Everything Mark Byington Said After Vanderbilt Lost to Auburn

The Vanderbilt Commodores (17-7, 5-6) couldn't find an extra gear on Tuesday as they lost to No. 1 Auburn 80-68 in Memorial Gymnasium. The Commodores battled hard, but were buried in the game's last 14 minutes to fall to below .500 in SEC play.

Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington along with forward Devin McGlockton met with the media after the loss to discuss the game plan and what made the Auburn Tigers so difficult to contend with.

Mark Byington Opening Statement:

"Well, the start, obviously, was tough. I didn't anticipate that. We were hesitant. We turned the ball over. I think we had four turnovers in the first four minutes, didn't get shots, actually had a couple shots in there, just didn't make them. I was proud of the guys for fighting back. I think we took a three-point lead in the second half, came back and started playing our style of ball and better. That's team is really good. I'm not saying any breaking news. They just kind of have been in different situations. They had an answer, we had some things we couldn't overcome in that stretch and maybe it was the poor start or whatever else, I can't quite put my finger on it.

"I like the fact that, that's as good a team as there is in the country and we kind of see where the bar is, what we've got to get to, what we've got to catch up to. They're really good. We can play much better, but give them credit, I thought they had responses to everything we did out there."

Devin McGlockton, how tough was it going against Auburn today?

McGlockton, "They have some good bigs, but I feel like me and JC, I feel like we did a good job on them. I feel like personally I thought we were the best bigs out there tonight. We did a good job crashing the glass and finishing around the rim, so that's how I felt."

What was different against Johni Boome in the second half? Two points in the first half for him, 15 in the seond?

McGlockton, "I feel like most of them were late, late buckets. I feel like overall we did a good job on him. I don't think he shot the best percentage and I feel like we did a good job game planning him."

Vanderbilt struggled from 3-point range, what went into that tonight?

McGlockton, "I feel like it was just open ones not falling. We got shots we wanted. I don't think we took any crazy 3-pointers, but yeah, we can't win when we shoot like that. We've just got to improve for next game."

Devin McGlockton is dismissed and the rest of the questions are directed to head coach Mark Byington.

Earlier this week you said Auburn has no weaknesses, what did you see tonight?

"Yeah, they don't have any weaknesses. They can play different styles of basketball. They really execute, their offense is good and I thought their defense was really impressive today. We struggled early getting into rhythm, couldn't find looks and then we were able to find some but it just wasn't long-lasting. With them, the mistakes compound. We miss a layup and then it compounds. We miss an open three. Not to say we've got to play perfect, but we can play better and we should've played better, we just weren't as good as I think we have been or can be."

You addressed the slow start, but how challenging was that to overcome?

"Yeah, definitely, I just don't know if that contributed to us in the second half. We looked gassed in the second half. It was momentum. Those guys making plays, they pound the ball inside those last probably 10 minutes. They executed. They got the shot they wanted. They finished around the rim. Then we just had a long stretch there, maybe it was fatigue. They're deep, they've got big bodies, but can't quite put the finger on that. I'm not sure why the second half got away from us. We just weren't ourselves the first four or five minutes and we weren't ourselves the last four or five minutes, in between, we weren't that bad, we were pretty good."

What's it like to play in such a difficult SEC?

"Yeah, you really can't look anything except the one game in front of you. I know it's coach speak and I hate to do cliches up here, but if you look too far down the road you are going to get anxious and nervous and say what could happen? I like challenges, this is a tough one. We're playing Florida at Florida and then we're winning the second half. We're playing this and winning in the second half, we're not that far away. There's some things that we need to fix. We don't have as much room for error as a team like Auburn or maybe these other teams, but we can play with them and we've got to - looking at everything in front of us, we've just got to try to find ways to get better, ways to improve so if we're in these situations again we can get one of these wins."

Is that the best anyone has defended you?

"I'll just speak on tonight because I can't really think. I'm beaten up a little bit. They were really good. I'll tell you what helps them is their bigs are versatile. The kid 44 [Dylan Cardwell] I know he doesn't score a lot of points, he's a lot out there. He's physical, he's everywhere, he's a great defensive presence. I think their bigs do a good job sometimes of bailing them out because of their versatility. So they're able to pressure. They got into us. We needed to be stronger with the ball. We needed to go towards the rim and make decisions and we just didn't. I can't think of anybody better than them right now. That's a pretty damn good defensive team and offensive team."

What did you find in the smaller lineup at times?

"Yeah, we were just trying to find something that worked. We were in a situation where the kid number 31 [Chaney Johnson] we couldn't stop him. I think he scored seven straight points and so we had to try to go to a big lineup and it was hurting us on offense. We couldn't find quite the answer. I'll go back on film and maybe I'll see something we should've done. We were just out of character. We couldn't get in a rhythm. Most of the credit belongs to them. They took us out and I just thought they had a great answer to us taking the lead. They had a great crowd in there. Their crowd was jumping up supporting them on the comeback. I just think the momentum got to them and we couldn't stop it."

Chaney Johnson went on a 9-0 run by himself, was it a bad matchup?

"Well he does a really good job of - he's heavy right hand and we know it but he still can get to his right. And also he played back to the basket, drove by us. The matchup wasn't great for us and we don't have great matchups for some of the guys on their team. We're trying to scheme, we're trying to figure it out, we're trying to hide some things or do some things and sometimes it breaks and he had a nice run there. It wasn't like we didn't know he could play. We went into the game saying he could be an all-conference player in most leagues in this country and he takes his role of coming off the bench, but he's really good."