Vanderbilt University junior forward and former Tiger Ross Neltner said he expected to get booed Wednesday night when he returned for the first time to the PMAC since the 2004-2005 season. What Neltner didn’t expect was to have an LSU manager jokingly tell him during warm-ups that he was “one step below” former LSU football coach Nick Saban in the eyes of LSU fans. “I said, ‘Is it that bad, man?'” Neltner said of the conversation. In Vanderbilt’s 64-53 victory over LSU, Neltner scored only 2 points with 1-5 shooting from the field but recorded four rebounds and two assists. “Sometimes you hear [negative cheers] when you’re warming up or dead balls or stuff like that, but if they’re yelling during the game, you’re so focused, and you’ve got so much attention on what’s going on, you can’t even really pay attention to it,” Neltner said. “You don’t even think about it. It’s kind of like blocking the coaches out in practice. It’s just something you do.” Neltner said he did not speak with LSU coach John Brady before or after the game. “I don’t regret anything that went on down here,” Neltner said. “I got better as a basketball player. I grew as a person. I don’t have any regrets, but I’m definitely in a better place now.” Vanderbilt junior guard and Kenner native Shan Foster experienced a warmer homecoming than his fellow teammate Neltner. Foster said he had “some of everybody” in the crowd. “[I had] my mom, grandmother, aunt, sisters, brothers, cousins, people from my church, people I knew from around the area,” Foster said. “It was crazy. I probably had about 60 people out there.” Foster scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in 34 minutes of play. “It makes you feel really appreciated,” Foster said. “It lets you know you have that support system when you come home.” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he told his two players with Louisiana ties to stay calm during the game. “I grabbed both of them on Monday … first thing I did before practice started,” Stallings said. “I said, ‘Listen. I’m not interested in you guys going down there and getting so psyched up to play that you whiff. Be composed. Treat it like any other game, and play it like any other game.’ They were both really effective for us.” Stallings said he thought Neltner “was rushing his shot a little bit” but added an “outstanding” defensive effort, especially holding LSU junior forward Glen Davis to only 12 points. Stallings said he told his team to remain focused when LSU narrowed the lead to single digits in the second half. “I told them, ‘Play to win,'” Stallings said. “We didn’t come here to play to lose. Play to win, and attack them. Keep attacking them.” Stallings said his team became tentative with about 6:00 left in the game. “We were just kind of playing and holding and not being aggressive on offense,” he said. “That’s not who we are. We’ve got to attack.” A majority of Vanderbilt’s attack came from the perimeter as the Commodores scored 30 points from behind the arc. Vanderbilt senior guard Dan Cage hit four 3-pointers and senior guard Derrick Byars hit three. “We have a lot of guys that make big plays. We’ve got some great 3-point shooters on our team,” Cage said. Cage said he thought the 3-pointers caused some mental distress for LSU. “Just like when you’re on defense and the other team hits a [3-pointer], you kind of have that sinking feeling in your stomach because you know you gave up the big play,” he said. Cage said Vanderbilt’s defensive effort ultimately secured the victory. “More than anything it was just coming out here and trying to do whatever we could to stop them,” Cage said. “Fortunately enough this just happened to be one of those nights where they weren’t hitting shots, and we were able to take advantage.”
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