Dec. 9, 2006
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Tech
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Memorial Gym
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
“I’m really proud of our team. We’ve come a very long way in a week and a half. I’m proud of how they competed. I’m proud that we got the game in our favor in the first half. Georgia Tech got control, but our guys never wavered. We started making shots and making plays. Rebounding was an issue in the second half, but I thought we fought as hard as we could. I thought our defense was good enough to force turnovers, which was key. Shan Foster came through with a great performance as well.”
On Beating Georgia Tech:
“It always feels good to beat a team from a major conference. We were happy to have the Toledo win. Today’s was a big win for us. They were a very good team and they’re going to have a lot of success this year. We feel good to have beaten them.”
On Whether Winning Today Eases the Loss to Furman:
“Every game is one game. I think we’ve done a god job over the course of the past few years not losing to people we shouldn’t be losing to. We slipped up against Furman, but we have to be patient with this team. It’s a work in progress. They’ll keep getting better and today was an example of how much they’ve worked.”
On Vanderbilt’s Defense:
“We mixed in some zone and it was good to us in the first half. We were concerned because of Georgia Tech’s ability on the offensive boards. We wanted to try and protect our guys with fouls. Ross [Neltner] got two fouls early and he’s been key. We didn’t want to get them into a rhythm. We’ve dug in and played better defensively in the last two weeks. I have to give our players a lot of credit. They’ve worked hard and we’ve gotten a lot better.
On Georgia Tech’s Play:
“Jeremis Smith is a stud, a big stud. They’re a great offensive rebounding team. I told our players after the Lipscomb game to get ready to rebound, because that would dictate how today would go. To win tough games like today;s, we need our main guys to step up and play well. Shan Foster had 25 points and Derrick Byars had 18 points today. Those two stepped up with big games.”
Guard/Forward Shan Foster
“We felt like we knew we could win this game. We just had to exert our will and give it our best. That led to a great victory tonight.”
On finishing strong in a close game:
It’s a huge boost for us. A lot of people are back from the team last year that went through some of those close losses. We look at those as learning experiences and tried to improve on them.
On how the win felt relative to the Furman loss:
“That was a game we felt like we should’ve won. But that was three or four games ago. We have tried to work on what we did wrong and know we’re just heading forward. We’ve prided ourselves on `Don’t lose fight.’ That’s going to help us win some games down the stretch.”
Guard/Forward Derrick Byars
“This was a signature win for us – no doubt. We’ve just tried to build and improve on what we’ve done in practice. We’ve tried to improve our defense. We know we can score, so we’ve really been working on our defense.”
On how the team has improved its’ defense:
“It starts with looking within yourself and getting that mindset where you’re going to go out there and try to shut somebody down. We’ve focused on rebounding.”
On implementing the zone defense:
“We put that in about a week and a half or two weeks ago. It seems to be working. We’re still getting used to it a little.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt
“We just didn’t take care of the basketball. Their run in the first half was a direct result of our turnovers. It was the same way during their stretch in the second half.
“Give them (Vanderbilt) credit, but making live ball turnovers is extremely deflating for a team. When you make them, there are just very are to overcome.”
“Defensively, you just have to make them miss. You have to be in position, get a hand in their face, and whatever necessary to force the miss. We just didn’t do that tonight.”
Senior Guard Mario West
“It didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but we got back into the game late in the first half. We got the lead and I thought we had the momentum going in at halftime. In the second half, they had some shooters that got hot and stayed hot.”
Freshman forward Thaddeus Young
“We backed off on our defense in the second half. We needed to take charge with our defense, but (Vanderbilt) had some guys that just got hot. We just didn’t show the kind of heart we needed on the defensive end in the second half.
“As we go forward, we just have to learn to play every possession like it’s the most important one of the game. We didn’t do that tonight and it cost us.”
