Anchor Drop, February 27, 2023: Bowling Wins

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

Vanderbilt bowling, finally, won a tournament. After a bunch of near-misses this season, the Commodores put in an utterly dominant performance over the weekend to claim the title at the Stallings Shine-O Ball-O Invitational for the second year in a row. The Commodores have three weeks off before hosting the Music City Classic, followed a week later by the Southland Championship.

Baseball took the series against UCLA with yesterday’s 2-1 win. I’m still concerned about the offense, but Vanderbilt’s pitching should be good enough to have a chance in most games.

Women’s basketball closed out its regular season with a near miss in a 78-76 loss at Auburn yesterday. The Commodores will enter the SEC Tournament on Wednesday with a 12-16 record, 3-13 in the conference. They’ll be the 12-seed and face Texas A&M in the tournament opener at 10 AM CT.

Women’s tennis closed out nonconference play with a 7-0 win over MTSU, while the men’s team dropped one to Northwestern 4-1.

Today, women’s golf opens the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Hilton Head Island, while lacrosse hosts Louisville at 1 PM CT on ESPN+.

In non-Vanderbilt news, college basketball’s championship week kicks off today with the A-SUN Tournament, where Florida Gulf Coast plays Queens and Bellarmine plays North Florida, both at 6 PM CT on ESPN+. This isn’t the real Championship Week, though; that doesn’t start until Thursday, when we have the first conference tournament game at noon on a weekday. If your conference tournament doesn’t include any games at noon on a weekday, what the hell are you doing here?

Sports on TV

All times Central. College basketball schedule here.

• 6:00 PM: NBA: Heat at 76ers (NBA TV)
• 7:30 PM: NHL: Bruins at Oilers (NHL Network)

Scoreboard

SEC Baseball: Georgia 12, Princeton 7 (Game 1) ... Missouri 9, FIU 5 ... Florida 13, Cincinnati 7 ... Tennessee 6, Dayton 0 ... Kentucky 15, Wright State 0 ... Auburn 12, USC 12 ... South Carolina 6, Penn 5 ... Alabama 4, High Point 2 ... Eastern Illinois 12, Arkansas 3 ... Mississippi State 16, Arizona State 3 ... Texas A&M 5, Portland 4 ... Ole Miss 18, Maryland 8 ... Princeton 12, Georgia 11 (Game 2) ... LSU 16, Sam Houston 4.

SEC Women’s Basketball: South Carolina 73, Georgia 63 ... Arkansas 78, Texas A&M 65 ... Tennessee 83, Kentucky 63 ... Florida 61, Missouri 52 ... Ole Miss 57, Alabama 55 ... LSU 74, Mississippi State 59.

NBA: Bucks 104, Suns 101 ... Hawks 129, Nets 127 ... Bulls 102, Wizards 82 ... Lakers 111, Mavericks 108 ... Cavaliers 118, Raptors 93 ... Kings 124, Thunder 115 ... Warriors 109, Timberwolves 104 ... Trail Blazers 131, Rockets 114 ... Nuggets 134, Clippers 124.

NHL: Sabres 7, Capitals 4 ... Wild 3, Blue Jackets 2 ... Islanders 4, Jets 0 ... Rangers 5, Kings 2 ... Penguins 7, Lightning 3 ... Predators 6, Coyotes 2 ... Maple Leafs 5, Kraken 1.