Well, that sucked: Vanderbilt loses to Bucknell 75-72

Well, that’s not going to help the old NCAA Tournament resume.

The Vanderbilt Commodores scored on their first eight possessions of the game, building an 18-11 lead over the Bucknell Bison at the first media timeout. But that lead didn’t hold up once the Commodores started missing shots, and Bucknell ended the first half on a 17-4 run that gave the Bison a 40-38 lead at the half.

With the exception of a brief stretch around the ten-minute mark, when Bucknell briefly extended its lead to seven points, the Commodores and the Bison effectively played the entire second half within one possession of each other. Vanderbilt looked to have a chance to pull even in the last minute after Matthew Fisher-Davis was fouled on a three-point attempt, but while Fisher-Davis had 23 points on the night he could only make two of three free throws. After Bucknell’s Kimbal Mackenzie made two free throws at the other end, Joe Toye’s desperation heave missed, giving the Bison a 75-72 win in Memorial Gym.

This is, obviously, demoralizing: Bucknell is now 3-2 on the season and ranked #197 in KenPom; the Bison lost to Wake Forest by 20 and Butler by 26. Vanderbilt dropped to 2-2 on the season, and now head to the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational, where they’ll play Butler at 7:00 PM CT on Thanksgiving night. And, yes, that’s the same Butler team that handled Bucknell easily on Saturday. The game will be televised on FS1.