Nov. 3, 2010
Vanderbilt vs Alabama Huntsville
November 3, 2010
Memorial Gymnasium
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“I think it was just what we hoped to get in an exhibition game – a team that’s well coached and stuck with their plan. It was tough to play right out of the chute because they have long possessions and have the ball for long periods of time.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense:
“I thought our defense was pretty good. For the most part, we defended pretty well.”
On Vanderbilt Center Festus Ezeli:
“I thought Festus, especially in the second half, played the way he has played in practice… I was disappointed that he didn’t make his first free throw he shot. He did a good job of making them after that.”
On Conclusions to be Drawn from the Exhibition Game:
“I don’t think you can draw any conclusions. There is progress that needs to be made, but we know that. There’s no part of our game that’s game ready. The effort was there and the focus was there on the defensive end. These guys care a lot and it’s obvious every day.”
On the Rotation Between Festus Ezeli and Steve Tchiengang:
“It’s a 1A and 1B thing. Steve played really well early and then got a hip flexor in practice. Then, Festus played pretty well. We’re going to need both of these guys.”
On Vanderbilt Forward Darshawn McClellan:
“He came to me during the week and wants to be red shirted, so he’s going to red shirt and, as I told him, he’s has to coach on the bench and help us.”
Vanderbilt Players
Guard John Jenkins
On the game:
“Overall I believe we played good defence, offense was kind of suspect and all over the place because we were all nervous, but we have to get it out of the way and I think we got a good win.”
On the slow pace of play
“We definitely aren’t used to that. In practice we’re used to running up and down, but it’s good for us to go through that because teams are going to do that in our league, so it’s good to practice it.”
On his bigger scoring role this year
“I’ve definitely been called upon to do more of the scoring this year. I’m going to take on that role and so I’ve been practicing and being aggressive in practice and carried that on to the game tonight.”
Center Festus Ezeli
On his improvement in the second half
“It’s just like he said it was jitters. You could tell that first five minutes we came out there we couldn’t score it was like hot potato everybody was throwing it around that’s what it was, but I just got a little comfortable and played like I play everyday in practice.”
On the 13-0 run in the second half
“I think it was a good call Coach made. We went a zone press and we played it and it worked for us.”
On the transition to a bigger scoring role
“I just try to do whatever my team needs. If on a night they need me to score I can score at the post. I try to be a defensive presence a lot of the time and with John here I don’t need to score too much, but I just do what they need.”
