Dec. 21, 2010
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On the defense…
“The offense almost dictated the defense tonight. Jence [Rhoads] and Jas [Jasmine Lister] attacked and kept attacking so it made defense a lot easier. We [played well] on defense by taking away the three. We made some adjustments – went zone because their first 17 points came in the paint. When we went zone, we still did a good job of taking away the three which we hadn’t been able to do all year. We just hadn’t been playing it well. The fact that Jence [Rhoads] attacked and Jas [Jasmine Lister] attacked for 40 minutes and wore them down made defense easier. They didn’t have their legs so they were missing shots because they were tired. In the first half we only had one foul on them going into the last minute and we talked about that. They were the aggressive team and the aggressive team always wins. In the second half we had the double bonus and we shot 24-for-28 from the free throw line. That’s making an adjustment and being the aggressor.”
On being frustrated with the tempo of the first half…
“I wasn’t frustrated, but to be honest with you, we hadn’t played a team like this. That’s what pre-season is for. They had the athleticism, the defense, the pressure that we face in the SEC and we had not played a team like this. We’ve been playing a lot of small teams, three-point shooting teams, packing in, playing personnel and a lot of zone. They came out and it took us a while to adjust to it. We did not do well on offense because we hadn’t seen that in a long time.”
Vanderbilt Senior Guard Jence Rhoads
On if this was her best game of the year…
“I think so. I felt better this and was more confident in this game. I’m healed.”
On if her injury is healed…
“I think so. It’s the healthiest it has been since the exhibition games. I’ve been feeling pretty good in practice and was hoping that I would be ready to play in this game.”
On if the team is playing on the same page now…
“I think so. We are headed in the right direction and we finally look like Vanderbilt basketball. We are starting to click on offense and our defense is starting to work better. We have a long way to go obviously, but I think we are moving in the right direction.”
