Dec. 10, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Gallery 
Vanderbilt 78 – Alabama A&M 55
December 10, 2008 – Memorial Gym
Attendance: 12,662
Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening Comments:
“I felt we played better. In the second half, I didn’t feel like we defended on the boards as well as I wanted us to, but still thought we gave a very good effort. We played with better purpose on offense. When we get to the foul line a lot, we’re going to get free throws.”
On the Performance of Jermaine Beal at the end of the First Half:
“It separated the game for us. We got away from them at that point. He created a spark and got a couple of steals. It was a key stretch in the game.”
On Getting a Win After Back to Back Losses:
“It was critical for us at this point in the season. We’ve already got ourselves behind the eight ball and it was an important game for us. I thought our guys approached it as an important game.”
On Jeffery Taylor’s Game:
“He has the ability to play above the rim. He’s a key ingredient to our team. He gives us a different dimension that way. He has a bright future and is a great player. He’s only going to get better and better.”
On Vanderbilt’s Offense:
“We did a good job of executing offensively at the beginning of the game. This got them out of position and gave us quality looks at the basket. We had them on their heels. We didn’t do a good job in the second half from three, but they did a better job in the second half in keeping us out of rhythm.”
On Challenges Stallings Faces Coaching this Team:
“My challenge is to stay patient. Things drive me crazy that I think I should understand and I’m not very patient. My challenge is to stay patient until guys learn.”
Vanderbilt Players
Jeffery Taylor, guard/forward
On the win:
“I think this is going to be great for our confidence. We had a great shooting night and I hope this confidence will carry over into our next games.”
On finding shooting opportunities:
“I think my teammates are really good at finding me when I cut. I feed off of my teammates and hopefully my teammates feed off of me. I take every shooting opportunity I can.”
On building confidence early:
“I think we came out and played defense and I think that’s what created buckets for us. A lot of shots went in.”
On being a young team:
“Since we’re young, we’re going to make some mistakes. Coach has been very patient with us.”
Jermaine Beal, guard
On his run in the last 3 minutes:
“I was timing it the whole half. The guy that was guarding me got it some times, and sometimes I made it. I just made some plays for us, I guess. It felt good. We were all out there having fun, running around playing defense.”
On the importance of the lead before halftime:
“It was very important. The game was pretty close, but we went into halftime with a 15-point lead.”
On the importance of halting the losing streak:
“We haven’t lost two in a row since 1920. We’re going to have up and downs this year. Hopefully we’ll have more ups than downs. We have a young team, so it’s better to have gotten our bumps and bruises over now than (have the downs) come later on in the year.”
