Jan. 29, 2008
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| (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin) |
Vanderbilt hits the road again Wednesday in search of its first SEC road win in four tries as the No. 18 Commodores travel to Oxford, Miss., to take on No. 22 Ole Miss at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
And while the Commodores (17-3, 2-3 SEC) have been unsuccessful so far outside of Memorial Gym to start league play, it should be pointed out that the rest of the SEC has had a difficult time finding wins in opposing venues as well. Through the first three weeks of the conference schedule, road teams hold a noticeable record of 9-21.
“There are road wins to be had out there, but they’re going to be difficult,” said Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings during Monday’s coaches teleconference. “It’s obviously a difficult league to win in on the road. Most leagues are difficult to win in on the road, but this year, it seems more so in our league.”
The Commodores have been put to the test early with trips to three of the toughest venues in the country in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida.
How tough?
Vanderbilt had dropped 28 straight games at Rupp Arena before the Commodores scored consecutive victories over the Wildcats in Lexington in the previous two seasons. The Vols have reeled off 27 wins in a row at Thompson-Boling Arena and haven’t been defeated on their home court since March 2006. And don’t forget about defending two-time NCAA champion Florida. The Gators have fallen only three times in three years (47-3) at the O’Connell Center.
“We’ve probably played in three of arguably the toughest road environments in the country in our first three league road games,” added Stallings. “I’m sure if you took many teams and sent them to those venues, they would struggle.”
Stallings isn’t the only SEC coach that knows about the heartache of life on the road. Just ask Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy. Entering league play undefeated, the Rebels (15-3, 2-3) have dropped all three of its road contests, falling at Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State.
“We had the same issue last year,” said Kennedy. “I think last year (in the SEC) we were 7-1 at home but 1-7 on the road. It’s very difficult (to play) on the road. I think everyone suffers from that. Obviously, we’ve got to find a way to be mentally and physically tough enough to go and break through on the road. We haven’t been able to do so to this point.”
Two areas of trouble that standout for Vanderbilt during SEC road play have been slow starts and a lack of offense.
The Commodores have trailed by double digits at half time in all three losses, including being down by as many as 28 in the first 12 minutes of Sunday’s contest with Florida, while scoring season lows of 22 and 23 points at Kentucky and Tennessee respectively. The one-two scoring punch of Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy have been hounded by opposing defenses and held to a combined total of 17 points in the opening twenty minutes of those games.
Also, Vanderbilt’s third best scoring offense in the SEC has been limited to only 66 points per game during conference road tilts, 18 points less than its season average. And even though they lead the SEC in three-point shooting at 42 percent per game, the trifecta hasn’t been falling either as the Commodores have been held to 28% from downtown (18 for 65).
“We certainly haven’t scored as well in the conference season,” stated Stallings. “We haven’t rebounded well. Those two things jump off the page. I think there’s been slippage in many areas. Some of our key guys aren’t playing with the same aggressiveness and confidence as they were early on.”
It doesn’t get any easier on Wednesday night, as Vanderbilt faces a talented Ole Miss squad that is undefeated at home this year and 25-1 in Oxford since Kennedy took the helm last season.
And even though there’s still a lot of basketball left to be played, a win over the Rebels could be just the cure the Commodores need to forget about any of its early conference road blues.
“Six of our first nine are on the road,” said Stallings. “It comes back to you at some point, but what we hope is that we can weather the storm. We have to get wins on the road and keep the team’s confidence up so that when it does come back to us, we can still have some success with it.”