University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Vols 76, Vandy 73 (OT)
February 12, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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Tennessee Head Coach Donnie Tyndall
On the game in general:
"That was like an NCAA tournament game in regards to the physicality, the environment. Every possession was so valuable. I have a ton of respect for Coach Stallings and his team. We were fortunate. At the end of regulation, they missed a couple of free throws, which enabled us to get a chance to tie it. We preach all the time not to settle for jump shots, and he [Hubbs] drove the ball deep to the paint on that final shot and made a tough play to force overtime. It was really one of those games that could have gone either way, and we were fortunate to make a play or more than they did in overtime."
On missing free throws and still winning:
"It's hard to do. When you look at the numbers, they out rebound us by six. They shoot seven more free throws than we do. And they shot 49%. I really don't know how we won the game to be honest with you. I guess we forced 16 turnovers and only turned it over 13 times. But the numbers don't justify the score of the game. Again, we were fortunate, very fortunate. I thought our guys showed a great deal of resiliency and toughness. But it was a hard fought game."
On the end of regulation and tying up the game:
"As I mentioned, we were fortunate. They missed two free throws in that last 30 seconds or so. We came down with it, and was it Josh who made the three to cut it to two? Oh, Kevin. Then we fouled and then it was a two point game. They miss another one. We were just fortunate in that regard. Those kids played extremely hard. We've been on the other side of games like that in the last couple of weeks, and again I know I am repeating myself, but we are very fortunate to win this game."
On having a young, inexperienced team:
"Well no offense, but we are probably the least experienced team in the league. Our inexperiences showed its ugly head at times too. I think that was two very youthful, inexperienced teams out there. Young guys on both teams were playing extremely hard and young guys on both teams probably made some mistakes too. I've said this about my team all year, if you start blaming lack of experience or youth when you lose, then you can't say that's the same thing when you win. I don't want to put any blame on those young guys that they have because they made a ton of big plays throughout the course of the game."
On how this win compares to other great moments of the season:
"It's obviously a thrill. I know how important this game is to our fans and our university, and certainly the young men in our locker room. It's exciting and we play them again in two or three weeks, so we know we will get their very best shot when they come back. So we're not going to be boastful or arrogant in any way, we are very humbled to win a close, hard fought game."
On threes:
"Well last year, my team at Southern Miss was 21-3. We went to middle Tennessee, and they made their first nine 3's in the first half. So they make their first five you said, and I'm thinking man Nashville/Murfreesboro area is bad to me! It kind of balanced out over 40 minutes. Again they made some tough shots, but they made their first five and only made one after that. So it balanced out for us."
On Josh Richardson's maturity:
"Josh has had a phenomenal year. The other night he went 1-13 and some people were being critical. I said, look, this kid has been a stud all year long, he has absorbed and embraced a position he has never played in his life, he has made big shot after big shot, and he happens to have this one game. We don't do anything we do based off of shots made and shots attempted. he still had 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals at Georgia, so he did a lot of good things. And tonight people look at the 27 points, but take that out of it. He got 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, he gets to the foul line 4 times. So even without the points, certainly we love it that he scored 27, but he does good things to help our team in a lot of different ways."
On Robert Hubbs III:
"No question, he is a guy that early in the year he was getting a rebound at 11 or 12 minutes he played. And tonight he gets 7 in 34 minutes, and that is about every 5 minutes played. He's been doing that consistently and I am on him all the time to continue to do it because I think he can be a great offensive rebounder. He showed a lot of toughness. I was on his tail for missing a block out and getting on top of the weak side guy a couple of times. I really challenged him. But I've said this about this young guy all year, he is coachable, he doesn't talk back, his body language doesn't go bad. He simply said "Yes sir" and we put him back in. He didn't settle for a jump shot late, he showed the toughness to drive the ball. That was a huge play."
On being the new coach:
"I am very proud to be the coach at Tennessee and to continue the tradition that Coach Mears started, who is the best coach in the history of our program and all the great things he did for Tennessee basketball. It is very humbling for me, and it is a tradition that I will certainly carry on."
On the five-point deficit:
"I think that was a situation that we are calling "switch to deny." We have Armani as the safety. He got baited by one guy that kind of cut, and then re-cut and then they sent the guy long and he was supposed to protect the rim. That's my fault and I have to do a better job emphasizing that in the timeout. But it was just simply a play where we got beat behind or over the top as we trying to switch and get a steal."
Tennessee Guard Robert Hubbs III
On his last play of regulation that tied up the game:
"Well the play was just sort of to come back to the ball and get open. I think it was Kevin who found me and I ran my hands through the ball. At the end of the half, we ran a play and I made sure that that time I just got the ball, I didn't want to settle, and I drove it and made the play."
On whether or not he was surprised to have that opportunity at the end of regulation:
"No because teams don't want you to shoot the three in that position. So I just drove it, and went in."
On how it feels to make that play:
"It feels good. But I just have to keep on adding on to it, I can't stop here. I have a long way ahead of me."
"Going back to the Arkansas game, that shot I missed in the corner. I said to myself, if I have the chance to do it again I'm going to make sure I do it right this time, and I did that tonight."
On how it feels to get a big win on the road after struggling:
"It feels good. But we have to go back and get back to work to prepare for LSU."
Tennessee Senior Guard Josh Richardson
On his performance Tonight:
"I think we have a lot of guys stepping up. Every time there is a tight game we are going to find out who is going to step up. I think we did a good job. Never gave up on the play... just got back to the game."
On his thoughts when his team was trailing 65-60:
"Just know we have to get a couple of buckets and stops. Play good defense and get a few stops. I think we did a great job of doing that and knocking down the shots."
On his thoughts when he hit the first three-pointer to open up the overtime:
"I saw the shot clock winding down so I took a shot and knocked it down."
On strong performance by Damian Jones and James Siakam:
"Especially James Siakam, he plays so hard. Damian Jones, he's my guy. He is a great player."
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening Comments:
"That was tough to swallow. I thought we executed poorly at the end and in overtime. The story of the game was our missed free throws, especially toward the end of the game. That's the disappointing part... We had 80% [free throw shooting] guys at the line and we missed them. Our guys are there trying to make them. I feel sorry for [them]."
On Vanderbilt's Free Throw Struggles:
"We executed by getting to the line, but [Tennessee] had to foul at the end. We did well shooting it against their zone. I don't think we had a turnover versus their press. We put our guys in bad situations... That's disappointing. We gift wrapped it for them."
On Vanderbilt's Confidence:
"They had a guy go the length of the court in six seconds. We do a drill in practice every day called the six second drill [that practices that scenario], so we didn't execute that well. We kept [Josh] Richardson from getting the ball and [Robert] Hubbs gets it."
"Youth and inexperience are a problem when you throw it into your five-man at the foul line with nowhere to go with it. That's a losing play if there ever was one. We didn't execute well."
On Wade Baldwin's 44 Minutes Played:
"I felt like I needed to. That's why I did it."
On Vanderbilt's 2-3 Zone:
"We played it some and I felt like it was effective."
Vanderbilt Senior Forward James Siakam
On rebounding from a tough end to regulation to get ready for overtime:
"I think it's definitely harder. Especially since we knew we had the game. Just to let it slip away like that for us is harsh. We were ready to start fresh, but I think it just came down to making our free throws and making the winning play, and we didn't do that. That's what they did."
On the final play of regulation, during which UT tied the game to force overtime:
"I can't remember the play exactly, to be honest. I was guarding Armani [Moore], and he lifted up to the top of the key and I followed him because he was on the ball side. The other guard drove baseline. I saw him late and tried to take a charge because I didn't want to foul him or give him an and-one. I think that's what happened, I don't remember exactly."
On the emotional reaction to the loss:
"Definitely the most disappointing, especially since we knew we had the game on our side and this is a rivalry game. By no means did we want to lose this game. I think we're more frustrated because it is a rivalry game."
Vanderbilt Sophomore Center Damian Jones
On blowing a late lead:
"Towards the end we started missing free throws and just didn't get defensive stops. Going into overtime, we let them have more energy than us. They really played hard and they got it in the end."
On the emotions of the loss:
"I was mad. We had the game completely won, and we just gave it away."
On shooting just 17-for-30 from the free throw line as a team:
"I couldn't tell you. I miss mine all the team and they made theirs. Tonight was just a bad night."
On facing UT's zone defense:
"I think we attacked it pretty well, at times. Keeping the ball moving, don't stay steady in areas so they can reset, just really penetrating and kicking it to the outside shooters. All those options really helped."
