After a slow start, Vanderbilt out-scrapped a solid Texas Longhorns team behind a career high 18 points and 14 rebounds from Jaylen Carey. Jason Edwards added in another 17 and AJ Hoggard scored 14 after a rough first half shooting the ball. Tyler Nickel was hot and the Dores need to see more of that. Nickel scored 17 on 4-7 shooting from three, but the attention he drew from the Texas defense during the second half completely opened up the offense for the Commodores. Tre Johnson led the way for Texas with 15 points, Arthur Kaluma and Kadin Shedrick each chipped in 12.
A must-win game for the Commodores coming off two straight losses, especially against an opponent the caliber of Texas at home. Texas is still a good basketball team. There are no bad basketball teams in the SEC (well, maybe South Carolina and LSU). Texas came into the matchup coming off a loss to an Arkansas squad trending in the right direction. Texas ranked 31st in Kenpom and a projected 10 seed, per Joe Lunardi's bracketology. Vanderbilt came into the game 51st in Kenpom and a projected 11 seed, as part of the last four in. This matchup could be the deciding factor in the tournament dreams of both of these teams.
In front of a strong noon on a Saturday crowd, and a packed student section, the game did not start off well for the Commodores. Texas opened up the game on a 7-0 run before Chris Manon stopped the bleeding with a jumper at the 17:59 mark. The Commodores battled back but struggled early with the size of Texas.
In stepped Jaylen Carey. While only listed at 6'8", Carey play 6" taller today. His offense and rebounding kept the Commodores competitive in the first half when shots just weren't falling. Vanderbilt ended the first half down 39-35.
Texas started out the second half strong, growing their lead to double digits with 14 minutes remaining. The energy inside of Memorial had dissipated and it felt like Vanderbilt might roll over and get embarassed.
The opposite happened.
An onslaught of offense from previously scoreless AJ Hoggard, as well as Jason Edwards, Jaylen Carey, and key buckets from Tyler Nickel. Vanderbilt flipped a switch that teams of the past decade just did not possess. The players continued to feed off the energy created by Jaylen Carey. If you have not seen the play, at the 6:19 mark Jason Edwards hit an incredible circus shot while being fouled and falling away, sending him to the free throw line for a chance at 3 the hard way. The crowd got on their feet and the Dores took the lead shortly after on another bucket from Jason Edwards, 66-65 with 5:40 remaining .
The Commodores never looked back, hitting 7 of their 8 free throws down the stretch. Vanderbilt closed out the game and won 86-78, a massive victory for Mark Byington and the Commodores who have their sights set on dancing in March. Vanderbilt takes on the #1 Auburn Tigers this Tuesday in Memorial.
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