Dec. 16, 2008
Vanderbilt 71 – South Florida 52
December 16, 2008 – Sommet Center (Nashville)
Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening statement:
“Albeit it was extremely ugly, I thought our guys played really hard and I liked the effort we put forth on the backboards. I thought we rebounded well, limited them to one shot and did a good job in our half-court defense. A big key for us was not allowing them to get the ball and get transition baskets. (South Florida) didn’t show it tonight, but they are very explosive in transition. We did a great job of getting back, setting our defense and forcing them to play against a set defense for most of the night. I didn’t like how we took care of the ball, but we are going to have to live with some of that. I thought Jermaine (Beal) and A.J. (Ogilvy) were exceptional. When those guys play like that, we will have a chance in most games.”
On the play of A.J. Ogilvy:
“I thought his effort was better. It was the best by far this year. He rebounded out of his area a couple of times, which is not a customary thing for him. He rebounded in a crowd where bodies were flying. That is what we need from him. We need him to exert his physicality there and be a leader in that area for us.”
On getting Ogilvy more involved:
“A.J. (Ogilvy) is going to have to score in a lot of different ways. He has gotten off to a slow start in terms of making his foul shots. I think he shot almost 80 percent last year and he is down in the low and mid 70s this year. He needs to get some offensive rebounds. We need to, believe it or not, get him in position to hit some jump shots. We just have to move him around. We can’t just stick him down on the block because it is too easy to find him. I thought he was very active tonight and I think our guys did a good job, especially in the second half, of trying to find him.”
On Darshawn McClellan giving the team a spark:
“I thought he did in the first half especially. This was one of Darshwan’s better games. Darshawn was very effective for us tonight. He made a couple of jumpers, which is something he’s been doing in practice. That is going to help A.J. (Ogilvy). The more jump shots we make, the more it helps our inside game.”
On the offense flowing better in the second half:
“I think our guys were lax and I thought they were uptight. Offensively, they were very nervous. You’d like to think in the 10th game of the year they wouldn’t be nervous, but when you trot out there with three freshmen and a sophomore starting the game, you just never know. You come down here and play in a nationally televised game and the young guys are just going to get nervous. I know one thing, I won’t have any hair by the time these guys get to where we need them.”
Vanderbilt Players
A.J. Ogilvy, center
On having point flexibility:
“It’s immensely important. For other guys to come up and make some shots draws the attention (away) from me and stops the team from double teaming as much.”
On increased number of rebounds:
“It was definitely a conscious effort. I came out with an aggressive mindset and got after some rebounds. I haven’t been doing as good of a job in the past few games as I should have, so I just came out and did my best.”
On the importance of the win:
“It was important for us to get a win tonight. We’ve had a week of hard practice, with exams and such. It was great for the young guys to come out to do well on national television and pull out the win.”
Jermaine Beal, guard
On team confidence:
“This (game) was a lot of the young guys’ first time playing on national TV. I think after we started out well, we came down and played more comfortably and more relaxed.”
On making plays:
“AJ was keeping it down low. Sometimes I found the ball and was wide open, so I stepped up and made some shots for us. My whole role is to run the show and that’s what I did tonight.”
Stan Heath, South Florida Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“I thought we played a pretty good first half. We missed a few shots here and there. Being able to play for forty minutes has become a problem for our team. We have a lot of young guys, new guys. (Vanderbilt was) able to keep a good rhythm offensively and took good shots. Give them a lot of credit. They took advantage of some key areas. I thought once Mobolaji Ajayi picked up those fouls and came out of the game, A.J. Ogilvy became a much more difficult player to defend. I thought Jermaine Beal had a terrific game, just handling some pressure and making shots.”
On South Florida’s play:
“I didn’t know what to expect out of my team. We haven’t been playing great lately. We struggled in our last game. I think confidence-wise we’re still trying to find our way. We’ve got some new guys. Getting our chemistry is key. I’ve been more focused on us because I think there are a lot of things we can fix to be better. I knew Vanderbilt would be well prepared. They’re well coached. They’re a solid basketball team. I knew our guys would really have to carry a big load for us today. I didn’t think we had all of our weapons maybe working for us tonight.”
On the tempo of the game:
“We never could establish ourselves rebounding tonight. That was a big key when we couldn’t rebound. They really dominated the glass on us. We didn’t get much in transition. They took that away from us.”
On the SEC/Big East Challenge:
“I think the exposure of TV helps the team. I think it should be a reciprocal event. I think we should play the same game in an area where we are from. Make it more of a home-home like the ACC and the Big Ten do… make it more equal.”
