Feb. 17, 2012
Stallings InterviewVanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings met with the media Friday to reflect back on Thursday's scintillating 102-76 victory over Ole Miss and also look ahead to Sunday's game at Georgia (noon CT, FSN).
Vanderbilt's point total at Ole Miss was its highest since 2006 and its most in an SEC road game since 1969 when the Commodores dropped 120 at Mississippi State. The scoring explosion even left Coach Stallings scratching his head.
"I didn't expect 102 I can assure you; 102 between both teams would have been a better guess, honestly," Stallings said. "I actually thought it would be a low scoring, defensive game and it wasn't obviously. You never expect to score 102, period, let alone on the road."
Thursday's win moved Vanderbilt to 18-8 overall and 7-4 in the SEC. It came on the heels of a 69-63 loss to No. 1 Kentucky. After the Kentucky game, Stallings acknowledged that it would be important to see how the team responded after an emotional loss, and Thursday he saw just what he had wished for.
"It was the exact response I was hoping for last night and now it is the other side of the coin. Now, how are we going to respond to what happened last night? You have adversity on Saturday because you lose. You feel good about yourself last night because you win and you play well, but the most important thing is what are we going to do with that. That is what it always is throughout a season. It's a series of responses to successes or failures and it really determines the success of your season."
NOTE: Before the Commodores began practice Friday afternoon, the St. Mary's (Calif.) men's basketball team held a practice at Memorial Gym. Say what? The team flew into Nashville Friday for its BracketBusters game at Murray State on Saturday and practiced at Memorial before departing for Kentucky.
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