Though many may not have thought of it this way when looking at the schedule in August, Vanderbilt's matchup with The Citadel presented the Commodores with an opportunity. Not just the chance to earn its 10th win of the season, but to flex its muscle and show that it can take care of business against an outmatched opponent.
On Wednesday night that's exactly what Mark Byington's team did, thrashing the Bulldogs 105-53 in Memorial Gym and dominating from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
Vanderbilt dominated and executed
In a game like this, domination was going to be important for Vanderbilt. Even though The Citadel came in with a 5-5 record, the Bulldogs were ranked 355th out of 366 teams in the NET rankings, meaning that just "winning" wouldn't be enough for Vanderbilt, they needed to do it convincingly. And they did exactly that.
This game marks the second time that Vanderbilt has scored 100+ points this season, marking the first time that a Vanderbilt team has done that since the 2006-2007 season, when the Commodores would later go on to make the Sweet 16. This is also the first time that they've done it against two Division-I teams since 1993, where they did it three times.
In a game where Vanderbilt lit up the scoreboard, the Commodores shot 52% from the field and 56% from three and saw five different players reach double-digit points.
Additionally, Vanderbilt forced 20 turnovers with 15 of them being steals, and scored 35 of their points off of those turnovers. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt only turned the ball over themselves three times. They also collected 15 offensive rebounds on 30 of their missed shot attempts.
When a team hits open shots, rebounds well, takes care of the ball and forced turnovers on the defensive end, rarely is that team not going to find success and it was these fundamental aspects of the game that led them to that 105-point tally and their second-highest scoring game since 1998 (the highest scoring was a 120-85 win vs Savannah State in 2018).
Vanderbilt again showed that it can slow down a team's primary scorer
Defense has been a constant talking point for this team this season, sometimes for better and other times for worse. It's still a continuous work of progress and its far from perfect, but Vanderbilt was able to slow down a player in Brody Fox who led the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging 17.6ppg while shooting 60% from the field, which ranked 29th in the nation coming into Wednesday night.
Fox had also shown the ability to put up points against quality opponents, scoring 18 points against Boston College and 17 against College of Charleston in November. The Commodores however kept Fox to some of his worst numbers of the season, as the Division-III transfer scored 8 points on 2/6 shooting while turning the ball over five times.
For a player who was a Division-III All-American last season by averaging 26.6ppg last season and has carried his scoring over to the highest collegiate level, Vanderbilt stifled Fox's offensive game entirely; by playing him physically and not allowing him to feel comfortable. In the process they stalled The Citadel's offense as a whole.
Edwards and McGlockton continue to be Vanderbilt's most consistent contributors
Their roles are about as different as they come, but their impact and importance to Vanderbilt's success this season has been paramount, and their impact was seen again tonight. Edwards, who came into the night as Vanderbilt's leading scorer and ranking 31st in the country at 19.2ppg, once again showed his dynamic offensive skillset and natural scoring ability.
Edwards tallied 19 points on 5/10 shooting while also going 3/4 from three. Performances like these have become a regular thing for Edwards, as Edwards had scored 26 points, 23 points, 19 points and 30 points in the four games prior to this one. Edwards has been everything as hoped for and then some for this Commodores team.
For McGlockton, he again shined on both ends of the floor, contributing 19 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes of action. He also reached his season high in made field goals and attempts, going an efficient 9/13 from the floor. This has been a trend for McGlockton, who now is shooting 67% from the field this season, placing him in the Top 10 of all Division-I players.
The importance of Edwards and McGlockton has been a key all season, with Edwards being a dynamic scorer who can rack up points as well as anyone in the nation, and McGlockton being the gritty presences down low who can also stretch the floor and is reliable on both ends of the floor. It's become a dynamic duo for a Commodores team that in the past, needed its best players to be its most consistent. Edwards and McGlockton have given this team exactly that and then some.
