Jan. 26, 2009
Audio: Listen to the entire teleconference at SECsports.com
Vanderbilt basketball head coach Kevin Stallings and South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn fielded questions about their head-to-head matchup on Wednesday with the national media during Monday’s SEC Teleconference. Find out what each coach had to say about the matchup.
Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening statement about upcoming game with South Carolina:
Obviously, we’re coming off a tough week with the two home losses to Tennessee and Florida. So, we have to regroup quickly and get our mindsets in a position to where we can go and play more effectively and have a chance to win. Going on the road may actually be a good thing for our team, so we’ll see how that goes.
South Carolina seems to be playing extremely well and very confidently. Like every other opponent in our league, you get no free nights. Nothing comes easily in this league.
We have some things that we need to do better and we need to fix, and hopefully we can get that done before Wednesday.
How do you go about fixing the confidence your team has lost?
I think that we have to continue to try to be positive with them to help them learn. I think it can come from them holding each other more accountable. But, I think the biggest way that confidence comes is by knowing what to expect and seeing success. We just don’t have anybody playing at a level right now that is giving confidence to the other players.
Generally speaking, when things are going decently you have one or two guys who you can garner your confidence from if you’re another player. You have confidence in yourself, but you know this guy is going to do his part, or he’s going to do well, or he’s going to create opportunities for the rest of us. We just don’t have any of that going on right now.
Talk about what South Carolina’s head coach has been able to do with that program thus far.
I thought going into this season South Carolina had a chance to be very good, because they had all of their guys back. They have good guard play, and guys who are very good defenders and guys who are very good rebounders. So, they have experience; and they have athleticism, and they have some guys who can shoot. They have all of the elements, and he’s done a nice job of getting them to play together and play the way he wants them to play. He inherited a talented group of players in my opinion.
Do you need to improve your team’s defense, and if so, why has it slipped in SEC play?
Defense would rank right up there (with areas that need improvement) with offense. We got knocked on our heels a little bit, and I’m not sure that we’ve responded the way we need to. We did a very poor job yesterday in transition defense – getting back and getting picked up. That obviously has to be an issue.
There’s not one thing that is a solution to our issues right now. It’s kind of collective, but we’re just going to keep going at it until we get right.
A.J. Ogilvy didn’t get a lot of playing time against Florida. What does he need to do to get more playing time?
A.J. had been in the student hospital a couple days prior to the game and is still sick. He wasn’t playing effectively, and there was no sense in leaving him out there because he was only getting worse as time went on. So, I chose not to play him, and I feel badly for him. He tried. He wasn’t feeling well.
From an overall standpoint, we need for him to play like a first-team, all conference player. That’s what we need, and he needs to do that on the offensive end. He needs to do that on the backboards. He needs to do it defensively. That’s one of the things that certainly needs to happen in order for us to become a better team.
Can you elaborate on how going on the road could be a good thing for your team?
I think that there are times when playing at home produces more pressure than playing on the road. We certainly feel like we let ourselves down this week, let our fans down. Maybe just that environment where it’s you against everyone else, maybe that’s healthier for our group right now.
I’m not saying that’s an answer. I’m just saying maybe that’s where we’re better off right now. We might as well think that way because we’re going on the road anyway.
What was Ogilvy sick with?
I think he had an upper respiratory virus. Hopefully, he gets through that quickly.
Darrin Horn, South Carolina Head Coach
Opening statement about upcoming game with Vanderbilt:
I think Vanderbilt is a team that is much better than their league record would indicate without question. It’s probably the most athletic Vanderbilt team as a whole that I’ve had the opportunity to see in recent years – a very capable team, and has been outstanding defensively on the whole. I think you can throw yesterday’s game out. That appeared to be one of those games, and Florida shot the ball extremely.
There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll come in be ready to compete for our game.
It was thought that you going into a situation at South Carolina with a team with that talent level was an unusual situation. How has that played out for you?
That question has come up a lot. I think any time that’s the situation it’s kind of good news/bad news. The good news is we did have some talent and some quality talent at some spots. The bad news is that same talent had not found a way to win. So, we came into it with the mindset that we were going to try lay the foundation and build our system in our program the same way we would regardless of talent level. I think to our players credit they have really responded well and shown great work ethic, and come every day with a good attitude, and found a way to utilize the talent they do have and found a way to win some basketball games.
How much of what you are doing now mirrors what you did in your previous position?
I think in terms of program things are very similar. The mindset at Western was we wanted to come in and build a program that could last and sustain through the way we did things. That’s the same mindset and approach we’ve taken here. When you have a Devan Downey and Dominique Archie and some of those guys, the results show up a little quicker on the court.
In terms of approach, it’s been a whole program approach from academics and everything else from the get-go. I think it’s important to do it that way. That’s what I was taught, and for us I think that’s what works best.
What has been your method for winning
Being lucky sometimes. I think anybody who saw the play against Florida… I’ve never seen a play like that end on a layup. I’ve seen that a bunch… a team in our situation win, but not on a wide open layup.
I think some of it’s luck, but at the same time I think it’s putting yourself in position to at least have the opportunity to do that. That’s come from, we hope, a lot of hard work and from our guys continuing to grind it out. There aren’t a lot of shortcuts or easy answers, especially when you’re in a league like this. I think our guys are starting to believe in the work ethic that they’ve developed and put in, and hopefully it can continue to put us in situations where we have at least have opportunities to win games.
How does having more experienced players on your team work for you?
I think it helps in terms of the grind. I mentioned our guys don’t have experience winning in the league. In fact, they were shocked to find out that winning two in a row in league play didn’t happen last year for us. So, I think there’s a learning curve for all of us, but the one thing I think with experienced players, whether they’ve won or not, they’ve at least been through the grind of it and know that every night out takes a level of consistency in that every game is going to be tough in league play, regardless at home on the road or who your opponent is.
