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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2011Festus EzeliKevin StallingsJeffery TaylorATLANTA, GEORGIA VANDERBILT: 66 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Vanderbilt. We'll go ahead and get an opening statement by Coach Stallings. COACH STALLINGS: Congratulations to Florida, they certainly outplayed us in the second half. But I was proud of our team. I felt we competed very well. We had a hard time making shots. We just did not shoot the ball well, and I thought we had, for the most part, good looks and unfortunately, just not enough shots went in. They got hot in the second half and made some tough ones. But that's what they do. And that's what they have done all season long, and that's why they're the league champion. So again I thought we played them much better defensively this week than we did last week at our place. But unfortunately it wasn't enough. We're very regretful and disappointed in that because we really thought we could and wanted to play tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Jeff, they threw a bunch of different defenders at you. Can you talk about they did to try to defend you? JEFFERY TAYLOR: They switched a lot of screens toward the beginning of the game, so I think that was a big part of them having different people on me. Just switching down screens and ball screens, and I was just trying to be aggressive. Q. For Jeffery, does Florida guards, do they take shots that you just do not expect them to take? Like they will just all of a sudden pull up at a place where you think they just can't make, and they just keep making them? JEFFERY TAYLOR: Yeah, sometimes it's a little unexpected, but we watched them on film, so we kind of get told to be ready for the deep ones and the really unexpected ones. And they do a good job of making the ball. Q. For both, I'm not asking to make excuses, but how much were you feeling it, the fatigue by maybe particularly in the second half? JEFFERY TAYLOR: None at all. Fatigue didn't play into anything. We felt just as fresh as we did the first day. FESTUS EZELI: No, there was no fatigue. In this kind of game, it's a survival game, and when the lights came on, we were just ready to play. They just executed better than us towards the end of the stretch. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take questions for coach. Q. Can you talk about, neutralize Macklin today, and yet they find other ways to do it, the fact that they come at you with so many different weapons? COACH STALLINGS: Well, that's what makes them difficult is because their starting five has been averaging in double figures here lately. And we were able to shut some guys down a little bit today, but their bench hurt us. That was another thing that was a key to this game. Their bench was a lot more productive than ours was, and we expected to have a little bit of an advantage off the bench and we didn't. So I thought we did a good job on Macklin. We kind of altered how we played him a little bit and we did a better job on Tyus than we did in the game at our place. But unfortunately Boynton got going and Walker got going in the second half. We had Walker at zero at halftime, and he gets 17 in the second half, and that's an obviously a big difference. Q. You mentioned Boynton and Walker hurting you in the second half, why do you think that happened? Where was the breakdown in your defense? COACH STALLINGS: We broke down in transition, we broke down in just picking up who we were supposed to be guarding. They hit some tough ones to where we were there and they just made shots. So they executed their plays, they came off ball screens and were able to turn the corner a couple of times. There was a variety of ways. There wasn't any one thing that caused it. They just got going and got feeling it and we couldn't get them shut off. Q. John Jenkins never looked like he really got in rhythm or got set enough. Was the foot bothering him or was he just rushing shots or what happened? COACH STALLINGS: I think he was just rushing. I think he was rushing to get them off, and the more he missed the more he rushed, the more he fell backwards. He just did not have a good day. I should have been able to help him more than I helped him today, because I never did get him to where he was really on task with what he needed to be doing to be successful. He was pressing, and then it started affecting his defense, unfortunately. But I don't think it had anything to do with the toe at all. And they did a very good job on him defensively. Q. I thought your putting Tinsley on Parsons was an interesting choice. Can you talk about that. Have you done that before and what goes into that matchup? COACH STALLINGS: We did it last week and got killed on it. And it was better this time around, or at least it felt better. And I thought Brad was much better defensively today than he was last Saturday. But it just goes into you pick your poison. We wanted to keep Walker under control and keep him out of our lane, and the best person on our team to do that is Jeffery Taylor. So he has zero at halftime and we're getting the job done, but we weren't able to do it the same way in the second half. Q. Do you see Florida as a team that could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, and if so, why? COACH STALLINGS: Yes, because of their experience and their good guard play. In the NCAA tournament, because the timeouts are so long, depth becomes a little bit overrated. You don't have to have as many guys, I don't think. That's my own personal opinion. I think that Florida, not that they don't have depth because obviously they do and their depth was quite a bit better than ours was today, but they really rely on those first five guys for their scoring and their rebounding. And I think they could very well make a deep run, and it will all come down to those guys' ability to make shots though. I think a deep run is going to necessitate or be necessitated by Walker and Boynton being able to jump up and make shots at the end of games. Q. You've kind of alluded to their balance, but was putting Taylor on Walker kind of admission that that's the guy that you're most concerned about stopping? COACH STALLINGS: I wouldn't necessarily say that that's the guy we were most concerned about stopping. I would just say that we felt like that gave us the best matchup for what we needed to do in order to play, to execute well defensively. Q. Going back to the NCAA tournament for a second, can you speak to the conference presence there? It looks like five teams are in and maybe either Georgia or Alabama are on the bubble. Can you speak to that? COACH STALLINGS: Well, I think we have got an excellent league and my opinion is, is that anybody that deserves to get in will, get in. And I think all of our teams that get in, Georgia and Alabama included, if they get in, they have a chance to be very successful in this tournament. Maybe not the same level of success that I think Florida has a chance to have, but you never know. There's a team that jumps every year from our league and gets deeper than you think maybe they're going to. But I think both Georgia and Alabama would be successful in the NCAA tournament if they get in. And I think our other teams will have a chance to be as well. Q. One, mock bracket has you as 5. Do you think that's about where you guys belong? COACH STALLINGS: I don't spend enough time studying it, so I would be the last person that you could ask that question to that could give you a viable responsible answer. And if we're a 5, if we're a 12, if we're a 17, then the committee will have done their work and they will assign us what we deserve to be. This has become such a science now that I don't think that there's going to be a lot of overlooking on the committee's part. They spend too much time doing it and we're just hopeful of being in and we hope our name's called tomorrow. Q. I know you're disappointed that you're not in the game tomorrow, but having played Kentucky and Florida, how do you see that game? COACH STALLINGS: Well, I think it will be a really good game, and I don't know who I would necessarily give the advantage to, but I think it could be a very close game and should be a very good game, too. Two very high quality teams. And obviously Kentucky doesn't have to play on the road, it will be like a home game for them, so that may give them a little bit of an advantage because they have been really good at home all year, not much on the road. So I don't know. I think it will be a great game. It will be very well representative of our league and two of the best, if not the two best teams, in our league. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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