Jan. 28, 2010
Vanderbilt 70, Auburn 61
January 28th, 2010
Postgame quotes
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On changing the lineup:
“Tiffany and Merideth weren’t going to start because of rules violations. Those six minutes at the end of the first half, Merideth really provided a spark. I wanted to give some other people some time and some opportunities that maybe they wouldn’t have gotten before.”
On allowing Alabama back in the game in the last four minutes:
“We got a good lead and wanted to sub and we just started handing the ball to them instead. We did the same thing to Alabama last year. They fight, they play hard, and Bama keeps coming after you.”
On lower scoring average:
“It’s a combination of better defenses, bigger and stronger athletes, and they’re all bigger than we are. They’re more athletic than we are and they know us and how we play. Everyone is well scouted; they know our tendencies and everything we do. You see everybody’s scoring averages are probably down, not just us.”
On getting to .500 in SEC play:
“I don’t think we’ve built any momentum. Tonight, we did what we needed to do. We need more energy and the game needs to look the way it’s supposed to look. We need to be more aggressive on offense and defense. We need to attack more and we’re too passive. We’re playing a lot of young players and changing a lot of things.”
Vanderbilt guard Jence Rhoads
On slow start:
“I think our defense was a bit off, we had a bit of a miscommunication. We had two new people starting and that threw us off a little bit.”
On Merideth entering the game:
“I think it helped because she usually plays 40 minutes a game. She was ready to go in and impact the game immediately.”
On letting Alabama back in the game:
“It’s just not acceptable to let teams back in like that. Arkansas is better than Alabama and playing them on the road will be a challenge for us.”
Vanderilt forward Hannah Tuomi
On changing lineup:
“They (Alabama) know Merideth is a shooter and so, when she came in, their defense on Merideth really freed the rest of us up.”
On letting Alabama back in the game:
“That is not how we wanted to end the game. It was a win and it helps your esteem and confidence. However we still need to work on a lot.”
Alabama Head Coach Wendell Hudson
Opening Statement:
“I think Vanderbilt is a good basketball team and it was a good game from that standpoint. I’m proud of our team. We cut their lead from 16 to 6. We struggled sometimes offensively and that’s an issue we’ve had all year. It hurt us, but Vanderbilt made baskets when they needed them.”
On Vanderbilt’s 16-point lead:
“We go through stretches for four or five minutes where we don’t score and we’re a pretty good basketball team when we’re not in those stretches. It could have gone either way and Vandy stepped up and made shots and made a ton of free throws.”
On fouls:
“Things happen in basketball games and you’ve got to overcome them. You’ve got to adjust to officiating and we did a better job adjusting in the second half. First half, we were struggling a little bit and kept getting those fouls. When there are fouls like that, there normally is a push back and so you have to adjust your defense.”
On SEC play:
“We work hard. We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves. We never feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve taken over a program that used to struggle in the SEC, but we’ve been in these games and that’s the process we go through to build this program. I’m so proud of the effort we’ve been putting forth and we are on the right track to make those improvements happen.”