Feb. 3, 2010
Vanderbilt 75, Mississippi State 72
February 3, 2010
Memorial Gym, Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“That was a little bit interesting at the end. We played well defensively throughout the game. I thought in the second half we gave up a ton of extra shots. In the first half, we did a good job of [controlling that]. Our end of game execution was poor. We made a number of bad decisions. We beat a good basketball team and we’re excited to have won the game. The way [Mississippi State] makes threes, they’re never really out of it.”
On the Game’s Final Possession:
“We were supposed to foul, but we didn’t. It’s one of about 11 things that we didn’t do right. For a team that works on end of game situations every day, it was not a well-coached final possession.”
On Vanderbilt Losing its Second Half Lead:
“We got tentative with the ball, were careless with the ball, and turned it over. We had no flow on offense at the end of the game. With about two or three minutes to go, I told them that we have to play to win. That’s one of the things that’s key about the end of the game, to be aggressive. We were not aggressive and were aggressive at times we shouldn’t have been.”
On A.J. Ogilvy:
“Jarvis [Varnado] got his blocks, but A.J. got his shots. He got to the foul line and got free throws. Jarvis is a tough guy to play against. A.J. was more aggressive tonight and I thought he would be. He was disappointed with his play on Saturday.”
On Vanderbilt’s Bench Play:
“John Jenkins gave us some buckets and hit key free throws at the end of the game, but it wasn’t one of our bench’s best nights. It was good enough to win, but we need better play from some of those guys.”
Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy
On coming back from loss at Kentucky:
“I wanted to come out and be aggressive. I wanted to make amends for how we played Saturday. I wanted to go at their defense and make good shots.”
Vanderbilt guard Jermaine Beal
On MSU’s comeback:
“We had some dumb plays down the stretch. They made a lot of good shots at the end. We have a lot of improvement we can work on.”
On getting the win:
“A win is a win. Ugly or pretty, it’s a win. We’ll all take it.”
On leading team in scoring for third consecutive game:
“My teammates are looking for me. I’m making shots right now and my hand is hot. Hopefully we can keep winning and having everyone contribute.”
Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins
On going inside in the closing seconds of the game:
“I made a freshman mistake. It won’t happen again. I was confident I was going to make the free throws though.”
On keeping MSU to 26.5% from three-point range:
“Coach was telling us that tonight was going to be the night we had to guard a three-point shooting team and I think we did that. They’re a good shooting team and we were able to shut them down on the perimeter.”
Mississippi State Head Coach Rick Stansbury
Opening Statement:
“It’s never easy when you come into here. There’s no question this is one of the better Vanderbilt basketball teams that I’ve seen here in a long time. They’ve demonstrated that already going on the road and getting three wins. Everyone understands in this building how tough it is. (Head Coach) Kevin (Stallings) is doing a great job with his team. They’ll be hard to beat, particularly in here. They’ll be hard to beat for anybody. I’m proud of our kid’s effort. As a coach, we don’t ever ask our kids to play perfect, that’s unreasonable. We don’t ask them to make every shot. As a coach, you ask them to make sure you leave everything between those lines. That’s the mindset you have to have, particularly to win on the road. For the most part, we didn’t shoot it very well, 26% from the 3-point line, nine for 34. The one thing we did, we fought hard defensively. Vanderbilt is averaging 81 points. Four of those were on the road. When it comes down to one play on the road, winning or losing, as a coach, you’ll take it.”
On Jarvis Varnado:
“In that second half, we knew A.J. Ogilvy would come at him, and he did come at him. Jarvis influenced the game tremendously in the second half in the paint. He had seven blocks in the second half.”
Mississippi State player Barry Stewart
On last four minutes of game:
“We were determined to finish the game with a purpose. We weren’t going to end the game on a losing effort and played with a lot of effort.”
On loss of game:
“Its disappointing because we were down a few points but gained momentum towards the end and could have won the contest.”
On defensive game plan at end of game:
“We started to trap them when they were entering the ball from out of bounds. This allowed us to get some turnovers and get back in the game.”
