Balanced attack leads Vandy past Austin Peay in opener
Vanderbilt forwards Jeff Roberson and Clevon Brown and guard Riley LaChance each scored 13, as the Commodores cruised to a 73-54 win over Austin Peay at Nashville’s Memorial Gymnasium in the season opener for each team on Friday night.
Austin Peay freshman guard Terry Taylor had 15 in his collegiate debut to lead all scorers.
Vanderbilt led 41-28 at half, but never led by more than 19 at any point on Friday.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Vanderbilt was at least somewhat in control all night. Austin Peay never led by more than three, and once VU started to pull away midway through the first half, it never felt like the Governors would pull an upset.
All 10 players who played contributed in some way. The bench, led by Brown and guards Saben Lee and Payton Willis, was excellent in helping the 'Dores build a first-half lead.
Lee had a team-high seven assists (though three turnovers) in just 20 minutes, and also scored six points.
Willis tallied eight points in 13 minutes; it was a surprise to see him out there given he broke his hand weeks ago.
The latter two were particularly helpful in helping the Commodores score in transition, and Lee threw down an amazing, one-handed dunk over a defender four inches taller.
Rebounding was expected to be an issue for Vanderbilt this year, but VU topped APSU here by a 39-31 count. Roberson led Vandy with 10. Ejike Obinna had six boards, too.
The Commodores held Austin Peay to 40.7 percent shooting.
WHAT WENT WRONG
Post play is the biggest concern, and a lot of what happened didn't make that go away.
Starting center D'Jery Baptiste drew two quick fouls, and wound up with four in 112 minutes.
Believe it or not, his backup (Obinna) was worse in that regard, drawing four whistles in nine minutes.
That left VU no choice but to go undersized, with Brown and Roberson combining for 59 minutes between the four and five positions. Roberson himself accumulated four fouls.
We'd hoped to see more from starting point guard Larry Austin Jr., who played 20 minutes, scored just two points, had two assists and one steal. The concern is that Austin won't shoot well enough to draw a defender, and his 1-for-4 game didn't alleviate that.
The Commodores also played without starting small forward Matthew Fisher-Davis, who's nursing an ankle injury. The senior and the team's leading scorer (13.9 points per game) from last year didn't dress, though we may see him Monday at Belmont.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
It's tempting to give it to Roberson, who led the team in points (13), rebounds (10) and minutes (34) and was really needed with the foul trouble to others. However, the senior also led VU in turnovers (four) and was 4-of-11 from the field, though two of those were 3s.
Instead, we'll honor Saben Lee, who played just 20 minutes, but was pretty dynamic on that time. Lee led VU with seven assists and had two blocks and six points also. The team seemed to play its best with the freshman on the floor.