Vanderbilt snapped a three-game losing streak with its biggest margin of victory of the season in its 78-59 win over 1-6 Alabama A&M.
The Commodores move to 4-4 on the season ahead of their matchup with San Francisco on Wednesday night.
"I thought that was a really good game for us tonight," Stackhouse said. "I thought our guys came out with a lot of energy early on."
That energy parlayed itself to a 14-2 run that allowed Vanderbilt to get some breathing room in the first half of Saturday's game.
Despite that 14-2 first-half run, Vanderbilt led by just seven at the break.
After 20 minutes, this one didn't feel as close as the score would indicate. The Commodores had long stretches of sloppy play but did seem to maintain control and led for 13:47 out of the 20 first-half minutes.
Vanderbilt continued to stay in control as it extended its lead to 21 at one point and ended this one in a 19-point win.
Tyrin Lawrence, Ven-Allen Lubin as well as three other double-figure scorers lead the way to a Vanderbilt victory
Lawrence's 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting as well Lubin's 14-point double-double and three other double-figure scorers propelled Vanderbilt to its fourth victory of the season.
The veteran guard doesn't seem to be fully back to himself yet but showed flashes of being pretty dang close as he took charge with 11 second-half points.
Lubin had his best game as a Commodore as he knocked down his first two 3s, that's the area that the sophomore says he's improved in the most since this time last season.
Vanderbilt's alpha scorer led the way on Saturday as Vanderbilt shot 43.8% from the field. Ezra Manjon, Ven-Allen Lubin, Evan Taylor and Jason Rivera-Torres also finished in double figures.
Three quick takes:
Jason Rivera-Torres is starting to stack some good outings.
The 6-foot-6 Vanderbilt freshman is starting to show some flashes of being a real contributor for the Commodores.
"Jason's been doing some good things," Stackhouse said of his freshman. "He's open minded to getting better, he knows he's making strides."
The Bronx, New York native has reached double figures in three of Vanderbilt's last four games and is playing with some confidence that doesn't seem to show up everywhere on Vanderbilt's roster.
That was apparent as the freshman wing dished a no-look pass to fellow rookie Carter Lang to bring the Vanderbilt lead to 15. The next play resulted in a dead ball in which Rivera-Torres strutted back to the huddle.
The freshman wing finished Saturday with 10 points as well as eight rebounds and showed flashes of being able to do things that not many players on Vanderbilt's roster can.
Vanderbilt needs to improve its turnover margin
Heading into Saturday, Vanderbilt was forcing a 326th-ranked 9.9 turnovers per game while it was coughing it up 12.3 times per game. On Saturday it forced 12 while turning it over 10 times. That was among its first couple wins in the turnover battle this season.
An issue from last season seems to have carried over into 2023-24. That gives Vanderbilt less margin for error than it's had in the past, especially on the defensive end where it came into Saturday's game ranked as KenPom's second worst power-six defense.
The Commodore defense already doesn't have a shotblocker like it did last season. With the length and athleticism it has, it has to be able to force more turnovers. It took a step forward on Saturday but still forced Alabama A&M in to less than its season average of 16.3 turnovers.
Vanderbilt getting to the free throw line 34 times was encouraging. It's gotta make more, though.
The difference in this one felt like it lied at least partially in the way Vanderbilt was able to get to the line. The Commodores drew 26 fouls and poured in 24 total points from the free throw line.
Vanderbilt did miss 10 times from the charity stripe, which seemed to be the difference between covering the 19.5-point spread and not.
That was led by Lawrence who got there 10 times as well as Rivera-Torres who got there five times en route to Vanderbilt's victory.
