March 5, 2011
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Vanderbilt-Florida Quotes
#14 Florida 86 at #21 Vanderbilt 76
March 5, Memorial Gym
Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Statement
“We got beat by a better team today. They played better in every facet than we did and that’s disappointing. They have gotten a lot better offensively since the first time we played. Give them credit, they went at us better than we went at them.
“Offensively, I think we were okay, but we couldn’t string together enough stops, and the rebounding effort was poor. That was the difference in the game.”
Talk about this Florida squad compared to their national championship teams:
“They are tough, they play together, they are well-coached, but I don’t know if they have four or five NBA guys like those teams.”
Talk about Florida’s 35-22 advantage in rebounding:
“We didn’t have five (guys) rebounding to go against their five. It seemed like they had seven guys (on the boards) and we had three, or maybe three. Might have been two and a half.”
Talk about Florida’s ability to key plays that go against them on the road:
“That’s why they are the league champions. They understand how to deal with that. Big deal, a guy dunks for two points. Some teams let that affect them and some don’t. (Florida) plays with poise under pressure. That’s why they deserve to be the league champion.”
How important was the charge on John Jenkins (which negated key basket in second half):
“That was a turning point, certainly. For the life of me, I don’t think it was the very good call, but I’ll watch (the tape). It was a big momentum play, but that is not to say I think we would have won the game. We were outplayed really for the final 30 minutes of the game, give or take five or six minutes.”
Talk about your team entering the SEC Tourney:
‘We just had a tough week, played two of the best teams in the league; one hasn’t been beaten at home, the other is the league champion. The sky’s not going to fall in on us because we lost two games this week. We just have to find a way to defend better. But our team is not one without weaknesses. We have some weaknesses and they were exploited today. You play 16 games and people learn (your weaknesses). Tonight, Florida did a better job of exposing our weaknesses than we did of exposing theirs.”
Talk about Florida’s rebounding advantage
“I have more to say about it in the coming days of practice, but if we stand there and let them get 15 offensive rebounds and we only get three, we’re not going to win. We’ve been down this street before. We can go on the road and get 23 offensive rebounds one night; then we only get three here at home. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan
Opening Statement:
“Coming in here, it’s a difficult place to play and [Vanderbilt] always shoots the ball well. They established [Festus] Ezeli early in the game but after that, we had a nice run to close the first half. I knew the first 4-minutes of the second half would be important with them down by eight at home and we were able to extend the lead…I am happy for our guys. This could have been a game where we came in satisfied that we at least clinched a share [of the SEC title] in Gainesville. But we played and got the most number of road wins in school history, and tied for the most number of [regular season] SEC wins at 13, and the outright conference title.”
On the Impact of Alabama Winning Their Game Earlier Today:
“I talked to the team on Thursday before practice. I told them not to get emotionally involved in that game. We got where we are today because of what we’ve done and we needed to focus on ourselves.”
On Vanderbilt Players:
“[Jeffery] Taylor is a great, great defender. Whoever he was on, he tried to be the recipient of someone making extra passes. I love [John] Jenkins as a player. I told Kevin Stallings during shoot around that he reminded me of Stephen Curry [NBA Player]. Jenkins got 22-points and it wasn’t an explosive night for him. Jenkins is a phenomenal shooter. Taylor works so hard on defense and Stallings is smart to move him to different players. We had to force Jenkins to work defensively and force him to guard. He worked hard, but Boynton was able to get free for us. Also, when [Lance] Goulbourne and [Rod] Odom are in the game, they are so good on their feet they can switch out plays.”
On Not Having a Basket Cutting Ceremony:
“The way it worked out, it was hard. I am proud of out guys and we have time to regroup. We are off tomorrow and don’t play till Friday. I hope my players enjoy today and some tomorrow. On [last] Tuesday, we were unable to win [the SEC title] outright. Today we did, but I wasn’t going to ask Kevin Stallings for that.”
Vanderbilt Players
Center Festus Ezeli
On his strong start…
“In the first half I was able to make moves and get good position for the first six minutes. They realized that I had an advantage so they adjusted and had a guy on the help side to get me.”
On Florida’s improvement since the previous game…
“It’s a confidence thing for them too. They’ve been winning and doing well as a team. If you keep winning your confidence goes up and it is hard to stop.”
On the difference in offensive rebounds
“They wanted it more and fought for the boards more. I could have done better myself seeing that I only had four rebounds.”
Guard John Jenkins
On if the play that resulted in a technical foul was the turning point…
“It was definitely the turning point.”
On being a tough week…
“We knew when we saw the schedule that it would be a tough stretch, not just these past two games.”
Forward Jeffery Taylor
On if they had the answers to stopping the offense…
“Yeah. They were trying to find matchups that were good for them and we couldn’t get any stops.”
On Florida responding to Brad Tinsley’s dunk to give Vanderbilt a seven-point lead…
“We just relaxed at that point and they started fighting back and we could not come up with an answer. After that, they had the lead, eight to ten points for the rest of the game.”
Florida Player Quotes
Forwards Chandler Parsons
“On ending the season with a big win: There is no better way. Our guys played hard and worked hard. Our chemistry is what separates us from everyone else.”
On today’s win:
“It was a great balance with everyone playing unselfishly. Everyone continues to work hard. Our bench was terrific and we did a great job of not letting [Vanderbilt] get the lead back. We know [John] Jenkins, [Brad] Tinsley, and [Jeffery] Taylor are all capable of going off at any second and we defended them.”
Guard Erving Walker
On clinching the SEC title:
“It was special before. Either way, it was a great game. We put in the work and we deserve it.”
On going into the SEC tournament with a big win:
“We can’t dwell on that. We have to keep going and keep working hard. There are a lot of great teams in the SEC and they will be working to prepare for the tournament.”
