Jan. 27, 2007
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt
Memorial Gymnasium
January 27, 2007
Head Coach Kevin Stallings
“It was a tale of two halves. We did a much better job defensively in the first half, but they just have their way with us in the second half. Fortunately, we got some key stops down the stretch, some key rebounds, hit our foul shots, and were able to get the victory.”
“We told our team at halftime that they scored 55 against Tennessee the other night and came back against Florida earlier this season. They have been a second half team and I told our guys to be ready for a big rush because it was coming. This is the game that we would have lost the last couple years. Fortunately, we were able to gut it out.”
“We are doing a better job of handling success. This is a game in past years that we have lost because we either couldn’t handle success or we didn’t get ourselves ready to play. These guys did a good job of getting ready.”
“I think it’s chemistry and togetherness. It’s a team that tries hard to do what we ask them to do. When they believe in each other and they believe in us as a staff, then pretty good things happen.”
“I also think our three seniors are playing up a storm. The reason we’re having the success is because of Ted (Skuchas), Dan (Cage) and Derrick (Byars). Those guys are playing the best basketball of their careers. That has taken us a long way.”
On the play of Ross Neltner:
“Six assists and no turnovers from your five man is an outstanding way to play. He has such good vision and he can make shots. When the defense extends on him, if they are cutting (to the basket) when he has the ball, there’s a good chance he’ll find them.”
Senior Guard Dan Cage
“I think the maturity of our team has progressed a lot. We have a lot of older guys, a lot of guys willing to sacrifice. Every player on the team from the freshmen to the seniors are looking to come in and do whatever they can for however long they are in there. Nobody is worried about minutes or stats. It’s especially important in games like this.”
“Ole Miss plays real tough. They will come up, hit some shots and get a couple of turnovers. They did that tonight. Luckily, we were able to look each other in the eye and say, `Come on fellas, let’s get it going and get back to what we do well.’ “
Senior swingman Derrick Byars
How team responded to Ole Miss’ second half run:
“A lot of things have to take place when they make their second half surge. You have to have poise and stay together as a team. We have good chemistry and that showed tonight. We didn’t get rattled when they made their run. We just stuck together and fortunately, made winning plays at the end.
Senior forward Ross Neltner
On his ability to distribute the basketball:
“(Passing) is something that I feel I bring to this team. When we go to our small lineup, the coaches are always emphasizing to cut to the basket when I get the ball and try to get an open lay-up. I’m just hitting open guys. They are doing the hard work. We also know each other’s tendencies pretty well and we’re just playing off each other.”
Ole Miss Head Coach Andy Kennedy
On the difficulty of playing on the road:
“The league’s very good. It’s a huge challenge to win any game – road or home. I’m really proud of my guys. The effort they gave was outstanding. I don’t think their effort all season can really be questioned. But that’s not enough. We need to be better. We need to execute better. They were 18-21 from the foul line, we were 9-18. That’s it right there. Game. Set. Match.”
On his team’s defensive effort:
“The shot 63 percent [in the first half]. We’ve got some glaring holes. We do some things, different looks where we try and hide some guys, but against good teams that are the caliber of Vanderbilt, they spread you out and they find those cracks. I think it was sheer will in the second half that got us back in the game.”
On the difficulty of matching up with Vanderbilt:
“I told him before the game that his team reminds me of that West Virginia team from a couple years ago, where everyone in their starting lineup can shoot the three. Neltner’s doesn’t shoot it as much as Pittsnoggle did, but with Dan Cage at power forward, that’s a difficult match-up because you have to put a guard on him, and that leaves one of our big guys guarding Derrick Byars.”
On Vanderbilt potentially becoming nationally ranked:
“They should move into the Top 25. Absolutely. Kevin does a good job with his players. He puts those kids where they can play to their strengths. When they’re making shots, they’re a tough team. Everyone’s seen that and we saw it tonight.”
Senior Guard Bam Doyne
On Mississippi’s slow start in the first half:
“In the first half, the same thing happened as in the past four or five games. Our formula just seems to be to play hard in the second half and it is just not cutting it.”
“We came out and played really well in the second half, we had a really good push. We had them scared. We took the lead there once in the second half, maybe twice even. We had them right where we wanted them but we didn’t push it through.”
On Vanderbilt’s style of play:
“Nobody in our league plays the way that they do. They run their stuff well and they execute well and when players know that it becomes a mental thing, I think. That hurt us today.”
Junior Center Dwayne Curtis
On Mississippi’s second half run:
“In the second half we did a much better job of getting out on their shooters. We wanted to take their shots away from them, tried to make them drive to the basket instead of giving them open looks.”
“We knew what to expect coming in. We studied it all week. We knew their style of play. We just were not able to execute the way that we wanted to.”
“We saw it all on tape, but we just were not ready physically in the first half. But in the second half, we came out a lot better. We were a lot more physical and a lot more comfortable.”
