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God bless the refs from Tuesday night’s game in College Station. In Vanderbilt’s last conference game against Arkansas, each team was whistled for 20 fouls. On Tuesday night, the two teams were whistled for 17 fouls — combined. While yes, Vanderbilt only got to the foul line three times while the Aggies shot 11 free throws, you didn’t have the refs taking over the game, which is very good.
The other good thing about this game was that for the first time since the Alabama game on January 7 (which Vanderbilt lost because the offense went bye-bye), Vanderbilt held an opponent below a point per possession. In part, that’s because Texas A&M sucks at offense, but if Bryce Drew is figuring out how to get this team to play defense? Well, we may want to rethink whether this season is a lost cause.
Individual Stats
| Player | MIN | FG | FGA | 3FG | 3FGA | FT | FTA | ORB | DRB | REB | PF | PTS | AST | TO | BLK | STL | AdjGS | GS/Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Kornet | 36 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18.4 | 0.51 |
| Joe Toye | 21 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 0.57 |
| Nolan Cressler | 24 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11.6 | 0.48 |
| Matthew Fisher-Davis | 32 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.4 | 0.29 |
| Jeff Roberson | 25 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7.6 | 0.30 |
| Clevon Brown | 15 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.3 | 0.49 |
| Riley LaChance | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.6 | 0.05 |
| Payton Willis | 13 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| Djery Baptiste | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
- The thing that immediately jumps out to me is that nobody had a spectacular game. But six players were pretty good, which is probably better than one guy going off.
- There was a time when Joe Toye and Nolan Cressler posting the second-highest Game Scores on the team was a sign that we probably lost the game, but this time around it was Toye and Cressler actually being good as opposed to everyone else stinking up the joint.
- Actually, Toye has scored in double figures in three of the last six games, and Cressler has done so in five of six.
- Matthew Fisher-Davis and Jeff Roberson weren’t great, but you can live with that when other guys are picking up the slack. That said, depending on Toye and Cressler to carry the team probably isn’t a great idea going forward.
- Also depending on Clevon Brown to do that might not be repeatable. Yes, six points is his career high.
- That freshman wall really came fast for Payton Willis, and it’s honestly not clear what his future with the program will look like with Saben Lee and Max Evans coming into the fold next year.
- Same thing for Djery Baptiste with Ejike Obinna coming in (and, well, maybe others.)
What’s Next
Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon. Prepare yourself to see Bryce Drew’s shot replayed a dozen times.