Jan. 12, 2012
Coach Stallings on The Wake Up Zone
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings joined Kevin Ingram, Mark Howard, and Frank Wycheck on 104.5’s The Wake Up Zone Thursday morning to talk about the latest in Commodore basketball.
During the segment, Stallings commended his team for their 67-57 road victory over South Carolina Tuesday. Stallings was pleased with their overall effort and shooting efficiency, and noted areas to improve on included ball handling, rebounding in the first half, and letting up with a big lead late in the game. He then quickly put the win in perspective and said, “Trust me. I would take being up by 24 (points) with less than four minutes to play on the road in every game I ever coach in again.”
Stallings also revealed one of the changes his staff made after the team suffered some unexpected early season losses. For the first time in his coaching career, Stallings said he is allowing players to give the pregame talk before the team takes the court. “Our guys are smart and thoughtful so they give some thought to what they’re going to say. But it’s a lot easier to hold them accountable to their own words,” he quipped.
Stallings added that most of the team’s recent success is due to the roster getting healthier, leading to improved practices over the last few weeks. “It’s really the first time since Festus (Ezeli) got hurt way back in October that we’ve had all of our guys in practice to where we can actually have consistent practice time and have the ability to get better.”
The full interview is available for download.