Feb. 21, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Dubois’ Photos 
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Vanderbilt 76, Missouri 53
Nashville, Tenn.
Postgame Quotes
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“I like how our team played. We were consistent for the most part and we rebounded well, especially since that was something we wanted to do going into the game. We talked about taking away their threes and getting a double team on [Missouri Forward Jonathan] Williams III… I thought we did well at defending the three. We did a good job on the boards in the second half. I like how we played. It feels good.”
On Missouri’s Defense Against Vanderbilt Center Damian Jones:
“The first possession of the second half, we ran a play to deal with Missouri’s double team. Damian missed a jump hook right in front of our bench. The next play, the double didn’t come, so we kept throwing it in to him.”
On Vanderbilt’s Scoring:
“It takes more than one or two guys. On most nights, we’re able to count on Damian [Jones] and Riley [LaChance]. When Matt [Fisher-Davis] comes out and makes shots, then that’s a third guy. When Luke [Kornet] gets in on the party and Wade [Baldwin IV] shoots well, it adds even more guys. It was nice to have Shelton [Mitchell] back. He certainly wasn’t his best, but it was nice to work him back in.”
On Vanderbilt Guard Matthew Fisher-Davis:
“Consistency is one thing we talk about with him. He stopped scoring [after getting 11 points early], but he didn’t stop playing defense. One of his focuses was on guarding a guy who is a great offensive rebounder… He continued to play both ends of the floor.”
“It was good to get Matt off to a good start. You look down and see Riley [LaChance] was 1-5 from three and, overall, we were 10-24… I thought our shot selection was good. We took care of the ball. We didn’t have a lot of turnovers. We talked about growth before the game. It started well and it ended well.”
On Vanderbilt Guard Riley LaChance:
“Riley had nine defensive rebounds. When he gets a rebound, he likes to push it more than he likes to pass it. He and Wade [Baldwin IV] are our primary ball handlers.”
On How Fresh the Team Will Be Thursday at Tennessee:
“There were only two games this season where I thought fatigue was a factor: at Alabama to start the game, and there was one early game in the season where our guys talked about feeling fatigued. We should be refreshed, but so should UT. They played today too.”
Vanderbilt guard Riley LaChance
On winning by a large margin:
“It was good to see some of the guys get some quality minutes there, so that was good to see.”
On a career high nine rebounds:
“I try to get in there and get some rebounds, but I think I got a couple lucky ones, a couple tap-outs. So it was a little bit of both, I guess.”
On six players in double digits:
“It opens up so much for everybody. I think that, when Matt hits shots like he did, we get easy buckets inside and in transition and things flow really smoothly.”
On Damian Jones’ strong second half:
“He was dominant in the second half and that’s what we need from him. He’s our best player and, when he plays like that, we’re pretty tough to beat.”
On playing the last place team in the conference:
“They’re a pretty solid basketball team. They’ve been in almost every single one of those games. Coming into this game, we didn’t really look at their record. They’ve got some really good, talented players on their team, so we came into this game with the same energy and the same focuses as playing anybody else in this league.”
On a season best 10 made three pointers as a team:
“I think that had something to do with them doubling in the post on Damian. He did a really good job of kicking out, finding open guys. We had a lot of different guys hit open shots, so that was nice.”
Vanderbilt guard Matthew Fisher-Davis
On scoring early:
“They’ve been telling me to be more aggressive on the offensive end. The guys are making plays, and I was just making open shots. I’ve just got to give God the glory.”
On zero second half points:
“We won by like 25, so that’s really irrelevant to me.”
On Damian Jones being double-teamed from a guard’s perspective:
“I think we do [get excited], because Dame’s not a selfish player at all, especially down low. He’ll look to kick it out to you and, as long as we pass it around, we’ll always find an open shot.”
On starting hot vs. a 7-19 team in Mizzou:
“Yeah, that was definitely a key. That’s every game, we try to get off to a fast start. We were up eight at the half, so we wanted to push [the lead] out early and have it over early.”
Missouri Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement:
“Yeah, I thought the game started bad. You know, they were up seven to nothing. We continue to fight and we had it back to where it was manageable at six right before the half, and then they got a tip in. Second half, I felt like they (Vanderbilt) did a great job of getting loose balls, rebounding, and they got a lot of second chance shots. I think that was the difference in the game. I thought they played extremely hard. I didn’t think we, as a group, didn’t play very hard. I thought some guys did, some guys didn’t. So, I think obviously when you haven’t won games it’s hard. Guy’s confidence gets hurt a bit, but the only thing we can do is keep playing. Keep coming back and get ready to play on Tuesday. We have a chance to play at home against a good Florida team.”
On the rebounding disparity:
“Yeah, I thought we were pretty even in the first half. In the second half, I just thought they did a great job on the boards. Obviously, I haven’t seen the video, but I thought they were pretty crisp execution-wise. I thought they did a great job of getting shots. There were times that we were there, but there were also times where we were just a step slow. You know that’s something we fought a lot is trying to make sure that we are the aggressor, and we haven’t been. Until we do become that type of team, you know it’s always going to be hard to win on the road.”
On the 13-game losing streak:
“Well, it’s no fun. I mean, I know what your job is and your job is to say Missouri has lost thirteen in a row. I respect that. I still try to come out every day, and build with these younger guys. You know, at Arkansas you saw signs; flashes of the young guys playing really well. Today was a little different deal. It’s not an excuse. That’s just who younger players are. We’re trying to get better. Nobody’s more disappointed than me. I’ve said that, but nobody’s more excited than me to go to practice and try to work with these guys. You know, it’s hard. It’s hard when you lose thirteen games.”
On what makes Vanderbilt a tough matchup:
“I tell you what they got. They’ve got a lot of shooters. Kornet steps in there, believe me we knew he could shoot, but he’s just another weapon. You know, he’s a bigger guy that can really shoot the basketball. You knew (Matthew) Fisher-Davis could shoot, and I mean (Riley) LaChance didn’t shoot as great as he normally does, and (Wade) Baldwin. They execute well, and they got the big guy (Damian Jones). The big guy is good. You know, the first half we doubled him, and then in the second half we more or less we tried to guard him because we thought he did a pretty good job of getting the job swung around to other people. Then you know, he got some second-chance points. You know, he got a dunk off a lob late there in the second half of the game. He’s a good player. Certainly, a guy that didn’t let the first half affect him. He just came out and kept playing.”
Missouri guard Motaque Gill-Caesar
On if Vanderbilt did anything to cause all the turnovers:
“I don’t know. I mean, it wasn’t as if they were pressuring us or anything. I think we just made some stupid mental errors, and we made them early. That’s not something you want coming into a game. It’s just something that translated throughout the whole game. So, I think we made stupid errors that could have easily been fixed, and we just didn’t.”
On how the late tip before halftime affected momentum:
“It’s just one of those stupid mental errors that could have easily been fixed once again. We can’t keep using, `We’re young’, as an excuse because that was just a box out. You know what I mean? It’s a man wide open. You have to go and put your butt into him and move him out of the way, but I don’t know if we didn’t see him. I don’t know if we were just tired. I really don’t know what it was. It’s just another error like I said that could have been fixed.”
Missouri guard Keith Shamburger
On getting down early in a road game:
“I feel like it keeps happening over and over. We’ve got to figure out a way to start the game in a positive way. You know, we keep getting punched in the face first, and it’s affecting us. We have to start off better as a group. That’s as simple as it gets. We have to start off hungry. We are 7 and 20 and we are playing like we are 13 and 1 in conference. So, we just got to turn that around, and just play harder with it. We’ve got to play with balls and we’ve just got to play tougher.”
On the slow start to the second half:
“It’s like I said we just need to play harder. We start off and we get punched in the mouth again. We just keep getting knocked out, and we’ve got to recover and got to come back. When you get down that much it’s hard to come back, especially in this league. We’ve just got to start off better. We’ve got to play harder, way harder.”