Vanderbilt Pushes Win Streak to Seven, Outlasts Georgia in 77-66 Win

by Christian D'Andrea on Jan 14, 2012 6:16 PM EST in Vanderbilt Commodores Basketball

Georgia made it Vanderbilt's closest SEC game of the season, but Vanderbilt was able to turn back the Bulldogs' rallies in a 77-66 win Saturday afternoon.

Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins led a balanced Commodore attack as Vandy won their seventh straight game and improved to 3-0 in SEC play. The duo combined for 33 points despite some shooting issues from both players. Vanderbilt overcame a hot Georgia start and held on late in the contest with clutch free throws to notch a solid conference win.

Taylor scored 15 points despite a rough showing at the free throw line. He short-armed several shots and finished just 6-12 from the stripe. He also picked up a careless technical foul with 1:21 to play that helped UGA cut Vanderbilt's lead from six points to four, giving the 'Dawgs possession and a new life late in the game. Fortunately for Taylor, Georgia could not capitalize on the opportunity.

Festus Ezeli made his presence felt in crunch time. The center pulled down a pair of key offensive rebounds that led to free throws and extended Vandy's lead from three points to six with three minutes to play. Georgia's three-point shooting, the aspect that kept them in the game through the second half, faded down the stretch, allowing the Commodores to pull away behind some strong rebounding and efficient play at the basket.

The win was a strong display of Vanderbilt's emerging bench strength. Players like Rod Odom and Dai-Jon Parker led an effort than helped the Commodores extend their lead when starters needed rest. The team got 15 points from their bench, and the team's supporting players went 5-8 from the field in an efficient showing.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope proved that quick, volume-shooting guards can still give Vanderbilt fits, scoring 19 points in the game and leading the Bulldogs. However, the 'Dores were able to force the freshman into careless mistakes in crunch time and adjusted well to limit UGA's ball movement when they needed to the most. Gerald Robinson added 15 points of his own, but the Bulldogs were held to just 38.9 percent shooting from the field. Conversely, Vanderbilt shot 51.2 percent.

The win improved the Commodores to 13-4 on the season. They'll travel to Tuscaloosa for a nationally televised showdown with Anthony Grant's Alabama team on Thursday.

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Two hundred points and the elusive win/loss!

Just messin’, TI.

In all seriousness though, this was a gritty performance. It wasn’t pretty, but we’ve lost plenty of games like this over the years. I certainly won’t complain about coming out with a W.

I like Tennessee and Vanderbilt. There aren't many like me, and they're probably better off for it.

by VolnVA on Jan 14, 2012 6:43 PM EST reply actions

This is what happens when I write game recaps without beer :(

Anchor of Gold - for all 45 Vanderbilt fans out there.

by Christian D'Andrea on Jan 14, 2012 7:40 PM EST up reply actions

That's cool

I just realized I screwed up my smart ass comment because XX is 20, not 200. Beers for everyone next time!

I like Tennessee and Vanderbilt. There aren't many like me, and they're probably better off for it.

by VolnVA on Jan 14, 2012 11:49 PM EST up reply actions

Best moment

The crowd getting so upset about the blatant lack of three second calls that they started counting the time #32 spent in the lane. They got up to 10 with no call (I think he got out of the lane briefly in that stretch, but that still leaves two missed three-second calls on that possession).

Dai-Jon is starting to be a solid offensive contributor in addition to his stout defense and I love it. Although I can’t deny that the reverse layup positively terrified me until it went in.

I’ll take a 3-0 start to SEC play any year.

Also, I love Lance Goulbourne. He continues to have an amazing year.

by Aaron Novick on Jan 14, 2012 7:17 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

I am so looking for this on the replay

Love our Memorial Maniacs when they get irritable =)

"Well, if that ain't a show, I'll kiss your ass." - Gov. Jim Folsom Sr. (D-AL), 1948-52

by VandyImport on Jan 15, 2012 11:58 AM EST up reply actions

around midway through the first half

by Aaron Novick on Jan 15, 2012 1:49 PM EST up reply actions

Good win

against a fired up UGA team and some suspect referees. Where in the world do they find these guys?J.B. Caldwell (the old dude) should just stay home and watch games on TV. I’m not sure why Patick Evans (the African-American dude) even showed up since he swallowed his whistle most of the game unless it was to make a bad call. Anyway, glad we could pull that out but the refs definitely kept UGA in the game for a while.

by smyrnadore on Jan 14, 2012 9:20 PM EST reply actions

Refs

I was wondering how everyone else viewed the officiating. I thought it was the worst officiating of the year. I know my perception may sometimes be skewed, but the grabbing and pushing by Georgia (#42 in particular) was blatant and uncalled. There were several times our guys could only go up for a rebound with one hand because of the holds.

by Smoke n Mirrors on Jan 14, 2012 9:36 PM EST up reply actions

I thought it poor, as did some ’dawg fans (who felt the refs were calling the game in their favor). However, they got called for more fouls, had three players foul out, and took 10 fewer free-throws than we made.

by vandyjl on Jan 14, 2012 10:20 PM EST reply actions

Overall

We played a decent game offensively, as we were able to get to the basket and were agressive (especially in the second half) and went away from the three point shot as it wasn’t really working tonight. One thing that often gets overlooked is how good of a screener Festus is. He probably had at least four screens that involved him sealing his man off to allow our guy to get to the rim unmolested. He also is clearly our best screener at the top and guys were really looking for the screen and roll play with him today. It was a very balanced attack, and the guys off the bench were productive.

OTOH, we were not particularly good defensively until the end of the game. We had a lot of trouble when their center set a screen, as our center (both ST and FE) are supposed to hedge and retreat, but each allowed dunks because they hedged too long and it became a double team, resulting in a wide open center under our basket. We also allowed too many offensive rebounds, as both FE and ST had difficulty corraling defensive boards that they should have easily had. We did play tough defense at the end of the game, which was nice to see – honestly half of our end of game woes last season was due to the fact that we were rarely stopping anybody. This part of our close game struggles tends to get overlooked, but we have the ability to get to the line and score enough to be able to perform in the clutch IF we can actually stop somebody on consecutive possessions. I really thought Jenkins did a fantastic job overall defensively on Robinson. No way I would have dreamed of saying that a year ago.

A bit of a sloppy game from us, but in the end we get a double digit victory. Dai-Jon Parker looks like a guy who will definitely be able to provide valuable minutes, and he is slowly but surely gaining the confidence of CKS. Hopefully we can have a better performance against Alabama, but it is a very winnable game.

by Jason Fukuda on Jan 14, 2012 11:56 PM EST reply actions

Top25

I can’t agree more than saying that Bama is a very winable game right now, especially more than MS. It’s just too bad that Bama lost Saturday and will likely not crack top25 tomorrow, we need more W’s against HigherRPI, really need the MS game

by RyanLeath on Jan 15, 2012 7:35 PM EST via mobile reply actions