Dec. 21, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photos 
| Dubois’ Photos
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“It was an entertaining game from our standpoint. I thought the key to the game was the last seven minutes of the first half. We were down 29-15 and got ourselves back into the game. Our defense kicked in. I wasn’t disappointed with how we were playing as much as I was impressed with how [Georgia Tech] was playing. They were moving the ball well and were fast in their offense. Our guys were working and trying to execute our game plan. In the under-four-minute time out, we were down 12 and I told our team to try to get it to eight or 10 at halftime and we got it to two.”
“I am very impressed with our team… I thought we came back with purpose.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense:
“Shelby Moats was a big factor in the game: his energy, his toughness, and his defense. [Georgia Tech] literally threw the ball at me. That wasn’t our defense. That was them doing what our team had been doing. The key for us was 17 assists and nine turnovers… That allows us to run our offense. We got good point guard play today, so that gave us a chance to win.”
On Vanderbilt Guard Dai-Jon Parker:
“Dai-Jon is one of the most conditioned athletes we have. It’s nice to look up and see that he took 10 shots. I talked to him and told him I felt like we were playing four-on-five at times because he wasn’t contributing that much on offense. He played well for us today.”
On Vanderbilt’s Screens:
“There might have been one or two things we were trying to exploit. Certain people react to things in certain ways. On [Georgia Tech’s] out-of-bounds defense, they put their big guy on the ball and we wanted to switch and take away things… [Georgia Tech] does a good job of cutting the court in half. The reality is to beat that, you have to skip the ball, and we were able to do that a few times.”
On Vanderbilt’s Momentum:
“They made Christmas a lot happier for me. I told them the only thing I wanted for Christmas was for us to play well. I think they’re happy with how things went, and they should be. They played well against a good team.”
Senior Forward Rod Odom
Onwhether or not they were frustrated defensively early because Georgia Tech was hitting a lot of shots early on:
“It is frustrating especially when you feel like you are playing hard and feel like you are doing all you can do, but inbasketball you go on runs where guys are going to get hot and guys are going to hit shots. Coach Rich always tells us to prepare ourselves emotionally and part ofthat ispreparing yourself for runs that are going to occur.”
Onthe difference in the team’s performance in the games this week
“When we play like we played against Austin Peay, there’s going to be some questions. People are going to look at it and have questions about turnovers and a lack of discipline, but those are all things that can be corrected, and I think that we showed improvement tonight. We showed that we can correct those areas and be a really good team.
Senior Guard Kyle Fuller
On what changed between the first 15 minutes and the last 25 minutes of the game as far as Vanderbilt getting the looks that they needed:
“Coach brought us together and said that we needed to cut the lead down to seven. We needed to start locking in and buying in. Everybody started helping, talking and defending, and then all of a sudden our offense started clicking. If you play defense, then the offense will come, and that’s basically what happened for us. Everybody wanted to win so badly and everybody stepped it up and executed.”
On what he is is trying to do when he comes in off the bench like he did today:
“I know that I need to go in there, and I need to produce. I try to do whatever my team needs me to do, or whatever coach tells me to do.”
Onfeeling more comfortable at the point:
“I do feel more comfortable. I feel smarter and more experienced. I had a talk with coach after practice yesterday which really helped me.We talked about how I need to grow up as a player, and he wasgiving me constructive criticism. He was basicallybeing like a father figure to me because I don’t have that, and I told him thank you after the game because it really helped.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Brian Gregory
Opening Statement:
“Give Vanderbilt a ton of credit. Both teams were in similar situations, they were able to hold on and rally the troops at the end of the first half. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do the same.”
“I thought we played well in the first half. We found open looks and passed the ball well and then I though we played really good defense in the first half.”
“They lean heavily on their go-to guys. Odom played exceptionally well. Siakam played well in the first half. Parker and Fuller combined for a pretty good stat line, they scored 25 points and had nine assists, which is what you need.”
On struggles of Georges-Hunt and Carter Jr.:
“Unfortunately it looked like they were both a little step slow. It is going to be difficult for us to be successful against any team of good quality when those guys go 3-of-15 and combined for nine rebounds. I know they are sophomores, but that is just a fact.”
On Daniel Miller:
“Daniel is playing at an All-ACC level right now, he has all year long. We need to get some other guys playing more consistent around him.”
On Vanderbilt’s run at the end of the first:
“Turnovers led to transition baskets. It’s difficult to defend on open court turnovers. We had some good looks at the basket but we didn’t finish our possessions.”
