Jan. 2, 2010
Vanderbilt 82, Southern Miss 46
Memorial Gymnasium,
January 2, 2010
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“I’ll be the first to tell you that the score wasn’t as lopsided as the final score would suggest. I was surprised that we were able to get away from them. We played exceptionally in the first half and we were very focused and intense. I thought Festus [Ezeli], in the second half, gave us energy from a defensive standpoint. John [Jenkins] gave us energy on the offensive end, especially in the first half.”
On John Jenkins:
“I’m happy when he starts making them like that. I’m also happy when we go 9-for-14 from three. John had his best day offensively and that was exciting to see. His adjustment to the college game is about dealing with the speed and having the confidence that you do in high school. He puts pressure on a defense and you have to utilize that. I’ve said all along that John [Jenkins], Jermaine [Beal], and Brad [Tinsley] have to make shots for us.”
On Jermaine Beal’s Thumb Injury:
“It’s okay. He hurt it in practice. He played very well today given that too. When you get to this point in the season and you’re a 25 or 30 minute guy, you’re going to have something nagging and it’s not going to get back to 100%.”
On Vanderbilt’s Home Stand:
“I told them after practice yesterday that we’ve made some progress. I haven’t been able to gauge it because we’ve been able to separate from our past three opponents. We’re all trying to get ready for league play.”
Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins
On change from high school to college basketball:
“It felt like I was back at Station Camp today. We had the cheerleaders and everything. It felt really good, really comfortable. I was very happy with how we played today and I was surprised with how much we beat them by. (Not having to take every shot), that’s a big adjustment. I’m not worried about creating my own shot. I know it’s going to come.”
On confidence:
“Confidence is definitely something I struggled with at the beginning of the year. Confidence makes me shoot better and it’s something that has gotten better as the season goes on. I come out confident and I feel that the team has confidence in me too.”
Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy
On defense:
“We’ve been focusing on boxing out and making sure they don’t get many offensive rebounds. They’re very good at offensive rebounding, so we wanted to make sure we were able to stop that.”
On team’s progression:
“Teams are starting to realize they can’t leave John open or he’s going to go 6-for-6. It’s great to have someone who is as big and strong as Festus, and he can help me out or replace me. He is great for our team. We’re a deep team and it doesn’t stop with us.”
On foot:
“It’s a lot better than it was. The break helped a lot and I was able to keep the pressure off of it for a bit. At the moment, I’m just trying to get through the season, but we’ll look at options after the season is over.”
Vanderbilt guard Jermaine Beal
On zone:
“We had some tall, long wing players that were creating a lot of space. For every shot they took, we had a hand on it.”
On thumb:
“I’m about to go get an MRI. We’ll see how it goes, but I have to play through it. It hurts when I shoot, but I was still able to push through.”
On season’s progression:
“I think after we lost to WKU, we started working harder and being more focused. Good defense produces good offense and I think we’re going in a good direction right now. John’s shooting great right now and our defense is giving him great opportunities. And because of our defense, we’re all getting good looks.”
