We didn’t have the ability or experience to come back and get a win. Now, we’re older and we can get everything in order and move at our pace to win.”
On Vanderbilt’s defense:
“We boxed out and limited their shots, which was helpful in our ability to go on that run in the second half.”
Forward Jeffery Taylor
On speeding up tempo:
“We have seen them on tape and our goals were to play at our tempo and push it in transition. We came out in the second half and played our game.”
On play in the second half:
“Attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line helped us settle in the game. We have great shooters on the team and we didn’t really get them in today. We had to utilize our free throw shooting to get ahead.”
On shutting down DePaul’s defense:
“We had to play hard defense to win today. We just tried to stay close to everyone and get hands in their faces. I think we were able to play strong defense and give us opportunities to score on the other end.”
DePaul Head Coach Jerry Wainwright
Opening Statement:
“We’re a little bit offensively challenged right now. We are obviously so perimeter oriented that it made it fairly easy to move their post players around. And we had some shots, but they didn’t fall. We weren’t really successful with our three point shooting percentage, and I did think we had some open looks. Obviously our free throw shooting has been horrible. You have to answer some baskets with baskets and the game got away from us when all that happened. But, I would give them credit. They have strength at guard, forward, and center.”
On DePaul’s defense in the second half:
“I have a very young team. I think we were really good defensively in the first half because I was able to stand behind them like it was practice. I think younger players often times don’t communicate as well and in the second half they were about two blocks away and I don’t think we communicated well.”
On Jeffery Taylor:
“We haven’t really seen a forward like him. He’s really skilled and has great flow. Jeff has the kind of movement that he can guard Will Walker. So I thought he was really key. You can’t have A.J. and Jeff score as much as they did.”