Jan. 12, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Howell’s Photos 
Vanderbilt vs Georgia
January 12, 2011
Memorial Gymnasium Vanderbilt
Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“Other than some craziness at the end where we were trying to dribble the ball through two or three guys, I was really pleased. [Georgia is] a good team and we knew it was going to be a tough game. We played really hard to win. It was the second game in a row where we did a good job of defending the backboard in the first half, although it got away from us in the second half.”
On the Start of the Game:
“[Georgia was] making threes like they were going to make 100 of them. I’m glad we had the courage, or the ignorance, to stick with the zone. We competed hard. It wasn’t a thing of beauty.”
On Vanderbilt’s Zone Defense:
“It’ll be a game by game thing in terms of how much we play… It’s a matter of what we need to do to win the game. I thought we needed to play it tonight and we were short a guy up front.
On Georgia’s Foul Trouble:
“We’ve been good at getting people in foul trouble. That was a big key to the game tonight. [Georgia was] fighting foul trouble and a lot of that has to do with Festus [Ezeli]. He got in a position where they had to foul him.”
On the Health of Vanderbilt Center Festus Ezeli and Forward Steve Tchiengang:
“Festus was a lot better tonight than at South Carolina. Steve is less than 100%. His achilles is bothering him. He’s a tough kid. He’ll play through it.”
On SEC Teams Scouting Festus Ezeli:
“We all keep close enough tabs on each other… Even though we don’t watch a lot of each other, we see stats, we read game recaps, and we know if someone is playing well. Festus won’t sneak up on anyone.”
Georgia Head Coach Mark Fox
Opening Statement:
“We came with the intent to play well and win. We are going home with a loss. I have to congratulate Vanderbilt. They played with real determination and purpose, probably more purpose than we did.”
On Georgia’s Performance:
“We didn’t have enough guys make baskets tonight, but we haven’t lost in forever – two months. I am not going to panic after one loss.”
On Taking a Timeout with Two Seconds Left:
“We haven’t lost since the day after Thanksgiving. I talked to my team about how to respond. It was a moment to address my team, not to be spiteful to the crowd. It was a chance to talk to my team. I took it as a teaching moment. “
On Cutting an 11-Point Lead to Four:
“I am not into moral victories at all. We lost; Vandy won. We kept battling, but Vandy kept us at bay.”
On Georgia Guard Gerald Robinson Playing in his Hometown:
“I thought he would play well. He played well; he had a good night. “
On Spending Time in Nashville Before Going to Ole Miss on Saturday:
“[The weather] cost us practice yesterday. They wouldn’t put out a bus yesterday morning and we knew we couldn’t fly. We finally got them to clear a bus. It wasn’t awful. We know we aren’t clear to land a plane tonight and we don’t have a plane for tomorrow, so we are going to stay the night and figure out what to do.”
Gerald Robinson – Georgia guard
On playing in Memorial Gym:
“It was exciting. It would have been good to come in here and get a win. It was the second time I’ve played in this gym, and I was really excited to come in here and get a win with a different team [formerly played with TSU]. I guess we’ll have to get it next time. “
On adjusting to SEC play after playing two years at TSU:
“I feel like I’ve adjusted well. The year off helped me very much. I improved a lot of different facets of my game to make me more of a complete player.”
On Georgia staying in the game:
“It was hard to get over that hump. We kept chipping at the lead. One time the lead would get up to 10 and we would get it down to three and keep chipping at it, but then they turned around and hit a lot of big shots to keep their cushion.”
On playing at home versus playing on the road:
“It’s definitely a different atmosphere. You go from one night everybody being behind you and then the next night everyone is against you. It’s just the way basketball is. You have to be prepared and be able to respond to those kind of adversities.”
Vanderbilt junior center Festus Ezeli
On playing against Georgia’s Jeremy Price (#50):
“I don’t really know if it was a mismatch, it was just two big guys going at each other. I had just started getting going in the first half so it was just a continuation of that.”
On the emotions in the game after the loss to South Carolina:
“We’re hungry, we’re still mad about that game. We still have a bad taste about that one because we didn’t play to our abilities
Vanderbilt junior forward Jeffery Taylor
On the plan coming off the loss to South Carolina:
“It was just for us to kinda set the tone of the game, to make the play the way we wanted to, and fortunately for us we came out and made a lot of shots.”
On guarding Georgia’s Travis Leslie (#1):
“He’s a tough player. He offensive rebounds really well, he seems like he kinda has a nose for the ball and he makes tough shots.”
Vanderbilt sophomore guard John Jenkins
On the importance of maintaining a lead:
“That’s one thing we went through with South Carolina and we didn’t want that to happen again, so we went out and executed and did what we had to do.”
On the defensive plan for the game:
“Coach said he wanted to start in it (zone) in the beginning. He said it in practice a lot, so I think 80% of practice we were in zone and 20% we were in man. We were definitely ready for it.”