NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will be looking to end the season Saturday by doing something it hasn’t done since December – win back-to-back games.
The Commodores (10-20, 2-15 SEC) are coming off an impressive 87-79 victory at Alabama on Saturday. Now the trick is to try to knock off South Carolina (tipoff at 11:30 a.m.) inside Memorial Gymnasium to concoct even more momentum going into the postseason.
“We know that in every game we’ve competed,” Vanderbilt freshman forward Dylan Disu said. “There have been some games that kind of got away from us, like, score-wise that weren’t as pretty as we wanted them to be. But we know that if we continue to work and do what we’re supposed to do we’ll come out with wins.”
Vandy has already surpassed its win total (9) from the 2018-19 season. Despite losing sophomore guard and leading scorer Aaron Nesmith to a foot injury and starting center Clevon Brown to a knee injury, Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse’s squad has pushed on every week striving for wins.
Fifteen defeats in league play, seven of which have been by 10 points or less, hasn’t broken Vanderbilt’s spirit. The two SEC wins are over the league’s third-place and ninth-place teams – that gives Vandy hope it can knock off whomever it faces starting next week at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The Commodores are locked in to the No. 14 seed and begin postseason play at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena.
“I still think, and I’ve been saying it all along, there’s still something in store for these guys,” Stackhouse said. “It was great to get that road win (at Alabama) at the end of the season, but let’s be greedy.
“It’s not beating ourselves. It’s OK for us to come out and maybe the final score is not in our favor, but let’s not do it to ourselves. Make teams come and beat us and I think we have a good understanding of how we need to go about that and hopefully we can perform better over the next week or so.”
South Carolina (18-12, 10-7 SEC) has dropped 3 of 5 coming to Nashville. On Tuesday, the Gamecocks beat Mississippi State 83-71.
AJ Lawson leads three South Carolina players in double figures with 13.6 points per game. Jermaine Couisnard’s 3.2 assists per contest make the Gamecocks go offensively.
South Carolina, 3-5 on the road in SEC play, is tied for fifth in the SEC standings going into the weekend. They’ll be looking to create some momentum of their own Saturday as well.
“I think guys are in a good space. Hard work is paying off and we’re doing it at the right time,” Stackhouse said. “Got a tough one (Saturday). A lot of size, guys playing well, playing for something – we’re just embracing the role of spoiler.”
• Vanderbilt junior Saben Lee (1,279) needs 22 points to pass Barry Booker (1,310) for 26th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list. Damian Jones (1,313) is 25th.
• Lee’s 535 points this season are the seventh-most by a junior in a single Vanderbilt season. Scott Draud is sixth having scored 546 in 1990.
• Lee ranks 36th nationally with 184 free throws attempts, 39th with 139 free throws made, 63rd with 545 points and 71st with a scoring average of 18.2.
• The Commodores lead the series with South Carolina 30-29 and 17-12 in games played at Vanderbilt.
• Vanderbilt freshman Jordan Wright (concussion) did not play at Alabama and redshirt-junior Matthew Moyer has missed five straight games due to a shoulder injury.
• The Commodores will play their 20th home game of the season Saturday, the most ever by a Vanderbilt team at Memorial Gymnasium.
• Vandy ranks second in the SEC with 8.3 3s made per game.
Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com. Follow him @MrChadBishop.
