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Georgia’s FT Rate in the chart above is a bit misleading: the Bulldogs attempted 14 free throws in the final two minutes of the game, when Vanderbilt was essentially trying to foul them. Of course, Vanderbilt’s FT Rate isn’t misleading at all: Vanderbilt only got to the line six times.
Inasmuch as that Georgia’s last two opponents attempted 35 and 32 free throws, respectively, and inasmuch as Vanderbilt attempted 32 (Kentucky) and 21 (Tennessee) free throws in its last two games, well, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on the fact that Vanderbilt attempted a grand total of six free throws last night.
That said, the bigger issue last night is that Vanderbilt just couldn’t get shots to fall. The Commodores shot 10-of-31 from three and, to be blunt, with the way this team typically plays on defense and with the relative inability to attack the basket or grab their own misses, that’s not going to cut it on most nights. But, well, the refs probably weren’t helping. The inconsistency of the officiating in college basketball, and the SEC in particular, is a persistent annoyance. At least if you’re going to call a loose game, (a) call it both ways and (b) call every game that way.
Individual Stats
| Player | MIN | FG | FGA | 3FG | 3FGA | FT | FTA | ORB | DRB | REB | PF | PTS | AST | TO | BLK | STL | AdjGS | GS/Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Kornet | 30 | 7 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21.9 | 0.73 |
| Riley LaChance | 27 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14.7 | 0.54 |
| Nolan Cressler | 30 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13.5 | 0.45 |
| Jeff Roberson | 31 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10.0 | 0.32 |
| Payton Willis | 18 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.3 | 0.24 |
| Matthew Fisher-Davis | 24 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.7 | 0.11 |
| Djery Baptiste | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 | 0.22 |
| Joe Toye | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.06 |
| Clevon Brown | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.5 | -0.28 |
- I still suspect Luke Kornet wasn’t fully healthy early in the season, and now that he’s healthy he’s doing fine.
- Riley LaChance and Nolan Cressler are fine complementary players, but for that to work Vanderbilt is gonna have to get better contributions from, well...
- Jeff Roberson, I mean, other than the turnovers that’s fine, but he’s still not getting his shot to fall.
- Matthew Fisher-Davis only committed one turnover, but it was the butt fumble of basketball turnovers.
- And yes, Vanderbilt needs Matthew Fisher-Davis to play significantly better than he has the last couple of games.
- With that whole situation, you can start to see the problems with having a really short (and frequently ineffective) bench. If Bryce Drew doesn’t like Matthew Fisher-Davis’s effort, there’s only so much he can do because he has to have five players on the floor at all times. This might be a hidden problem with Camron Justice and Phillip McGloin leaving the team, I guess.
- I’m not 100 percent sure why Payton Willis was pulled from the starting lineup. Cressler’s been playing better lately, but I’m just not sure what’s going on there.
- Now that Joe Toye’s gotten his first start of the season, Clevon Brown is the only player on the active roster who hasn’t started a game this season.
- Speaking of Brown, he played the most minutes he has since the MTSU game (when he played 17 minutes, and was the team MVP... which in hindsight, doesn’t that tell us a lot about the MTSU game?) But, well, he also kind of showed why he’s not getting more minutes.
What’s Next
Vanderbilt goes to Florida on Saturday, where the Gators are 14-3 and 5-0 in the SEC (they play at South Carolina tonight.) Tipoff is at 11:00 AM CT, and the game will be televised on CBS.