Postgame: Vanderbilt 89, South Carolina 79

At the conclusion of the season, we may look back and point to this game as one of the most important victories for the Commodores in the last 20 years. Vanderbilt is 3-0 in the SEC for the first time since the 1989-1990 season. So much for lack of toughness. This week, the 'Dores came out and punched its storied tradition of road futility in the mouth.

In the preview, I said that of the four factors, Vanderbilt should best South Carolina in effective field goal percentage, offensive rebounding percentage, and free throw rate, and that if that came to pass then losing out to South Carolina in turnover percentage wouldn't matter. Like the Commodores against the Gamecocks, I got it done (in my preview). I'm going to go ahead and award myself a Navy Cross for my stellar performance. Whoever is authoring the Anchor of Gold Wikipedia entry, please begin to keep track of this information.

In the name of sportsmanship, the Anchor of Gold must recognize the play of Devan Downey. We look forward to watching you continue to disprove the importance of height over heart in the NBA.

Relevant Links: Game Page /// TSN Recap /// Box Score /// Official Vanderbilt Recap /// Garnet and Black Attack

Plus/Minus

Plus/Minus Adjusted Per 40 Minutes

Congratulations to John Jenkins for again having the highest plus/minus when adjusted for minutes played.

Game Stories

VU survives Downey's 35 to beat SC, 89-79 | VandySports.com (Rivals - Premium)

Downey Dominates, but Vanderbilt beats South Carolina 89-79 | Dore Posts

Victory over South Carolina keeps Vanderbilt unbeaten in SEC play | Nashville City Paper

Vanderbilt surges to 3-0 SEC start | The Tennessean

Vanderbilt downs Downey and USC, 89-79 | VandyMania.com (Scout)

Vanderbilt's offense sinks Gamecocks, 89-79 | GamecockAnthem.com (Scout)

VUcommodores.com Blog: South Carolina: Odds and Ends

"Our depth has been very, very valuable for us," head coach Kevin Stallings said. "Lance Goulbourne and Steve Tchiengang gave us a great night. Festus Ezeli was typical Fes: strong and tough in there. And John comes in and, of course, hits his shots. It was a good overall performance and one that we needed all of our guys to get."

With 10 points against the Gamecocks, Jermaine Beal now has 993 points in his collegiate career, just 7 shy of the 1,000 mark.

"We need to take advantage of the time and not sit back and think about what we've done this week," Stallings remarked. "We have to focus on an Auburn team that almost knocked off Kentucky tonight. We like these weeks because it's an opportunity to get ourselves better. There are some things that we need to work on and hopefully we can get better before next Saturday."

VUcommodores.com Blog: Ogilvy continues hot play

"He dominated the second half around the goal," head coach Kevin Stallings said. "He was phenomenal, strong, explosive and authoritative."

"He dominated the second half around the goal," head coach Kevin Stallings said. "He was phenomenal, strong, explosive and authoritative."

"It's a little sore," A.J. Ogilvy said. "It's not anything that I can't play through. I'll think I'm going to get some treatment on it tomorrow to make sure it doesn't turn into anything more than it needs to be."

VUcommodores.com Blog: 'Dores grab a victory

"I thought the difference in the game was our play on the backboards," head coach Kevin Stallings pointed out. "We got more of our misses than they did for the game and that's a very unusual thing."

And can you guess who the top rebounder was for the Gamecocks? 5'9 guard Devan Downey -- the smallest guy on the court -- with five.

(Brandon Barca, getting it done)