Feb. 23, 2016
Recap | Box Score | USATSI Photos 
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
On the team’s performance overall…
“They played really well. And this how we practiced. We didn’t do much Sunday after the hard-fought game with Georgia, we brought them out and we did a little shootaround, and that was it. Our only day of practice preparation was yesterday and they were very sharp; they were very attentive and I told them today, “If you just play like you practiced yesterday, we’ll be in good shape. And they did. Damian (Jones) was obviously spectacular, Jeff Roberson was spectacular.”
On Vanderbilt’s aggression…
“We had a couple of lucky plays and balls that went in, but we always tell our team that when you’re the aggressor it’s amazing how many of the times those balls go in. They go in for you as opposed to going in against you when you establish yourself. When you’re on the retreat, you’re backpedaling, or you’re letting the other team be more aggressive than you, they always make shots. But, fortunately, tonight we were the aggressors and we had a couple balls go in.”
On maintaining their lead…
“At the end when they got us into the bonus, it was smart of Mike White; he’s a great coach, and it was a smart move. (Florida) just played like, ‘we’re going to drive you and dare you to foul us,’ but they cut it down and the good news about it is we’ve been in this situation a number of times, where they’ve cut it down to four. Then, like we did against Georgia, we made the plays we needed to make and extended our lead back out.”
Vanderbilt Junior Center Damian Jones
On fouls playing a big role in the first half…
“Coach was saying, ‘stay out of foul trouble,’ but it happened. (We’ve) just got to stay mentally tough, play the press close, don’t let it get to your mind, just keep playing the same way.”
On Florida changing their offense during the second half…
“They had everybody spreading out so they could get some ball screens. It was working for them pretty well. It was pretty hard to guard, but we just ended up playing well at the end.”
On how he felt going 12 of 13 from the field…
“I just had the mentality (of) just help(ing) my team win. Twelve of 13 is pretty good, so I’ll take it.”
Florida Head Coach Mike White
Opening Statement…
“Vanderbilt is very good offensively, and tonight they were unbelievable. We made mistakes. It wasn’t our best defensive effort, and we needed it to be. When the opposing team’s center goes 12 (for) 13 from the field, it usually doesn’t result in a win for you. We made a couple of bone-headed decisions. We missed four or five box outs, yet we get over-the-back calls that our guys complain about because they were real box outs. They were just better than us. Vanderbilt was terrific tonight. It was a game with a small margin for error, defensively and offensively. We were in a decent rhythm, for us, and unfortunately we had to be really good defensively against a team that’s that capable offensively. We were just average defensively.”
On the team’s shooting…
“With us, sometimes when we are keying in on something we aren’t at our best. The two guys we counted on (for) scoring the most had rough nights. Vanderbilt’s defense had a lot to do with it. I thought we got pretty good looks. I thought we got up to the rim a couple of times in the second half, but we didn’t finish against their length. It is difficult to finish with two 7-footers out there who do as good a job as they do.”
On the overall game…
“I wanted to stay aggressive. I think Vanderbilt’s defense is second or third in the country. When they get set in the half court, they are as good as most teams in the country. When we play(ed) with aggression and an attack mentality, I thought we were at our best tonight.”
Florida Junior Forward Justin Leon
On what the team can take from this game…
“Playing harder, starting off stronger, and not having a lot of lapses.”
On if Vanderbilt’s size bothered them…
“Certain aspects. Obviously, they have two or three 7-footers. It is kind of tough guarding in the paint. Other than that we probably would have overcome (it), if we played a little tougher.”
On Vanderbilt’s halftime half-court shot and other three shot…
“On that stretch when we just played great defense on both of them and you see something like that go in, it’s just one of those games. It’s hard.”
Florida Sophomore Forward Devin Robinson
On struggling to get back into the offensive flow in the second half…
“We tried to section out a couple people to go at. It was going for us, and then they started picking up what we were doing and it just stopped working. We stopped hitting shots and then we wanted to draw again. Then they finished the game.”
On the upcoming games…
“We just have to take this one to chest. We dropped two games already. So we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and just come out at LSU ready to play. Come out hard from the jump, and we didn’t do that tonight.”