As Vanderbilt traveled back to Nashville from Palm Springs, California on Thursday, there was a shared feeling that was held by the Commodores during their trip back. Disappointment.

It wasn’t just the fact that undefeated Michigan State knocked off the Commodores in the Acrisure Classic championship, it was how it happened and the way that Vanderbilt finished the game.

Sunday’s game vs Appalachian State felt like the chance for Vanderbilt to make a statement, not just to fans, critics and those around the college basketball world, but most importantly to themselves.

So how did the Commodores respond on Sunday? How about with a 33-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. The motivation for Vanderbilt clear, and the execution of everything that Shea Ralph and her staff have been coaching to this team was there to match it.

"In a lot of ways the way that the Michigan State game ended was very disappointing, but I also think that the way that it ended lit a little bit of a fire inside of our players to understand that some of the things that we can fix, we can fix right now that don't relate to X's and O's and basketball strategy. It's more intangible things that great teams need to have to win when it matters," Ralph said.

"There are disappointing moments, but when you lose the way that we did; we lost that game. We lost it, they didn't beat us. And credit to them because they are very good; they played very hard, they outplayed us, they out-hustled us, they outworked us. That's a tough way to lose a game. So I feel like the team really responded well."

In terms of what she felt charged her team's dominant start to the game, Ralph says that she felt that it had to do with both motivation and execution.

"We made open shots, I thought our defense was really good in the beginning, our rotations were better, our communication was better, so it was probably a little bit of that and probably a little bit of then just wanting to get that bad taste out of their mouth from the game (vs Michigan State), from the practices that we had, and just show like 'Hey, let's show everybody, let's show ourselves first and foremost that we've grown from that moment,'" Ralph said.

This game saw the Commodores do a lot of great things. They defended well, limited turnovers, hit open looks and saw multiple different players step up and make a considerable impact, vaulting Vanderbilt to a convincing 94-40 win over the Mountaineers.Every player for Vanderbilt scored and five of them scored 10+ points (Mikayla Blakes, Iyana Moore, Aiyana Mitchell, Jane Nwaba and Aga Makurat). This was something that caught Ralph's attention as well.

"I thought you saw some different players step up and contribute," Ralph said after the game. "The way the season goes, you're gonna have players in and out of the lineup. Sprain this, hurt that. And the beauty of having a really good team is that you don't really miss a beat, and I felt like we did a good job of the today as well."

You could argue that this was the Commodores’ most complete performance of the season, which says a lot considering Vanderbilt had a margin of victory of 30.9 points, which ranked 16th in the country.

Now the question is can they keep their foot on the gas. Shea Ralph undoubtedly will.

"I think that I'm starting to learn how we need to prepare, a little bit better with this group," Ralph said. "I gotta keep my foot on the gas with them, and that's okay, I can do that. I have no problem with that, and they need that from me. So that's good, we're learning a lot about each other"

The Commodores will now travel to Coral Gables, Florida to take on the undefeated Miami Hurricanes in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00pm CT