Defensive stops help Vanderbilt upset No. 21 South Carolina

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Defense has gotten in the way of making this a better basketball season for Vanderbilt, but for the second game in a row, it played a big factor in the Commodores getting a big win--this one, a 71-62 victory over No. 21 South Carolina at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday evening.

The Commodores held South Carolina to two field goals in the last 11:29, while meanwhile hitting their free throws down the stretch to get its first home win over a ranked opponent this year.

Guards Matthew Fisher-Davis (17 points), Riley LaChance (14) and Nolan Cressler (13) led the way, as VU (14-13, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) pulled above .500 overall for the first time since Jan. 7, when a road loss at Alabama had the Commodores at 8-7.

When South Carolina guard Hassani Gravett hit a jumper from the right baseline with 9:40 left, the Gamecocks held a 53-47 lead.

That, however, would be the last bucket Carolina would hit until guard P.J. Dozier, whose 0-of-5 performance from the foul line hurt the Gamecocks' chances, hit a meaningless 3-pointer--the only one USC hit all night--with 24 seconds remaining.

After Gravett hit his field goal, the VU offense kicked into gear. Center Luke Kornet hit a 3 from the right side at 9:14, but would soon be on the bench after committing his fourth foul 59 seconds later.

But just before that, Fisher-Davis hit a long 3 from the left side, putting VU up, 55-54, with 7:55 left.

Twice more, Carolina would cut the lead to one, but Vandy kept answering. When LaChance hit a 3 from the right side with a man in his face, the lead was six with 3:22 left, and the Gamecocks never got closer.

It was an ugly first half. The teams combined for 22 fouls in the period, with four players on each team earning at least two. Vanderbilt forwards Jeff Roberson and Clevon Brown each had three with over eight minutes left in the period.

South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, a leading candidate for Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, scored 21. Fourteen came in the first half, the senior going a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

The Commodores also committed 11 first-half turnovers, yet trailed just 30-27 thanks to 12 points from Fisher-Davis.

This was a total team effort.

Eight of Vanderbilt's nine players had significant contributions, whether that was Brown's three blocks, or a big field goal by D'Jery Baptiste traffic late in the game (combined with some nice hustle by those two freshmen), or even Roberson, who played just 25 minutes due to foul trouble, but was 6-of-8 from the foul line, with most coming late.

Brown's three blocks were part of the team's eight, with five players getting at least one. That was part of the reason that Carolina shot just 42.9 percent.

Vanderbilt did defend well--as Carolina coach Frank Martin said, "(Vanderbilt) stayed in the way, they didn’t make it easy for us.”

But, Carolina also had a number of self-inflicted wounds. The 1-of-9 performance on 3-pointers included a couple of good looks, and a 13-of-22 night from the free throw line was also a reason why there wasn't much drama in the final minute.

Memorial Gym was also rocking as it hasn't all season. Coach Bryce Drew said that the team fed off the energy, and this was debatably the hardest the team has played at home all season.

Vanderbilt doesn't play at a fast tempo anyway, but Carolina's defense really clamped down and made life miserable for VU early, particularly guards Thornwell, Dozier and Duane Notice. The Commodores were 2-of-9 on 3-pointers in the first half, and took many a shot inside the final seven or eight seconds of the shot clock--and predictably, they weren't always good looks.

Turnovers were also a problem, with 15 for the game and 11 in the first half. There was even one careless 10-second violation where the Gamecocks had just one man on the VU side of half-court at the time.

VU's saving grace during the first half was getting to the foul line, but, a 7-of-12 performance in the first period was substandard.

Five players picked up at least three fouls for VU on Saturday.

It would be hard to single out the contributions of any of Cressler, Fisher-Davis or LaChance above the others, and all did huge things at different points.

Cressler had 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Eight of those came in the first half, three being lay-ups, one being a dunk. Those were important, because little was going right for Vanderbilt at the time offensively, and as Drew said, they loosened things up from the outside from there.

Fisher-Davis hit three 3-pointers, but was also good at taking the ball to the hole and converting, plus, had a put-back of Cressler's only first-half miss just before the buzzer.

LaChance didn't score in the first half, but had a spell early in the second half during which he had nine quick points that helped turn a five-point deficit into a one-point lead.

Now a game above .500, Drew and LaChance spoke openly about making a charge to the NCAA Tournament. It's still very much an uphill climb, but, according to WarrenNolan.com, the Commodores ended the night at No. 49 in the RPI, with the country's third-toughest schedule. Ken Pomeroy has VU ranked No. 56.

Is the total body of work good enough now? Almost certainly not, but, VU has one great road win (Florida), one good road win (Arkansas) and two good home wins (this, and Iowa State).

If VU could somehow finish the regular season's last four games with, say, a win at Tennessee and home wins over Mississippi State and Florida, the Commodores would absolutely enter the SEC Tournament as a "bubble" team.

The bad news: Pomeroy sets win probabilities for each at 31, 74 and 26 percent, with a 10 percent chance to win the other game (at Kentucky).

Up next is a road trip to Tennessee. The Commodores have a chance to pick up a top-50 RPI win on the road, and avenge their worst home loss of the season.