Everything Vanderbilt Head Coach Mark Byington Said After Beating No. 14 Missouri

The Vanderbilt Commodores basketball team knocked off its third consecutive ranked opponent on Saturday by beating No. 14 Missouri 97-93 in overtime. Head coach Mark Byington spent time with the media to talk about his program's success and their standing going into the final two games of the regular season.

Opening Statement

"Yeah, what a special night. Our guys, it's a special group, they just never gave in. I didn't think we were sharp early, we just keep fighting. There's time where you look like you're down and out and the resiliency that they had to be able to come back and get the game into overtime. So many guys, and we talked about this last game too - it's different guys, different nights. So many guys just made big shots, big plays to be able to put us in a situation. Chris was really, he's on a great streak right now, he's playing great. I'm so happy for AJ. AJ was the best teammate last game when we beat Texas A&M and tonight the final 10 minutes he was the best player on the court. He deserves this for the way that he's stuck with it and everything else. We need everybody, you've seen that on different nights, different things. This is going to be a team that's going to keep going, we're not satisfied, we'll talk about the season when it's over but this was a really good night."

How confident were you once you got the game to overtime?

"Yeah it was almost new life. It was a struggle in regulation and the second half we were right there. I just didn't want to be satisfied about the overtime so it was a pretty stern talk in that break of 'Now it's time to go, like now it's time to really play' and I think it was important we scored the first points of the overtime period and we really had a great five minutes there."

What did you see on the final shot in regulation from Tyler Nickel?

"Yeah when you're up three you're sometimes worried about the other team fouling and what I told AJ is to push the ball with great pace and I thought they might foul him but on the wings we had Jason and we had Tyler Nickel. As he crossed half court I was like get a three and I didn't know where it was going to come or who it was going to come to but we didn't want a two in that situation. AJ described it perfectly that he drew the defense and Tyler Nickel found a window there. As soon as it got in his hands I think we were all confident."

What about Tyler Nickel and his ability gives you confidence in him?

"Kind of seeing his shot a lot. I can see the rhythm when he catches it. Something that's difficult for any player but sometimes guys that are labeled shooters are - he didn't get off to a good start. I mean they were all over him, not letting him catch, denying us catches. He found some openings in the second half and I talked to the guys all the time, you've got to have an unbreakable confidence. You can't let the circumstances affect your confidence and he's got an unbreakable confidence, he doesn't care."

What's it like to beat three ranked teams in a row and be playing your best basketball?

"This was brought to my attention today that we've played six ranked teams in a row and seven out of eight. I don't know if anybody else goes through these situations. With all of them, it's hard to say this after you lose, but I thought we were playing well. I thought we couldn've had the Tennessee game, Kentucky played great but then losing to these teams is difficult but you've got to make sure you're focused on the right things and that's next and getting better. So it's three ranks in a row, but it's really six in a row. It's not any easier Tuesday night. It's a team coming in that's got a bunch of guys that are future NBA players and a great coach. So what we've got to do is go to the next one. Try to go 1-0 on Tuesday. I talked to the guys already about our mentality is, we're not satisfied probably with our stability of being in the NCAA Tournament. We need to keep getting better and position ourselves for the SEC Tournament, as high as we can possibly get to, try to make a run in that tournamnet. Then when the selection committee decides where we want to go we'll try to make a run in that tournament."

Have you had to situationally sub the way you have this season before?

"No, this is probably the most in my 12 years of coaching. It is trying to find the right guy in the situation. You don't want to oversub. Unfortunately, foul trouble has put me those situations but it is sometimes putting the best group, going with your gut instinct or past experiences to try to put them in the best situation."

How impressive was AJ Hoggard's performance today?

"Yeah, it was a point of our meeting a couple days ago. I was really proud of his character in the last win. That's not easy, but if you go back and watch the film, watch how he's cheering on his teammates, watch how he's happy for their success and that karma comes back. So of course he's going to be successful and we just tried to build him up the last couple days. I had an assistant coach watch all the good things he's doing. We know that he can do some things better than what he is, but he's a high level player, he cares about his teammates, he's fallen in love with Vanderbilt and we're going to need him in March. He said it, but we're going to need him in March."

What did you make of the boost Tyler Tanner gave you?

"Yeah it's not unusual, Tyler Tanner always gives us a boost. I think he's figuring out the SEC a little bit more as he goes along. The last game I couldn't take him off the court. Tonight, Chris was playing so well and AJ was playing so well, probably affected his minutes, but I trust him. He's 18-years old and I trust him in these sitautions and he'll be back out there again."

What it is about the makeup of the team that gives them the ability to keep fighting?

"Well, we've got something to prove. That's a great motivator. I'm finding guys, we talked about the NCAA Tournament, we talked about this league. Some people want to run from the challenge of this league, they want to run from the competition. Like I said, six-straight ranked teams, nobody else is going through that besides the SEC. What that does is it kind of figures out how strong you are, how good you are and you'd better learn along the way. These guys are doing it, we make mistakes, we learn from them. They've got more to prove and now we've got 20 wins, but this is not something where we ran across the finish line. It's still in front of us."

Is rest a priority ahead of the Arkansas game?

"Yeah these Tuesday games, and so we go Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday and we've done that before. Luckily we're at home, 9:00 game, that's not my favorite, I'm going to need extra coffee on Tuesday, but if the crowd's like that that's going to give us energy and it's the last time we'll play in this building, so I know we want to play well. I know we want to keep going."

Do you think you're off the bubble, building momentum to SEC Tournament and going to have good support?

"Yeah, I'm hoping the crowd does carry over to the SEC Tournament and that we do travel. My mom told me today that if we win today we're in the NCAA Tournament, so she's my bracketologist."

Will trips to Starbucks be easier now not having to hear bubble chatter?

"Yeah, it's funny. I shouldn't've said that because now it gets said to me even more. This team's done a good job and is in position to take that pressure off and now we can focus on just getting better and trying to win the games. Look it's not fun being on the bubble, it's not fun having all those things because no one's going to have a conversation with you without bringing it up, I just learned that, same way with our guys. Now we're past that and it's figure out how to keep improving and I know we've got some areas we can get better at and try to make a run in these last two SEC games and then try to make a run down in Bridgestone."

What helped ya'll turn things around offensively in overtime?

"Well we were, in the first half it was frustrating to me as a coach because we were playing east and west. We were going sideways and they were switching things and we couldn't get to the paint. We finally figured out the way we were going to be successful was to attack off the drive and try to get our feet into the paint and make a decision from there. So we were trying to put guys in different situations and guys made plays too. AJ made some tough shots, but they were learning to play off that. It was a much better offensive performance, like you said, in the second half and in overtime because there was some spotty play in the first half."