Jerry Stackhouse ‘as disappointed as I’ve ever been’ after loss vs. Kentucky

Vanderbilt picked up the fourth loss of their SEC season on Tuesday when they fell 69-53 at home to Kentucky. However, while some might not have thought too much of the outcome, it was one that had Commodore head coach Jerry Stackhouse incredibly upset after the game.

Stackhouse expressed his extreme disappointment during his postgame press conference. While he gave the Wildcats their due credit, he described his team’s performances as ‘selfish’ and said it led to the worst feeling he has had after a game since he has been in Nashville.

“Hats off to Kentucky. They really came in and played a great game. Their guys made shots from all over the floor and we weren’t able to contain them at all. It was our own undoing,” said Stackhouse. “We came out and everybody tried to do it on their own. It’s as disappointed as I’ve ever been in a postgame since I’ve been here. I just thought we had selfish play to begin the game and it bled over to our defense.”

“Everybody was just trying to do it on their own,” Stackhouse said. “I don’t know if it was the magnitude of the game or the hype around the game but we just weren’t ourselves, weren’t able to play the style of basketball that we’ve shown in the time that we’ve been here.”

Whether it was because of Kentucky’s defense or their own style of play, Vanderbilt got nothing going offensively. They shot just 18-55 (32.7%) from the field and finished the night with just five assists total. As Stackhouse said, it then led to a poorer defensive performance as the Wildcats shot 56.4% in the game off of 17 assists. That’s what led them to a nine-point halftime lead and as much as a 20-point cushion in the second half.

Still, while Kentucky found its fair share of success, Stackhouse places this one solely on his roster. He firmly believes they could have won had they just played the game the right way. Now, instead of it being their third win in four games, it ended up as their tenth loss of the season as the ‘Dores start to prepare themselves for a pair of road trips to College Station and Tuscaloosa.