Jan. 30, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
On campus in Nashville – With less than five minutes to play in Saturday’s matchup between Vanderbilt and Iowa State, senior guard Nolan Cressler punctuated a stellar afternoon with an exclamation point.
The Commodores held a 69-59 lead when, off an inbounds pass, Cressler broke free of Iowa State’s press and streaked down the court for a wide-open dunk. The bucket sparked a frenzied Memorial Gym and gave Vanderbilt a 12-point cushion with 4:32 left. It also gave Cressler 20 points on the day, his highest-scoring output in two seasons as a Commodore.
Cressler’s performance helped Vanderbilt win, 84-78, and bounce back from a deflating loss to Arkansas last Tuesday in which it gave up a 15-point lead with six minutes left. Now the Commodores have two big wins in three games, and Cressler — one of just two seniors on the roster alongside Luke Kornet – has been a key player in Vanderbilt’s resurgence. The senior hopes his own confidence will fuel bigger things for the ‘Dores.
“We’ve played with a little bit more freedom this year,” Cressler said after Saturday’s win. “Every offense seems different. I just think I’ve kind of approached this year with a different mentality, it being my senior year.”
Cressler, a second-year transfer from Cornell, scored his 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting against Iowa State, finishing 4-4 on 3-pointers. He also chipped in five boards and four assists. Saturday served as Cressler’s most impactful outing as a Commodore, but it was just the most recent spark in a key second-half stretch for the senior. In his last 10 games, Cressler has averaged 9.4 points and scored in double-digits on seven occasions. He began the year averaging 5.3 points through 11 contests with just a single double-digit game.
ELLIS: Cleaning the Glass from Vanderbilt’s win over Iowa State
The difference, Drew said, is Cressler’s health. During preseason practice, the guard tweaked a back injury that had been nagging him since last season. That contributed to a slow start and renewed questions about expectations. Cressler came to Vanderbilt two years ago after leading Cornell in scoring (16.8 points per game) as a sophomore in 2013-14. He redshirted immediately for the ‘Dores and shined as a scout-team player, leading many to view Cressler as a potential game-changer alongside future NBA draft picks Wade Baldwin and Damien Jones.
But Cressler never truly found a groove in 2015-16, contributing just 4.8 points per game in 30 contests. Now, Vanderbilt fans are witnessing Cressler’s true potential, Drew said.
“I really think it took him a while to get his legs back under him to where he was playing during the preseason,” Drew said. “He’s been phenomenal. I think with our spacing, with Luke being able to space the floor a little bit better, it’s really opened the lane up [for Cressler].”
Cressler’s play has come at a good time for Vanderbilt. The Commodores have now won two of three following a four-game SEC losing streak, and those two wins are perhaps their best of the season. They beat then-No. 19 Florida, 68-66, on Jan. 21 before topping Iowa State a week later. Cressler scored just two points (1-5 FGs) in Vanderbilt’s 71-70 loss to Arkansas in between, but he chipped in 30 points on 12-16 shooting in the wins over Florida and Iowa State.
Cressler has a chance to continue his surge on Tuesday at Texas A&M (8 p.m. CT on ESPNU). If the senior adds that extra element alongside Kornet and sharpshooter Matthew Fisher-Davis, Vanderbilt’s postseason hopes could become much more interesting in February. That’s the impact Cressler hopes to make before he ends his Commodore career.
“This is something me and Luke have really talked about, along with Coach Drew,” Cressler said. “We didn’t necessarily know we were going to have a whole new staff, a whole new culture this year. But me and Luke and the rest of our team have really bought in.
“The thing we’ve talked about is to make sure we look back on this year and make sure we’ve left our legacy on this program and have really set the standards for the way this culture and this program is going forward along with Coach Drew.”