Jan. 17, 2007
Alabama at Vanderbilt
Memorial Gymnasium
January 17, 2007
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
“I thought we played pretty well. Everything looks much better when the ball goes in the basket. We competed well tonight. We were careless in our turnovers in the second half against their zone. When you make that many 3-point baskets, a lot of things have to go wrong for you not to win. We had great play from our bench. I thought George Drake played really well in the first half and Ted Skuchas played really well in the second. I guess Alabama doesn’t like playing here and I was pleased in our team’s effort. We were definitely significantly better than on Saturday versus Georgia.”
On the Mentality Heading into the Second Half:
“We had a 17-point halftime lead. Was I expecting us to outscore them by 17 in the second half? Not really. We were hoping to come out and play the half like the score was tied. Alex Gordon got off two good shots to start us off. I thought his defense on [Ronald] Steele was terrific. He was able to keep him in front of him.”
On Vanderbilt’s Contrasting Road and Home Performances:
“Last year, we won on the road and couldn’t win here. I have no explanation other than everyone is finding it tough to play on the road. Our league is unlike any other league in that, in other leagues, you can look at the schedule and say we’ll beat this team twice. [Everyone] in our league is capable of competing well. There are no bad teams and that makes for a difficult league.”
On Alabama’s Second Half Run:
“I felt like if we would win the game if we could grab a rebound. We got them to miss, but couldn’t rebound and they were getting second and third shots. We put Ted [Skuchas] in the game at that point. He cleared out some space and we did a better job of getting rebounds.”
Vanderbilt Forward Shan Foster
On Vanderbilt’s Road Play:
“We just haven’t been able to lock down defensively. Tonight, we came together and made a statement that we were going to come out and play [tough defense.] The faster we can decide to do that every night, then those are the types of teams we’ll be able to beat.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense:
“We harped on defense all week and felt that [our defense] let us down at Georgia. That effort wasn’t us and not what we’re capable of. We came out and corrected our mistakes tonight.”
Vanderbilt Forward Derrick Byars
“We lost two road games in the SEC and felt like we had a chance to win each time. It’s disheartening when you lose. We have to come out and protect our home court.”
On Vanderbilt’s 3-Point Shooting at Halftime:
“I looked at the score sheet at halftime and saw that we were 9-15 from three. We made 10 in the first half at Georgia, but didn’t play well defensively. Alabama’s ranking didn’t bother us and we just wanted to come out and play well on both ends of the court.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense:
“I have to give it to our big guys tonight, including Dan Cage, who’s down there fighting it out with their big men. Our big guys came out and took it personally about [the way we played] at Georgia on Saturday. They were up for the challenge tonight against the best frontcourt in the nation.”
Alabama Head Coach Mark Gottfried:
On Vanderbilt’s hot shooting:
“Vanderbilt in the first half, the way that they were playing, they just played fabulous basketball. The way they shot the ball in the first half, they could have beaten any team in the country tonight. They did have a couple of uncontested shots, but generally we had long arms in their face and they were still making everything. It just put us in a hole that was too big to climb out of.”
“They just had an unbelievable effort tonight, the way they shot the ball. We tried all sorts of different things tonight, but we just didn’t have any answers. They made a lot of tough, contested shots tonight. You are just going to have nights like this sometimes. It is no fun, we know that. But you have to give them credit.”
“When they shoot the ball the way that they did tonight, they have the ability to cause you all sorts of problems. We came out in zone and then switched to man to man and they shot us out of the man. We just didn’t have any answers tonight.”
On the Vanderbilt defensive effort:
“They did a good job of not allowing the ball into the post. They had good team defense and really good pressure. They just played great tonight.”
On Vanderbilt’s veteran presence:
“They are a veteran team. They got their veteran players back in the game and they did what you would expect and want your upper-classmen to do. They just played great.”
Alabama Guard Ronald Steele
On tonight’s play of Vanderbilt:
“They do a great job of running their offense and setting the screen. They have four guys who can shoot, and that makes them tough to guard.”
“The way they were shooting the ball, it was really tough to defend them. They did a great job. Shan Foster can really shoot.”
On Alabama’s need to improve after tonight’s loss:
“We’re not going to get down. We’re going to bounce back and play well Saturday.”
Alabama Forward Jermareo Davidson
“It seemed like they made every shot tonight. If they missed one, I sure didn’t see it. I’m not sure how you go about countering the way that they shot the ball. They were just hot.”
“They are a really good shooting team. Sometimes there is just nothing that you can do. We wanted to take away the three point shot. That was one of our goals coming into the game. But we just didn’t get it done. They had a heck of a performance tonight. Now we just have to look ahead to the next game. It’ll be hard to do coming off of a loss, but we just have to do it.”
On the Alabama defensive performance:
“We would get to the high post but then we just wouldn’t have any rotation at all. We just were not communicating very well on defense tonight and that was a significant problem for us.”
Alabama Guard Mykal Riley:
“We just had too many defensive breakdowns tonight and that was the difference in the game. Plus they were just really hot.”
“We were just trying to play our game. But we ended up throwing up some bad shots. But again, more than anything else, they just were really hot tonight.”
On playing in the tough environment of Memorial Gym:
“It is really tough having to play in this environment. But these are the types of situations when we just have to come together as a team. We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
“It is totally different playing here. It is something that I have never experienced before. I mean, the coaches are all the way over on the other side of the floor until the second half. It is a real weird gym. I have never played in a gym like this.”
“We were ready for them tonight, but obviously, they were just more ready. We made a big run in the second half, but then we had a couple of breakdowns on defense and so they were able to build the lead back up.”
