What Vanderbilt's Mark Byington said after the 81-76 loss at No. 5 Tennessee

What head coach Mark Byington said after Vanderbilt’s 81-76 loss to No. 5 Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Food City Center in Knoxville, where the Commodores led by as many as 16 points in the first half:

Opening statement

“It was a heck of a game. Obviously I was frustrated with the outcome and the way certain segments went. And you know, it’s just a couple things. You know, we had our opportunities there in the second half to make the play, make the stop, make the shot, make the free throw, and we didn’t. And you know, they did. That’s an experienced team, well coached, tremendous point guard. That’s a team that keeps battling. We knew they weren’t going away. I was kind of disappointed in our second half energy. They brought tons of energy and we were up and down in the second half. At times we were good, but then for the most part, we felt like we were on our heels. Two things, credit to them, and then we have to do better at it.”

If Tennessee outscoring Vandy 50-32 in the second half was mostly VU’s energy or UT making adjustments

“They did the same thing they did in a lot of games. In the second half when they’re down, they go (Zakai) Zeigler in a high-ball screen and you know, he’s great in space, he’s great in decision making. We tried multiple things to be able to stop him and we couldn’t come up with it. We tried some zone, we tried some different things and (Chaz) Lanier hit a big shot in the zone. Our zone, we were hoping could hold us together, and he hit a big one. So if I had to say, you wanna say one thing, it was Zeigler and his control of the game and his pace.

“And then at the second thing, like I said, we missed some opportunities. Shots, execution, stops and rebounds and then, you know, it hurt when both my bigs fouled out. You know, Devin (McGlockton) only played 17 minutes. He’s probably our most valuable guy and not having him in there, maybe he can get something for us.”

Struggling in the second half on the road for the second game in a row

“Well, the Oklahoma one I think was an anomaly. I don’t think that’s us. That was a one time thing this year. But at the same time, these teams are going to come back. They’re gonna come make adjustments, they’re gonna come with fury. You know, we’re there in a possession game against a really good team. Then at the same time, I think a lot of times it gets over exaggerated, the halftime score and things like that. We gotta be winning by one at the end. That’s what we’re not doing a couple times.

“But then at the same time, I could say this, we have done it in games. We’ve done it in Kentucky, we’ve done it in Texas, we’ve done it in some games. But, you know, I don’t want to just — we got some things to fix, but at the same time, I wanna make sure that, you know, people understand how good Tennessee is. And in this building, the crowd was great, and they lifted them up.”

If he believes there more fouls called in the second half of college basketball games this season

“It’s gonna take me a while to probably think about it. I’m not dodging your question. You know, I could just say for anybody, you always want consistency and, you know, just let it be the way it is from the first minute to the last minute. But I can’t judge that in this game. You know, there was a lot. We got in foul trouble early and it hurt having my guys in foul trouble. But at the same time, you know, these refs do a good job.”

The message to his team when they come up short against highly ranked teams

“I’ve said this a couple times this year, like, you can play really well and lose in this league. And you know, sometimes it’s cut or dry. Like, we want to win. And at the same time you’re judged on wins. We’re trying to get every one of ’em. But a lot of our losses this year, we haven’t played poorly. You know, you look at any team and there’s segments, and there’s things you want back, and it is hard because the talent, the coaching and everything else. But, you know, one thing I just told our guys in the locker room is, you know, we gotta keep going because sometimes success is one more step or two more steps. It’s right around the corner. We’re battling. We had good segments against Auburn and we’re battling today. A lot of times it’s like, all right, we’re not there, but you add the word yet and you know, we gotta keep going and we’re a good basketball team. You gotta be really, really good to beat a team like Tennessee in this building and we’re not there yet.”

The play of sophomore forward Jaylen Carey, who had 18 points and seven rebounds against Tennessee

“Yeah, I mean, I would expand him more if he wasn’t in foul trouble. I mean, we needed him on the court and we’ve had, you know, I think maybe early on he was inconsistent, but I think we’re finding consistency in his game right now. And our guys are looking for him more. He’s doing a great job rebounding. He’s as physical as anybody. And in this league you need some guys that look like football players and play like football players because if not, you’re gonna go against other teams, gonna have some. They’re gonna bang you around. So he gives us some physicality and toughness we definitely need.”

If he was fine without energetic Carey was against Tennessee, if he needs to channel it better

 
“I mean, you know, when somebody has positive emotion and energy, I want to keep that.And you need that, especially in an environment like this. We’re lacking depth there. You know, one of the guys I thought was gonna be a contributor on this team hasn’t played a minute. He’s been out for the entire year and he was another guy who gives us size and a good player. We’re undersized, but we’re fighters. And Jalen Carey, you know, he fights, he competes and I’m not gonna take that away from him. If I had another big, I would’ve loved to be able to have him. But we’re good. We’ll take the guys we got and we’ll go win, we’ll compete.”