Jan. 4, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
On campus in Nashville – Vanderbilt (8-6, 2-0 SEC) rode a hot-shooting night – and a career effort from guard Matthew Fisher-Davis — to a win in its SEC home opener over Auburn (10-4, 0-2 SEC). Here’s how things went down at Memorial Gym on Wednesday night.
THE SKINNY: Vanderbilt wasted no time imposing its will on Auburn, amassing an early 19-point lead. Fisher-Davis knocked down five of his first seven 3-pointers to carry the load, and the ‘Dores ventured into halftime with a commanding 46-29 lead. (Auburn, meanwhile, shot just 31 percent in the first 20 minutes.) Vanderbilt kept its foot on the gas in the second half, hitting its first five shots and leading by as many as 26 points.
TURNING POINT: Vanderbilt’s first seven minutes. The ‘Dores used the game’s early moments to build an early 21-2 lead, a run capped by a Fisher-Davis 3-pointer at the 13:51 mark. Auburn was never able to climb within striking distance after the Commodores’ hot start.
IMPACT PLAYER: Matthew Fisher-Davis. The junior guard notched a new career-high with 33 points on 11-20 shooting. He began the night 5-of-7 on 3-pointers and finished 7-of-14 from downtown. Fisher-Davis scored 21 of his points in the first half, and his 33 total points were the most by a Vanderbilt player since A.J. Ogilvy’s 33 points against LSU on March 3, 2009. Fisher-Davis, who came in as Vanderbilt’s scoring leader at 16.3 points per game, has now scored 25, 23 and 33 points in his last three games.
STARTLING STAT: 14 – number of Vanderbilt 3-pointers against Auburn. The Commodores headed into their matchup with Auburn as the SEC’s leader in 3-point shooting (40.2%) and 3-pointers made per game (9.9). Led by Fisher-Davis’ performance, Vanderbilt managed to surpass both averages. It knocked down 14 of its 33 shots from downtown for a 42-percent clip. In all, six different players hit a 3-pointer against Auburn one week after hitting 16 total treys in a win over LSU.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Commodores began their season with a 6-6 record in nonconference play, which included tough losses to the likes of Marquette, Butler, Minnesota and Middle Tennessee State. But Vanderbilt has managed to generate some momentum with a 2-0 start in SEC play. (The ‘Dores beat LSU, 96-89, on Dec. 29.)
QUOTABLE: “I’ve had a couple of guys with that ability. It definitely makes it easy on the coaching end, I’ll tell you that. When he’s shooting that way, obviously he has a green light… I wish I could take credit for his 33 [points] tonight, but I can’t. That’s his hard work and his approach. He’s been very focused coming into these games.” -Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew, on Matthew Fisher-Davis’ career-high 33 points
WHAT’S NEXT: Vanderbilt next faces Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 7 in Tuscaloosa. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.