Quick thoughts: Vanderbilt vs SEMO

The Commodores trailed 10-4 at the first media timeout on Sunday and were also down 23-22 at one point. It felt as if SEMO came out Sunday with more energy and more of a sense of urgency.

Mark Byington's team chucked it out of bounds a few times early, gave up some looks that were too open and frankly didn't have it.

Then it found itself. From there it seemed that it would avoid the bad loss that has plagued this program too many times over the last few seasons.

Although that was clear to the trained eye, SEMO made it interesting and never seemed to really go away. Vanderbilt couldn't ever fully put its foot on the gas and drive away.

That's not something that Vanderbilt can afford to make a habit in games like this, but escaping was good enough for Sunday.

The defense could be what holds this team back from winning games like this in blowout fashion

SEMO just had too many possessions where it looked too easy.

As a result, it felt as if Vanderbilt could never throw a punch that SEMO didn't have a response to.

The Redhawks shot 44.4% from the field on Sunday while making shots at a 48.0% clip from beyond the arc. Allowing that to a team that shot 42.1% from the field and 26.1% from 3-point range in its 88-60 loss against Bradley.

Vanderbilt overcame SEMO's offense with rebounding and free throws

SEMO was significantly more efficient than Vanderbilt was this afternoon, but it was never in the drivers seat and didn't lead at any point in the second half as a result of being out-rebounded 53-32 on the day and giving Vanderbilt 41 attempts at the free-throw line.

Vanderbilt probably doesn't have a shooting problem, but that doesn't necessarily feel like a strength

Vanderbilt shot significantly better in its secret scrimmages than it has when it's counted, but it's been a different team beyond the arc through two regular season games than it was beyond closed doors.

The truth about where Vanderbilt really is as a shooting team probably lies somewhere in the middle of those performances.

Through two games, Vanderbilt has shot just 11-for-59 from beyond the arc, which nets out to 18.6%.

Vanderbilt certainly has some shotmaking capability, but its best players also don't necessarily have track records of being excellent shooters.

Hoggard is a career 30.3% shooter from beyond the arc, MJ Collins is a career 27.4% shooter, Devin McGlockton and Chris Manon were often guarded lightly from beyond the arc at their previous stops on their low volume of attempts and Jason Edwards takes his fair share of bad ones that drag down his efficiency.

There's shooting capability all over the roster, particularly in the form of Tyler Nickel and Alex Hemenway, but projecting Vanderbilt as a great shooting team may not be wise.

Devin McGlockton may not be a double-double machine in SEC play, but he has been so far

McGlockton had three double-doubles in his two-year career at Boston College, so expecting this consistently may not be wise. That doesn't mean what he's done thus far isn't impressive, though.

Through two games, the Vanderbilt big man is averaging 19 points and 16 rebounds per game while shooting 73.68% from the field. On Sunday, McGlockton went for 14 points with 19 boards.

Perhaps more noteworthy than McGlockton's final statlines is his efficiency. That could be a trend that continues based off his career field goal percentage of 56.7.

AJ Hoggard's return is the story of the day

Hoggard's return is the most impactful thing to come out of Sunday.

The Michigan State transfer will take on a good portion of Vanderbilt's ballhandling responsibilities and has a shot to be its best overall player.

Hoggard was far from his best on Sunday en route to 11 points on 2-for-11 shooting with two rebounds and four assists.

Bigger than all was the physicality that Hoggard brought, the veteran guard is as much of a bull in a china shop as Vanderbilt has had in recent memory.

That was evident as Hoggard got to the line 10 times on Sunday.

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