Nov. 18, 2010
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
On overall performance…
“I’m proud of my team – that’s the first thing I can say – because on a day when we didn’t shoot the ball very well and I thought Nebraska played very hard, they played with great physicality- they really stuck to their game plan. I thought we were able to sort of survive until we got back on our game and started playing the way we like to play. But a lot of us being taken out of that had to do with them. We’re fortunate to win. They led that game for a long, long time and we’re fortunate to win. My hat is certainly off to them because I thought they played very hard, but I’m also very proud of my team because I thought we hung in there during those stretches when they had a three-point lead and had the ball. When you start getting two or three possessions behind, then that creates a little tension and anxiety and our guys were able to, for the most part, keep it to one possession. Our guys battled hard.”
On the play of John Jenkins and other individuals…
“John kind of did the job for us offensively, both him and Jeff Taylor, but I really thought Kyle Fuller – his defense when he came and extended the floor and gave u some defensive pressure – and Steve Tchiengang’s inside play, rebounding and he blocked a shot and hit that big three. I thought those two guys off the bench really impacted the game in the second half and down the stretch.”
Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler
On overall performance…
“Defensively, I thought both teams played pretty good. I was pleased with our defensive effort. Obviously you can’t get yourself in a situation to put teams at the free throw line as early as we did. For a team to make 13 free throws in the second half, that’s hard to overcome. I thought there were two really big three pointers, the one that (John) Jenkins hit at the top of the key and then the one that (Steve) Tchiengang hit on the left wing, that kind of gave them some space to where could play a little more comfortable and they weren’t the team playing catch up. Offensively, I was disappointed in our execution but I think a lot of that has to d o with the way they played. They did a nice job of getting into the basketball and pressuring our guards.”
On why Nebraska let the game get away from them down the stretch…
“Well we had a defensive breakdown on that. Instead of just letting the big guys shoot the basketball, he broke us down on penetration and they made two extra passes and we lost Jenkins and then he made the three, and again that was the big play…Maybe I should have done something different defensively to keep them from getting to the free throw line.”
Nebraska Forward Brandon Ubel
On what happened to Nebraska down the stretch…
“It’s like Coach said, they kept penetrating and drawing fouls and that’s probably what we should have been doing…They got some easy points at the free throw line, and we weren’t getting fouls, we weren’t getting easy looks and that was pretty much the difference in the game.”
