Saturday, February 5, 2011

Vanderbilt Beats South Carolina 78-60

While the crowd won't be getting tacos, it was a reassuring performance from a team who had lost their last 2. Vanderbilt shot the ball very well, and got contributions from all their starters except Lance Goulbourne who was very quiet (0 points, 2 rebounds). Vanderbilt had a very difficult time handling the Gamecock press, but controlled the game throughout most of the contest. The Commodores will not play again until Thursday, when they'll take on Alabama (7-1 in conference), before facing Kentucky in one week. This is a critical stretch for the Commodores, who really need to win all 3 in their home-stand to have a realistic shot at winning the SEC. One game at a time.

19 comments:

Chuck Heston said...

We'll likely fall out of the Top 25 next week, but with AL and UK coming into Memorial, 2 w's would put VU back in the rankings.

How do you think VU will finish in the SEC standings? I'm thinking 10-6.

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling we will sweep UK this year. 11-5.

Fes and Steve look like they have healed up nicely. Lance and Andre should be fine come March... I think we will play our best ball in March

Anonymous said...

I wish I could share your optimism ... I foresee at least three losses, probably four, remaining for our Dores. I think UT and UK win in Nashville, and we lose to UK in Lexington, plus this team has gone out of it's way to prove it can lose to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

Anonymous said...

Play Defense and Rebound - just win. make sure JT and Fes touch the ball each offense series.

Anonymous said...

I just think we will heal up and be at full strength for our toughest games down the stretch. Sorry for being optimistic. 11-5… Go Dores

Anonymous said...

Will need more than one good half to beat either Alabama or Ky. But in the second half today the team was searching for its old self. Jenkins, Fuller, Odom all got better today, maybe even Taylor did.

Seth said...

Tuesday night at Florida… Lance was in tears his ankle hurt so bad, Fes, Steve, and Taylor all fouled out and we still took UF to overtime. Not only did we take them to overtime but we positioned ourselves to win that game. Not even Kentucky could do that.

I really believe we have the best team in the SEC. Are we head and shoulders above everyone else? Heck no… but we also haven’t been at 100% or even 90% since conference play began. After UK next Sat, we should be close to having everyone back and pretty healthy. With everyone (hopefully) back I think we will be in good shape to handle the rest of our schedule which includes 4 of our last 6 on the road. Does that make me nervous…absolutely, but I still think we will be close to 100% and are good enough to win every one of those games. This is going to be fun…

Anonymous said...

I love the comments section on VSL because it reminds me that hope always triumphs over reason.

Anonymous said...

Hope over reason? i think it's the pessimists who are being unreasonable.

First of all, while it may happen, I don't see how a Top 25-ranked team can go on the road, lose in overtime to a fellow-Top 25 team, then handily defeat a decent opponent at home – and fall OUT of the Top 25 – especially with so many other teams around them in the rankings losing at home and/or to lesser opponents.

And why ON EARTH would anyone assume going in that we'll lose at home to UK and UT – that's either cynicism or ignorance triumphing over reason.

We're two points (i.e., two overtime games) away from being 6-2 in the SEC, despite significant injuries. And we've already played UF and UT on the road!

Two things I hate on sports blogs: ignorant fans and whiners. Looks like we've got more than our fair share of both here.

Anonymous said...

I'll say 9-7 with an outside shot at 10-6.

Now is everybody happy?

Anonymous said...

I'm a Vandy alum and huge (optimistic) fan of this team. I think we'll hit the 10-6 mark if we play like we did in the second half yesterday the rest of this season. However, I don't feel that Fuller adds anything to the team (during games on the court) outside of some rest time for starters. Does anyone have more info on this guy as to why Stallings keeps playing him for nearly 20 mins a game? He's hit 2 threes this season (of 19), he's had a high number of turnovers and fouls, very low points, etc. Is it that he really shines in practice and chokes in games - just needs more experience? As far as our freshmen go, I feel that Odom has really stepped up nicely to help the team, but Fuller hasn't shown me anything yet, and really makes me nervous when he's on the court.

Chainsaw said...

Injuries notwithstanding, we did take Florida to OT on the road, which has rarely happened over the past ten years. It used to be that we wrote off @Florida / @Kentucky as losses, and we were pumped to beat them at home.

The new generation of Stallings basketball has us expecting to compete everywhere, including on the road, and this is why it's exciting to be a Vanderbilt fan. Yes, it's still crushing to lose at home -- ever -- but this happens to everyone.

Florida and Alabama now stand above everyone else in their respective divisions. We gave Florida a much better showing than Kentucky did last night. With the remaining schedule, we could end up anywhere from 8-8 to 11-5, though 10-6 sounds likely, good enough for second/third in the East, and good enough for a 5 / 6 seed, depending on how many we take in the SEC Tourney.

Taking care of Alabama at home suddenly looks like an excellent opportunity for us. . .

Owen said...

Vandy needs Lance to get healthy. He is important to the team (even though he turns the ball over than anyone would like). He is critical to the team's ability to rebound. I don't think we necessarily need Walker back BUT Tchiengang needs to start playing better and contributing more. If not, Walker definitely needs to be back.

I wish we could plan for Odom to be as good as he was yesterday all of the time. He really provided a good spark off of the bench.

If this team played to it's potential, they would be better than anyone in the SEC on any team's best day.

Anonymous said...

in response to the question of why fuller plays so much I think it'll be important come march to have a second point guard that can at least manage the team. if brad picks up a couple early fouls in a tourney game we need someone to kill minutes. he's been shaky, but has the athleticism and quinkness to be a solid SEC point guard. shooting will come with summers in the gym. i think he's been making small steps here and there, but just hasn't quite figured out the speed of the game yet. also, i like how stallings has played him and tinsley together more. this may be out of necessity with all the injuries, but it seems to have a calming effect on fuller.

from a long-term perspective there's a lot to be excited about with this team. let's just get everyone back and at full strength

Anonymous said...

Stalling plays Fuller a lot because he handles the press well and is a good defender. Remember how many times Brad got stuck bringing the ball up when SC was pressing? It got scary. Fuller however is quick and can bring the ball up faster than Brad when opposing teams are pressing. I agree the kid needs to shoot more. I’ve heard Stallings and other coaches say he has a good shot but he just doesn’t shoot a lot. I wish they set up more opportunities for the kid to score.

I'm also pumped for the Bama game on Thursday. Go Dores!

Anonymous said...

We could use some inside help from ST and I wish Fes could shoot as well from the field as he does from the foul line. We leave a lot of points on the table from inside.

It was good to see the team running some again in the 2nd half.

KHH said...

I sure hope they work on breaking the press this week, if I were an opposing team, I'd try and press us as much as I could, 4 straight possessions, 4 straight turnovers! That was super scary! When they did break it, we scored, but that being said, we shouldn't be that inefficent in breaking a press.

I am happy that JT stepped up and played hard and shot well. That is what we need from him game after game. Way to go JT!

JJ is doing incredibly well dealing with having someone on top of him constantly - I bet that kid runs over 6+ miles a game, he never stops!

Bama should be interesting for sure, and we definatly need a win. My hope is that we survive the game with no injuries and are able to play full strength, possibly with Walker on Saturday - he'd be the double bonus with a win over the Cats!

GO VANDY!!!

Anonymous said...

Fes need to stop dribbling next to the bucket and just power it up strong. Show him some film of Hakeem Olajuwon (sp?)

Anonymous said...

Love the fact that the poster from 7:29 bemoans ignorant fans, while touting the fact that Vandy could have a very good SEC record if the team lost fewer games.