Feb. 23, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Photos 
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Statement:
“Well that was simply a case of us getting off to a great start and really never giving (Mississippi State) an opportunity to recover. I thought our guys were really sharp with our attention to the game plan. We thought it was imperative that we did a good job defending them. They’ve made it hard for some people in this building and obviously they’re short handed and we realized that. I thought our guys did a great job adhering to the game plan and doing what we needed to do to get this win. Obviously I would have never predicted that it would be this one sided. I’ve been on the other end of this and it’s no fun. Rick will get this thing right at some point. I thought we rebounded with some energy and that made a difference.”
On their play today:
“Maybe we’re getting a little better. I was pleased with the rebounding effort. I thought Sheldon Jeter did an excellent job on the boards. We stepped up and made shots today which obviously helped us out.”
Kevin Bright; Fr.; Forward
On whether winning the game was evident from the beginning:
“It wasn’t pretty evident from the beginning. The difference was that we executed and played hard, which was the game plan that our coach gave us. We did it both halves and that’s why we won this game in the end.”
On the second half:
“At half time we knew that we had to come out and play the same as we had been playing. I think when there were 10 minutes left in the game we knew that it was over, but we kept playing. Our coach does not like for us to get into cruise mode or play casual. He wanted us to play hard until the end and that’s what we did.”
On loss at Kentucky:
“We came out of the Kentucky game as aggressive as possible. We set our own goals, like dominating on the boards and we accomplished that goal.”
Mississippi State Head Coach Rick Ray
Opening Comments:
“We did a poor job of getting the ball stopped on their high-ball screens. That opened up so many wounds for us: giving up open shots, letting them drive the lane all the way and then giving up offensive rebounds. Offensively I thought we got some quality looks. I thought our motion offense was gelling, but we couldn’t knock down any shots. I dont think we took bad shots. In those first five to six minutes, I thought we took some quality shots. I think what it boiled down to was that they knocked down their shots when they were open and we didn’t.”
On rebounding:
“When you shoot 17% from the field you are going to have a disparity with the defensive rebounds, that is totally understandable. The 20 offensive rebounds is where my concern is at, because we did an unbelievably bad job rebounding. We told our guys there would be a lot of long rebounds because Vanderbilt takes so many threes, but as a team we did really poor rebounding the ball.”
On shooting well from the charity stripe:
“We have done a pretty good job of getting to the free throw line more than our opponent. We do a pretty good job of driving the basketball and I was proud of seeing our guys convert from the line. I would like to see that carry over to shooting the basketball and not just at the free throw line. ”
Jalen Steele; Jr.; Guard
On the up and down play:
“We play tremendous one game and the next game we just fall off. I guess we just go into the game thinking that it’s going to come easy. Teams come out and light us up. We’re just going to have to fix something. Something’s got to happen.”
On their physical condition:
“When we get fatigued, we don’t think about what we’re doing out there. We start losing the ball and turning it over, and then we can’t make shots. Fatigue is a huge factor in it, but we can’t dwell on that. We’ve got to push through that in practice. Fatigue is what is knocking our focus off right now.”
Gavin Ware; Fr.; Forward
On the team’s play:
“They just out-hustled and out-played us. We weren’t very competitive. As we continue to play, something’s got to change. We’ve got to develop more work ethic and continue to play hard.”
On their physical condition:
“It is a factor in our play but at the end of the day, we’ve still got to go out there and play the game. That doesn’t make us light. We’ve still got to carry our load.”