Feb. 3, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photos 
| Howell’s Photos
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings
On the win:
“I’m really, really, really, really happy for my team. They’ve worked hard and come close, worked hard and come close, and it’s been a while since we’ve felt this feeling and my overwhelming sentiment right now is that I’m just happy for them. I’m happy they got to experience this again. Obviously, it’s been too long and coming as far as we are concerned. But, to their credit, their attitudes have been great, their efforts have been really, really good almost all the time. They’re not perfect, obviously. I’m just really pleased for them. I thought, for us, the difference-maker in this game was James Siakam, especially in the first half I thought he played with such a great energy level and a passion and a fight that we’ve needed. I thought Damian Jones played very well. His numbers, 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, were good but he was a presence down there that we really need. He was active and played tough and that’s what we’ve got to have from him. This was one of the first times for our guards to see that kind of pressure and we didn’t handle it very well. But we did enough good things to win the game and it’s nice to be able to teach and learn when you win instead of having to teach and learn when you lose.”
On playing with a lead after losing seven straight games:
“The start was unbelievable. We talked about trying to get off to a good start because Florida’s come in here a few times and smacked us silly before we even realized the game had started, so we really put a lot of emphasis on trying to start well and fortunately we did. I thought James [Siakam] and Damian [Jones] were the keys to that. Our defensive play in the first half, I thought, was pretty strong too. What a terrific game Michael Frazier played. We couldn’t stop him. Then [Eli] Carter started to get loose on us in the second half. We were fortunate because Dorian Finney-Smith got in foul trouble there in the second half. I used him as an example to our team of a great energy guy and a guy that raises the level of play of his teammates, so we were fortunate that he was hampered with foul trouble.”
On Damian Jones’ strong night:
“He just did a better job of asserting himself. Damian has to assert himself in the game. Sometimes things are going to work out for him and sometimes they’re not but he has to assert himself in the game if we’re going to have a chance to win. I thought, in a few of these games we’ve lost, not all of them, but a few of them that we’ve lost, I felt like he hadn’t been assertive enough. I brought him in my office today and we talked about it and he really tried to assert himself tonight. 13 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks is a pedestrian night really for him, that’s just an average night. The toughness, the quickness, and the effort level that he played with were so apparent to me along with posting physically and those things. If he keeps playing like that, that 13 and 7 will turn into 20 and 10. That’s what we need. We need him to play like a first team all-league player if we’re going to have a chance.”
On overall offensive aggressiveness:
“We did a good job of driving the ball. James and Damian, I thought, were very active on the offensive boards. James got a lot of his from post-ups and offensive rebounds. We’ve certainly been on the wrong end of that a number of times, really the better part of this conference season. We certainly want to throw the ball inside. I thought part of the key was our defense, being on point, active, and alert to the job tonight. In the first half, I thought they had some shots they missed that were open but in the second half it didn’t feel like they missed any.”
On success with zone defense:
“I was ok with the zone with Frazier in until Carter started making them. When Carter started making them, two is too many. We can’t have two guys making them on both sides, now your defense gets too spread out. So we went back man.”
On holding Dorian Finney-Smith to four points:
“I singled him out to our team in our scouting report as a guy whose game and effort level I really admire. His effort seems to bleed off on other players on his team. For us to hold him down a little bit, though the foul trouble had something to do with it, hopefully our defense had something to do with it.”
On Damian Jones switching onto guards:
“We switched on ball screens. There were some ball screens that they ran that we switched and Damian was a part of the switching package that we do tonight. Not something we do frequently, but something that we wanted to throw out there and see how it would work and I thought he did very well. I thought he did very well given that we haven’t done a lot of switching with him so far this season.”
On the team’s confidence after snapping the streak:
“It can give us a few days to enjoy life again because, when you lose, life isn’t too much fun and that’s why I’m happy for these kids. They deserve to enjoy this because they haven’t changed their attitude, they haven’t changed their approach, they haven’t changed their demeanor. They’ve been who we thought they would be and who we recruited them to be. We just haven’t come up in the win column enough. So they deserve this. Hopefully it lifts their spirits and gives them some energy to come out and practice on Thursday and give a great effort.”
Vanderbilt SR Forward James Siakam
On starting the game and his energy tonight:
“I think I approached it like most of my games. Really whatever coach wants me to do, that’s what I do. If I can come in and provide that energy, that’s kind of what I do, and I think today I did a pretty good job of that.”
On his blocks:
“I thought that we were in great position, defensive positions, to block those shots. We are not trying to block our mains shots, but kind of coming from the help side and that’s kind of how we did it.”
“I love blocking shots. Damian and I have a little thing going on where we try to do it, and we brag about it to each other and compete. So I think that is a good thing, we have a lot of things to talk about. (laughs) I won today.”
On all of the free throws and getting to the line so many times:
“I think it is huge. I give credit to what we do in practice. We practice shooting free throws every day and even in our free time, that’s what we do. It is really about practicing those and making sure you get the opportunity in a game. And once you get it, you have to convert it. And for us it was huge.”
Vanderbilt FR Guard Wade Baldwin IV
On having the lead all night:
“We really emphasized taking care of each possession. They got us in their great press, they are know for their press. They forced our guards some turnovers at times. That lead at the start, the 15-0 and then 15-2 at some point, that really jumped us. Going back to the Texas A&M game, this was the opposite of that game. Texas A&M was up on us, so getting that great lead that great start. We talked about four minute wars, and that is how we played, each four minutes, win those four.”
On his feeling right now:
“We’re 1-0, we’re undefeated for February. I don’t even know what happened in January.”
On the losing streak:
I don’t remember it. We are 1-0.
On playing tough, competitive teams:
“I think they are top 2. I think Arkansas and Florida, for me personally, really have perfects stats and are a great press present team and they are known for it. They’re great guards, Kasey Hill, Chris Chiozza, Eli Carter, they really take you full court, so they make it real difficult.”
Florida Coach Billy Donovan
On why the team started so slow:
“You know I really wish I knew the answer to that, I don’t know. I thought we had two really god looks to start the game. Frazier had a three that went in and out, and then Dorian had the ball right in the front of the layup and missed it. We talked about some of that stuff the last couple days. Our ability to make shots. I feel like the the difference in the game was their frontcourt. I thought (James) Siakam did a great job tonight, and played with great energy. I think in the first half he had more rebounds then our entire team. He and (Damian) Jones to me were totally dominating. The loose balls, the hustle plays, I thought Vanderbilt came up with those plays. We didn’t make enough plays when we got down by three or four either. We really shot ourselves in the foot.”
On what the issues with Florida’s team are this year:
“There’s a personnel issue there’s no doubt about that. There’s a size issue, strength, and experience obviously with Chris [Chiozza] obviously. I thought John [Horford] came in and gave us some decent minutes against Jones, just from a physical standpoint. Give Jones credit though, I’ve always thought he was one of the better frontcourt players in this league. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and I think Kevin [Stallings] does a great job utilizing him. And Siakam’s been coming off the bench the last couple games, and Kornet’s been starting. This is probably a tough game for him just from a match up standpoint with our forwards. Probably didn’t play the number of minutes he would usually play.”
On how he managed the game today:
“We didn’t play with the intensity I would have liked. Obviously as a coach it’s always your job to get them ready, and you always ask yourself what you could have done differently to get our team ready. I don’t know why they came out like they did. I thought we had two good days of practice, the shoot around was pretty good, but I just felt like we were a step behind the whole game.”
On how they played from behind today:
“You know I don’t know how Kevin feels, but I feel like their 18 turnovers kept us in the game a bit. I was shocked we were only down by 8 at the half, given the way we played and shot the ball. Really on both of ends of the floor, too. When you give up 42 free throws, its hard to win games. We just did not have it tonight, and I do not know why. If I knew the answer to that this would be a lot easier.”
On the rebounding effort tonight:
“I always think that type of thing is an effort and reaction thing. As a coach I have always felt our teams have played with pretty good effort, and passion and fire. And that doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game, but it keeps you in there and gives you a chance. When you’re coming on the road to play, you can’t play occasionally with that kind of effort. I think that effort showed up in two places for us today: it showed up in the rebounding margin and us being a step late in guarding them, putting them to the free throw line.”
On the Dorian Finney-Smith’s foul trouble today:
“I would talk to him about that. I thought this was not one of his better games. He’s been playing well all year but again he just did not have it tonight. Again, I thought his missed shot, and this happens with players sometimes, he missed one right in fromnt of the rim and it got in his head. I really thought that Siakam’s energy across the frontline after that was way way more than ours. Vanderbilt outplayed us from start to game, even though it was close. They really dominated start to finish. When you see a guy like Dorian with more fouls than points, it’s discouraging. For whatever reason, he didn’t have it like he normally does.”
On how he has pumped the breaks on this team this year:
“Yeah, what’s going on right now is not a surprise. Other people might have been surprised, but they don’t really know our team. I’ve coached a lot of these guys. I’ve seen in previous years the levels of inconsistencies in them. There’s a reason why Dorian came off the bench last year, there’s a reason why Kasey [Hill] played 18 minutes a game, there’s areeason for that. There were some things experience wise that were lacking. Two of them were freshman and some weren’t healthy. There’s a reason why we are going through some of the stuff we are. Realistically I think it shows just how special those four guys were last year.”
Florida JR Guard Michael Frazier II
On slow start to the game as a team:
“We didn’t come out with enough passion or energy, and they did. They played harder than us for the first ten minutes. When you’re playing away like this you can’t play from behind the whole game. According to halftime it was surprisingly an eight point game, or whatever it was, we probably should have been down by more. So, you can’t come out like that.”
On playing on the road in a tough environment like Vanderbilt:
“It is very hard. It’s tough to win. Like I said, we can’t come out with no energy like that. We’ve got to compete on every play, and we didn’t do that to start the game. “
On Coach Donovan’s frustration towards the end of the game:
“He was just frustrated that we didn’t come out ready to play and we didn’t compete. That’s not our culture and he’s expressed that to us. Like I said, we’ve got to come out with more energy to start the game. That’s the main reason we are playing from behind on the road. It’s just tough to win.”
On if it was it just lack of energy or lack of execution:
“Yeah there was some turnovers, but like I said you can play through those things. That’s a part of the game turnovers and not executing at times. That’s part of the game. We just can’t have a lack of energy, a lack of passion and not compete on every play. We can play through mistakes and things like that, but like I said it’s hard to win when you don’t have any energy especially on the road.”
Florida R-JR Guard Eli Carter
On the coming up to the last leg of the season:
“It’s definitely kind of late. We’ve just got to come out with the right mindset or we’ll get beat every time. Things just have to change.”
On slow start shooting the ball:
“I just need to get back in the gym. I’ve been shooting pretty bad the last couple of games. I need to get back in the gym.”
On what he means “Things have to change”:
“Just our mindsets. We can’t come out like we did. We had too many defensive lapses. Just have to pull together.”
On not being able to close the gap and take a lead:
“They just wanted it more than us honestly. One of their big guys (James Siakam) was on the glass constantly. I think he had nine rebounds at halftime. They just wanted it more than us.”
On Donovan downplaying the expectations of this season coming in:
“Coach has been preaching that since April. That if you worry about expectations you’re never going to live up to them. Just want to be there with the guys on your team. You want to win for the guys on your team. You worry about expectations, and you’ll never reach them.”