Coach Neighbors said he challenged his team at half time harder than he had ever challenged one of his teams. Mostly, although he is not a yeller, he spent a lot of time yelling at them. Some quotes from his post-game press conference:
Getting the win:
“We were very fortunate to win. Vanderbilt is the best 0 and whatever team in any league in the country. They’ve played a lot of people very, very close for a long period of time. A lot of credit to what Shea is doing, and that group of eight kids, they’ve been through a lot.”
On Sacha Washington:
“She’s really hard to guard. She works with her feet and fights for deep position, and they do a great job looking for her. She’s used to being undersized…offensively, when she was off the floor, we were able to do a little bit more hedging on the ball screens, being a little more contesting there. Then, when she was off the floor, we tried to throw it inside a little bit more. I felt like we were able to get them a little bit more confused when she wasn’t on the court. She’s obviously very important to what they do. So playing through those moments when she wasn’t on the floor, those were big stretches.”
His thoughts as Vandy continued to hit threes to cut an eight-point deficit late in the game:
“I think they went seven for seven in the fourth quarter, didn’t they? You’re thinking, ’surely they’re going to miss one here in a minute. Surely they’re going to miss that one. Surely that one’s not going in. Just beat myself up. I didn’t manage time good, didn’t manage rotations, should have called a time out at a different time, should have advanced the ball. Just situational things that I could be better at…It was hard. You’re thinking “is this game ever going to end.”
By the way, he said the whole team practices half-court shots at the end of practice and has fun with it. I think lots of teams do this. I’ve seen video of Vandy doing it. To the point, he said they made 14 half-court shots on the day of the game (plus, he made two that don’t count). McKayla Daniels, who hit the game winner, made two in practice.
Coach Neighbors' Post-game Comments
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Re: Coach Neighbors' Post-game Comments
Blessed to have CSR & staff & our amazing young ladies. No one has suffered more losses via portal & injuries than us ( B Alexander is tearing it up for Md - to think what could have been with her back & no injuries). Believe no one takes (or should take) Vandy for granted. Always proud of our team!