Festus Ezeli Harvests the Souls of Belmont's Frontcourt in a 85-76 Win
by Christian D'Andrea on Dec 4, 2010 4:51 PM EST
in Vanderbilt Commodores Basketball
Email
PrintUPDATE: Andre Walker has mono. He's likely out until Christmas. The Missouri game just got a bit tougher.
Festus Ezeli had his greatest game as a Commodore, scoring 24 points and pulling down 10 rebounds against overmatched Belmont Saturday. Ezeli was a force on both sides of the court, scoring efficiently (7-9 from the field, 10-14 at the free throw line, one turnover) and defending well (four steals, three blocks). The redshirt junior's play helped offset the absence of Andre Walker (illness) and a poor showing from John Jenkins to lead Vanderbilt to the victory.
Today's game showcased Walker's value, as the Commodore offense struggled to create scoring opportunities without their point-forward on the floor. The team posted just 11 assists and 20 turnovers in an often disjointed effort that could have been disastrous against a stronger opponent. Vandy's guards were clearly stifled by not having a reliable outlet who can play inside and out. Despite Walker's disappointing stat lines this season, it's apparent that this team needs him on the court to put together their best basketball.
Freshman Rod Odom started in place of Walker, but appeared to be dealing with some nerves in his first collegiate start. While the lanky forward showed off his range with a pair of three-pointers, his suspect ballhandling led to five turnovers and three fouls in just 17 minutes of court time. Lance Goulbourne was effective off the bench in relief, scoring in bunches and working the glass to help the 'Dores pull away in the second half. He finished the game with 15 points and six rebounds.
Jeffery Taylor shook off the cobwebs from a pair of sub-par performances to put up a solid day as well. Taylor scored 16 points and tallied his third consecutive game with a three-pointer made. He's now connected from long range in six of the team's eight games this year. John Jenkins, conversely, missed both his three-point attempts and shot just 1-7 from the field in a disappointing showing.
The win improves the Commodores to 7-1 on the season, and coupled with Kentucky's loss against North Carolina, puts the team neck-and-neck with Tennessee for SEC superiority. Coincidentally, both teams have now posted 85-76 wins over Belmont this season. Vanderbilt will have a chance to prove their worthiness of a Top 25 spot on Wednesday when they travel to #8 Missouri. The Tigers are known for their intense defensive pressure, and they'll provide a real test for Brad Tinsley and Kyle Fuller's ballhandling in the backcourt.
8 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
From the game quotes
Festus had a little extra motivation today as his family was in town to watch him play. What a game to get to share with them!
On his family being able to see him play:
"It was the second time, they were here my freshman year. My mom moved to California this summer and my dad he flew in from Nigeria. I’ll remember this for a long time."
Andre Walker
Apparently has mono, probably out until at least Christmas.
Really unfortunate.
source
http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120410aae.html
Stallings press conference, about 5 minutes in
Only one reason we won today:
Festus.
Belmont was actually very good downlow, they just couldn’t hang with the muscle. They actually scored a lot downlow, some was just taking Fes on, and a lot just moving the ball well.
I haven’t seen Vandy’s offense work all season like Belmont’s did today. I think we did a lot better defensively in the 2nd half, but we still couldn’t really stop them.
Not to be a downer, because I believe we certainly can beat Missouri, but I’m not feeling good about it at all, especially with Andre out. We’ll miss him a lot, not just bringing the ball down court, but getting it inbounds.
Brad is still struggling against the press and worst of all, now we can hardly get the ball into him (and as much as I love his stroke, let’s say Rod’s inbounds passes aren’t up there with his three shooting). Fuller is OK at breaking the press, except that when he gets going fast he tends to throw it away.
If Missouri presses us for a large portion of the game, it could be hard to watch.
We’re really lucky that Fes has stepped up so much, but if he does get in foul trouble we’ll seriously need Jeff and JJ to step up serious.
Jeff did play a lot better. Didn’t take the game over or anything, but he was generally much better.
Still relying too much on three pointers, but honestly I’d rather rely on them than suck at them, and we were able to get quite a few today without JJ, so that’s good.
I honestly didn’t think JJ had too bad a day. I wish he could get himself open, but they guarded him really well. If he could break that kind of hard man coverage, he’d be unstoppable, but we always knew that’s not really in his game.
I was impressed how well he stayed in the game despite not being able to get open, just in that he seemed to make more defensive plays today than I’ve seen him make before. He didn’t seem that frustrated and he never seemed like a black hole on offense. I couldn’t really tell from the stands, but did the focus on him open up shots for others?
Another down side, tough game for Steve. I wish so bad we had a backup C and could let Steve play the 4, especially now with Andre out.
I’ve focused mostly on the bad, but this is another case of we beating a good team not playing our best game. I’m impressed with the win. We beat a really well coached team that was pretty good at taking advantage of our weaknesses. We did a good job of taking advantage of our strengths (or maybe rather than “our strengths” I should just say Festus’s strength).
Didn’t realize that was getting so long.
Only other thought, good grief are we condescending, that “Vandy Rejects” chant was pretty harsh.
I chuckled, but it’s one of those things where you’re almost laughing at yourself. It’s kind of funny when we exactly as obnoxious as everyone thinks.
I used to do tech support for a non-profit in DC...
…and the CEO’s assistant at the time was a Kentucky grad. So long ago that she had worked in the UK athletic office with Bear Bryant. She said that the first time she accompanied the team to Memorial, the Vandy fans were so mean that she just burst into tears.
I was fist-pumping on the inside… ;]
"Well, if that ain't a show, I'll kiss your ass." - Gov. Jim Folsom Sr. (D-AL), 1948-52
Defense on Jenkins
I’m not sure that Missouri will have the kind of discipline that Belmont had today in defending Jenkins for 40 mins. But all this attention being placed on Jenkins is resulting in a lot of wide open shots for our forwards – I don’t think it is a coincidence that Odom, Goulbourne Taylor and Tchiengang are all shooting so well from three – the perimeter defenders have to make a choice, and they will choose to stay on Jenkins over defending anybody else out there.
Brad his issues against the press, but was hardly the worst culprit today. I’m sure inbounding against full court will be worked on heavily over the next few days. Otherwise, I thought Brad played very well overall – I like that 8 games in, he still leads our team in defensive rebounding.
by Jason Fukuda on Dec 4, 2010 10:44 PM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Anchor Of Gold
Related FanShots on Anchor Of Gold
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
National Commodore Club
