Jerry Stackhouse criticizes ‘selfish’ play from Jordan Wright

After Tuesday night’s loss to Kentucky, Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse criticized veteran Jordan Wright for being selfish.

Wright, who has dealt with injury issues this season, only played four minutes in the second half. After the game, Stackhouse was asked about the reason why.

“That was straight coach’s decision,” Jerry Stackhouse explained. “I’m not gonna watch, I’ll play our young guys and watch them get better before I take lackluster effort and selfish play from any of our older guys.”

This season, Wright is averaging 10.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Against Kentucky, he only had 2 points and 4 rebounds.

“It’s not who we’re gonna be. It’s not sustainable for what I envisioned for our program and it’s a non-negotiable. We’re gonna share the ball, we’re gonna play the right way, and if not we’re gonna find guys that do.”

It’ll be interesting to see what type of playing time Jerry Stackhouse gives to Jordan Wright in Vanderbilt’s next game against Texas A&M. That game is on Saturday and the Commodores need to win or they’ll fall below .500 on the season.

Jerry Stackhouse on the offense without Lee Dort

Lee Dort has a stress fracture in his foot, which has forced Vanderbilt to find a way to succeed offensively without him. It’s difficult, as Jerry Stackhouse explained.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve got other ways that we’re going to be able to play. Still trying to get some baskets inside as well. I think Malik [Dia] was great for us tonight. I mean, he came in the second half, really set some screens,” Stackhouse said.

“His ability to pop is really going to be able to, I think, cause some issues for some other teams to stretch them out a little more. We need paint points. So even if we’re not posting we’ve still got to get our feet in the paint and drive. And I thought we left a lot of opportunities in the first half by not gathering and playing off two feet by jumping off one.”