Nov. 15, 2011
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Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“I’m really proud of our team given what we were up against and the fact that we were playing a really good team. We were also coming off a loss at home, and that adds to it. There is lots of added pressure when the team is as good as Bucknell is.”
On Vanderbilt’s Offense:
“We had a hard time making shots in the first half. The key to the game was the fact that Jeffrey Taylor was [effective] against Bryson Johnson. He’s a prolific three-point shooter. Jeff was able to limit him to three attempts… Rod [Odom] gave us a boost. Our whole bench played well tonight.”
On Vanderbilt’s 53 Second Half Points:
“We just tried to put them in bad positions when they were playing defense… They can have five guys well within the three-point line at any time. You don’t play against that very much. I commend my team for making adjustments. We knew we’d get shots; we just didn’t know if we’d make them.”
On John Jenkins’ Ankle:
“We expect him to play [on Saturday against NC State]. The trainers think he’ll be okay by Saturday.”
“John said he injured his ankle in the first half against Cleveland State. He said he did it with 12 minutes to go in the first half. It swelled, so we were… without him against a team that packs it in. We knew we’d have to make shots. There was lots of pressure on our guys to make shots.”
On Bucknell’s Bryson Johnson:
“He’s a great cutter. He’s a great shooter. We thought Jeff [Taylor’s] height would be significant. That’s a testament to Jeff.”
On Other Vanderbilt Injuries:
“Lance had 12 points and nine rebounds and had a 101-degree fever yesterday. He didn’t complain. He really left it out there for our team today. I’m so thrilled for him.”
Vanderbilt player quotes:
On finding out John wouldn’t be on the court tonight:
“We kind of had a clue about it yesterday, he hurt his foot a little bit during the Cleveland State game so we had a clue about it but we weren’t sure about it until right before the game…It was a game time decision.”
On playing defense against Bryson Johnson:“They ran a lot of screens for him, just come off the quick end, just catching shoot so I was just trying to trail him and stay on his steps and when he caught the ball I ran to him and made him throw the ball.”On emphasis in second half to attack the basket:
“Yeah shot a lot of shots at the beginning of the game. We usually make those shots but they just weren’t going in so Coach told us to kinda drive to the basket and throw it to the side.”
On bouncing back and going to New Jersey:“This was a huge game for us. Sunday we were all really disappointed and kind of ashamed of our loss. So we put an emphasis on this game to just play hard and let everything else take care of itself because we feel like we’re talented enough offensively that if we play hard, we’ll take care of most games. We just have to go out and compete every night.”
Kedren Johnson:
On shooting without Jenkins, Ezeli: Yeah we kind of talked about that earlier in the day, that we all just had to step up and try to help fill in because John’s out and that’s the majority of our scoring. So we all just had to step in and take care of his load.”
On different energy level in second half compared to Cleveland State game: “We had energy in the first half, we just weren’t making shots. We were getting good looks we just weren’t making shots. We were still playing good defense and we just carried that over to the second half and I thought we played pretty good.”
Bucknell Head Coach Dave Paulsen
Opening Statement:
“First thing, I have to give a lot of credit to Vanderbilt for bouncing back. They played really well after their game against Cleveland State. That will give them a boost and help them play even better when [John] Jenkins is back. They are more physical than we are and they out-toughed us… It’s disappointing for us.”
On Whether John Jenkins Being Out Impacted Bucknell’s Plan:
“I don’t know that it hurt us. I wasn’t exactly disheartened to hear they lost their cannon. He takes the lion’s share of their three-point attempts. [Vanderbilt] struggled shooting off the three early on, but the guys in new roles found their rhythm and stepped up.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense of Bryson Johnson:
“Bryson is a terrific three-point shooter. When playing at this level, he is giving up size, about a half a step. We have to create opportunities for him and Vanderbilt bottled us up… It certainly frustrated Bryson.”
On Whether This Experience Prepares Bucknell for Playing at Home:
“We will take the areas illuminated in our first two games, the problem areas, and address them. As long as we understand that the season is a marathon and not a sprint, we’ll be ok. We can’t replicate the pressure Vanderbilt put on us. We don’t have that kind of athleticism… We’ve highlighted our problems and now we will work to correct them.”
