The Vanderbilt Commodores (13-13, 6-7) earned a solid home victory over the Texas A&M Aggies (13-12, 5-8) on Thursday in Nashville.
It was the 1000th game played at Memorial Gym, and after a slow start, Bryce Drew’s team was able to fight back and sweep the season series with the Aggies.
Vandy got outstanding scoring balance, with four players scoring between 12 and 14 points.
Texas A&M got a huge night out of big man Tyler Davis (25 points) and freshman sensation Robert Williams (13 points and 13 rebounds), but it simply wasn’t enough.
Blake’s Take:
After a long streak of having no idea how Vandy games would play out, I hit pretty much nailed this one.
Here were my thoughts on how the Commodores could duplicate their success against Texas A&M from Thursday’s predictions column:
The key to success for the Commodores in that game? Balance. Five players scored between 10 and 12 points in that game, and when Drew gets that type of production from his team, it usually results in a victory.
And balance is exactly what Drew got from his team.
Matthew Fisher-Davis led the way with 14, Joe Toye had 13, Riley LaChance had 12, and Luke Kornet added 12. That’s balance.
Of course, it helped that Vandy shot the three well. The Commodores went 10-for-26 from beyond the arc, and hitting that many threes is usually also a formula for success.
What does this win do for Kornet and company? Well, not much from an NCAA tournament standpoint. The loss at Missouri dashed those hopes, but the good news for Vandy is that it has more than enough opportunities down the stretch to earn quality wins.
South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida are all on the schedule, so if the Commodores bring their best, earning several wins from that group would certainly put them back in the bubble picture.
That’ll be easier said than done.
Blake Lovell has worked in sports media for over 10 years. He currently covers SEC football and basketball for various publications.