Everything Mark Byington Said After Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament Win Over McNeese

OKLAHOMA CITY – Vanderbilt came away with a 78-68 win over No. 12 seed McNeese in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament Thursday.

It was not an easy path to victory, but the Commodores locked in offensively and defensively and overcame an early 11-point deficit to win and move onto No. 4 seed Nebraska in Saturday’s Round of 32 matchup. Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington spoke to the media after the game, here is everything he said.

Opening Statement

“What an extremely hard-fought game, and that's what you expect in the NCAA Tournament. That team is used to winning, and they came out right away and jumped us from the start. I just don't think we were ourselves for the majority of the game, especially the start.”

“I don't know if it was something going on from the hangover. I know our guys prepared well. They were excited to play. We just didn't have the normal bursts we did. What I really like is I don't think we had our best game, but the guys just figured out a way.”

“They toughed it out. Give McNeese credit. I think their style is really good, and I said this yesterday. They have a really good roster, good coach. They tested everything about us, which is what you expect to be here. So we're happy to go on to the round of 32.”

Mark, did last year's experience, do you think, help at all with some of these guys who were part of that, with the lead against St. Mary's and all that? Did you feel any maybe resolve that came from that?

“No. I mean, I really didn't think that. I thought that yesterday was coming in the game. I thought the experience would help us.”

“We didn't look like ourselves today, and I'm glad we won with this version, because I don't think it was our best version. We know we're going to need that going forward. This was a hard turnaround.”

“We had Friday, Saturday, Sunday, SEC, and then played the earlier game here on Thursday. I think it's good to get this out of our system.”

“We'll be more rested on Saturday than I think once we recover, but I miss some of the guys because there were times where it wasn't going our way. We were down 10, 11 points, and they really didn't waiver. They just kind of figured it out. I thought they were the more aggressive team earlier. Then we were willing to make plays there.”

“Closing the first half was big for us. To be able to go in the first half when we didn't think we played our best ball, going with the lead, and I thought we could reset. Then we jumped out the second half with a big lead. Then, again, I can't credit McNeese enough. They fought back, and they made it tough on us.”

“Then down the stretch our defense was really good. We got a lot of stops there towards the end.”

Like you said, you guys had a slower start than usual. What for you was the turning point so you guys could probably get the lead and kind of dominate more of the game?

“I mean, we were playing passive and not aggressive. That is a really aggressive team, so they capitalize on that. So that was -- when I had to call an earlier timeout, I was pointing out to the guys they're the more aggressive team. Rebounding, defense, attacking the drives. Then we just kind of had to see the game and reset.”

“It was one of those things, it wasn't the best start. We've had a couple of those before. Usually we get off to good starts, but just the fact that we reset and we were able to win the game, I'm proud of the guys.”

“That's not easy. That team can make you look bad, and they did for a good portion of this game to us. We were able to figure it out.”

Just wanted your early thoughts on Nebraska and just the atmosphere today and the way their fans made this like a home court for them, what do you anticipate seeing on Saturday?

“Yeah, how lucky are we that we're going to play basically a road game in the NCAA Tournament. So much for a neutral site.”

“The first thing is when I walked in, I really didn't see the crowd. I went straight to the locker room, Andy Katz told me that's the best opening crowd he's ever seen in all his NCAA Tournaments.”

“In the SEC we're used to the chant of ‘Go Big Blue,’ and now we're going to hear ‘Go Big Red.’ We're going to be outnumbered 98%. It's going to be a true road game for us.”

“I like the fact that we've had experience on the road. We played well on the road this year, but we're going to have to go in with that mentality. It's going to be every coach uses this. It's not a catchphrase. We're all we got. It's going to be us against the world.”

“We're going to have to overcome a really good Nebraska team, a crowd, an environment, and everything else. We got two days to get ready for it. Our guys will be excited on Saturday.”

Similarly to what was asked to the players, you guys had four players with more than ten points. Obviously Tyler had a dominating 26. And then Duke, Tyler, and Devin also had over ten points. What's so important about this team that makes it so that everyone can get a little bit of the stardom?

“Usually when you see us scoring like we did, 15 assists is good. The thing I didn't like was 13 turnovers, and that might be a season high for us. We're one of the best in the country at taking care of the ball. That was out of character with some things there.”

“We shot a really high percentage. Shot over 50%. When we touched the paint, that was really successful for us. In the first half we were 1.9 points per possession when we touched the paint, we had to quit turning the ball over.”

“This team really is an unselfish team. It's happy for each other's success, and they will be willing passers. So we've done that all year, and I know we'll continue to do that starting again on Saturday.”

You guys lost a tough, hard-fought game in the first round last year. What do you feel was different about you guys today that you were able to overcome kind of a slow start and get things going again?

“Yeah, I mean, just the resiliency. Not to say last year's team didn't have that. It's almost -- there are some things that you can talk about here in the NCAA Tournament, but the opponents are so different. The environments, the team, the situation you come in, are so different.”

“Really whichever team you got, and we got this one, and I love this group, you just got to figure out a way to try to win the game, to try to go on to the next one.”

“Last year we came up barely short. This year we're lucky to get the first win, and now we want to try to get the next one. But it was something in our first team meeting that we talked about in our team meeting. It was June. That we want to make the NCAA Tournament. We know that's one game at a time, but you got to win one, and this team was not just happy to be here.”

“We kind of knew we were going to be in the NCAA Tournament for a while. This team wants to do the best they can to make a run. When you get to Round of 32, everybody is good. Everybody has earned their right there. It's going to be a tremendous challenge, so it gets tougher and tougher.”

“I do hope we play better on Saturday. We're capable of better, and we're going to need to be better.”

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