Vanderbilt had no answer for Mississippi State on the interior and fell to 5-13 overall as well as 0-5 in Southeastern Conference play after a 68-55 loss in Starkville, Miss., on Saturday afternoon.

Things won't get any easier for the Commodores, who will face off against No. 6 Tennessee in their next game and will travel to face No. 13 Auburn after that.

Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse's team trailed for 33:57 on Saturday and were down by as much as 19. The Commodores have led for just 4:57 throughout all of SEC play.

Tyrin Lawrence, Ven-Allen Lubin and Evan Taylor scored in double figures but Ezra Manjon and Jason Rivera-Torres combined for just 10 while shooting 4-for-16 from the field.

Mississippi State led 36-21 at the break behind 20 points in the paint and 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting from Tolu Smith.

Vanderbilt shot 25.9% from the field and 21.4% from 3-point range in the half.

The Mississippi lead never got lower than 10 in the second half and it never really felt as if Vanderbilt was within striking distance despite a few pushes down the stretch.

That's the Commodores' fifth-straight loss.

Three quick takes:

The points in the paint stat is telling

Vanderbilt was outscored 20-6 in the paint in the first half and 36-18 overall.

The Commodores had no match for Tolu Smith, who finished Saturday with 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 11 rebounds.

Vanderbilt's frontcourt just didn't have enough defensively to string together any stops when Smith or Jimmy Bell got their hands on the ball with their back to the basket. Saturday and Thursday confirmed what we'd previously thought about the Commodores' frontcourt. They just don't have enough there to compete with SEC-level bigs.

Offensively, Vanderbilt struggled to get its feet into the paint and to finish around the bucket. The Commodores shot just 8-for-13 on layups on Saturday.

Mississippi State was bigger, more physical and simply better in the frontcourt, around the rim and in general on Saturday.

Vanderbilt's starting five today is its best lineup with its current roster construction

Stackhouse's starting group of Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Jason Rivera-Torres, Evan Taylor and Ven-Allen Lubin feels like its best group.

Rivera-Torres made his first career start on Saturday and immediately made an impact with a quick make from beyond the arc and an assist.

Vanderbilt's group as a whole got out to a 12-10 lead with that lineup but as Stackhouse went to his bench and took Manjon, Lawrence and Lubin out of the game the Bulldogs went on a 14-0 run and took a 24-14 lead.

By the time Vanderbilt's stars got back into this one it was in a hole that felt insurmountable.

Despite it being undersized, that lineup of Manjon, Lawrence, Rivera-Torres, Taylor and Lubin feels like Vanderbilt's best five players and best combination.

Perhaps it being undersized shouldn't be an end all, be all either. Vanderbilt likely won't surpass what teams like Mississippi State have in the frontcourt no matter the amount of bigs it has on the floor, anyway.

To start the second half, Vanderbilt's starting group tied Mississippi State 9-9.

It's hard to overstate Vanderbilt's 3-point shooting issues

Vanderbilt hasn't shot over 40% from beyond the arc in any game this season. Heading into Saturday it was shooting 28.6% on the season.

When you have all the issues that are apparent, it feels dang near impossible to win that way. Especially in league play.

This felt like one in which Vanderbilt would have to win behind an out-of-character hot shooting day. Instead it shot 22.7% from 3-point range.

Vanderbilt is gonna have a really, really difficult time winning league games this way. Not just because of 3-point shooting.

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