Nov. 6, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Howell’s Photos 
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
“That’s why we play these. [Alabama-Huntsville] does a good job of spreading you out. They make it ugly defensively and expose you. Their offense is such that with five guys out on the perimeter, it made for an ugly day for Josh [Henderson] and Damian [Jones].”
“We made some good plays in some key spots and hit key free throws. We were a little rusty and looked ugly at times, but it was good for us because [Alabama-Huntsville] played a lot of zone. We’re going to see 40 minutes of that [in the season opener] against Georgia State.”
“We couldn’t achieve much rhythm because of foul problems.”
On Vanderbilt Forward James Siakam:
“He got offensive rebounds and kept plays alive. Every guy for us did something good at the end of the game. We have worked hard on certain situations and got ourselves into one tonight.”
On Vanderbilt Guard Eric McClellan:
“He’s a good shooter. He has been shooting 50% from three in practice. He stayed aggressive and made big plays. He’s going to be a good player. He sat out a year, so other than the times he played while we were in Europe, this was his first time in front of fans in a year.”
On Alabama-Huntsville Guard Wayne Dedrick:
“We let him get into a rhythm. There were certain guys who were guarding him who had some success and other guys who guarded him who didn’t have success. That was something else we learned tonight. He kept not dribbling into any of his shots – he was catching and shooting. It’s why we played them. We know it’s going to be a competitive game. They are one of the best Division II programs in the country.”
Vanderbilt guard Eric McClellan
Summary of his play:
“Just looking at the stat sheet, obviously there’s some things I can improve on. But being my first game back in a year and a half I really can’t complain.”
“Going in, honestly I was a little nervous, but I’m glad we pulled out the win”
On “not being bashful” shooting:
“That comes with preparation. That comes from being in the gym, being aggressive. Fortunately, I have the green light. He believes in me, this whole staff believes in me, my teammates trust me, so that’s a great thing.”
On what he liked about the team tonight:
“In a way, you learn from close games like that. You know we’re gonna have close games like that. Most of our games are going to be close games we need to win. So, down the stretch we had guys make plays, make stops, kinda dug in, and I think that’s showing a sense of urgency.”
And disliked:
“You know I think a lot of the guys were a little tentative. I think that comes with it being an exhibition game and getting some nerves out. Kinda a new group of guys, well it’s the same group of guys, but some guys aren’t used to playing as much so I guess it’s just gettin gsome nerves out and getting used to playing with each other.”
On what he wants to see before next week:
“We need to sharpen up on a couple things. One is ball screen defense. Me, personally, I don’t think my ball screen defense is that good. It’s not like it is in practice sometimes. The volume is lower. You can’t hear out there at times. And just piggybacking off what Rod said, we need to just let the ball fly, being confident in our shot, and rebounding. We rebounded pretty well.”
“I actually say, our low post defense (needs some improvement). I think they got a lot of easy buckets inside that could have been prevented with communication and just effort. That’s something we’ve got to tighten up before next week.”
Vanderbilt forward Rod Odom
On finding a way to survive when things got tight:
“Yeah, obviously, they had a guy get hot.He had a bunch of shots, and you know that threw us off a little bit.He kinda got in a little rhythm and started scoring pretty consistently so that was challenging, but we got the stops when we needed to, and we were able to pull it out.”
On facing a zone defense:
“Me personally, I love playing against the zone. We’ve been practicing against some zones, both of these teams play zone (UAH and Georgia State). I’m looking forward to it. Our team is a good zone team. We’ll be ready.”
