Entering the game with their "tournament dream" backs already against the wall, Vanderbilt found themselves in a must win game in January. The South Carolina Gamecocks were entering Memorial Gym for an early evening clash coming off a game where they hung with #1 Auburn until the very end, even before Auburn star Johni Broom suffered an ankle injury. Even though this game would count as a “Quad Three” game for the ‘Dores, they needed this one after dropping the previous two at home vs Mississippi State and at Missouri.

I know this is going to come as a shock to some people, but Vandy was unable to hit shots early in the game. I know I am as shocked as all of y'all. South Carolina jumped out to an early lead, but never by many because this was an UGLY offensive game.

For the third straight game we saw turnovers from the Commodores, but the Commodores did end up wining this turnover battle 25-12. Most of the SC offense in the first half came from wide open cuts to the lane ending in dunks, and something that became a theme this game, Morris Ugusuk hitting big shots. Jason Edwards hit a big 3 at the 9 minute mark, giving the Commodores the lead. South Carolina absolutely was waxing Vandy on the boards in the first half, mostly coming from Murray-Boyles and Wright. The most exciting part of the first half was the double technical on Tyler Tanner and Nick Pringle, where Tanner came from out of the play to step over Pringle to help up his teammate. Pringle, rightfully so in my opinion, shoved Tanner's leg out from over him.

Vandy went on a run at the end of the half, going into the break the Commodores led the Gamecocks 33-26.

The second half started with the Commodores in the lead, and they continued to sustain this lead until they were up 7 with 10 minutes to go. At this point in the game Vandy fans were thinking “okay we are definitely better than this team, how much can we win by”.

These thoughts didn’t last long as the Commodores went ice cold, while allowing Murray-Boyles to quick step around the posts every time. The Byington offense was very stagnant for a good period of the 2nd half, mostly due to rimmed out shots and unsuccessful attempts at drawing fouls on drives to the basket. For a good period of time it legitimately looked like a lid was on the Vanderbilt hoop. With 40 seconds left in the game up 2 with possession, AJ Hoggard grabbed a South Carolina player's leg after a steal. After review, it was deemed a Flagrant 1, and the Gamecocks made the two following free throws.

South Carolina had the ball in a tie game with 40 seconds before a timeout was granted with 8 seconds left on the shot clock. After the in bounds, Memorial Gym witnessed a MASSIVE block from Devin McGlockton as the South Carolina shot clock expired, giving the Dores the ball with 10 seconds left.

After a missed pullup jumper from AJ Hoggard, McGlockton stepped up again in a big moment. McGlockton grabbed the rebound, got the putback up, and got 3 points the old fashioned way with 0.6 seconds left. After the made free throw, South Carolina had an almost successful 3 point heave at the buzzer.

Vanderbilt wins 66-63.

It was great to see the resilience of this Vandy team and see them be able to get it done when it matters. This game will not help the NET ranking due to it being a “Quad 3” game, but any SEC win is a good win. If this team wants to hear their named called on Selection Sunday, then they better start hitting shots and hitting them early. Tonight was a game that they were able to keep SC from jumping out to a big lead, like what plagued the Commodores Saturday at Missouri. These kinds of shooting performances will not cut it against the upper tier of the SEC, including Saturday's upcoming matchup against Tennessee.

Great to see Tyler Tanner get in the mix with the big boys, but there was no need to even be down there in that situation to get the technical. To win Saturday, Vandy can’t get stuck in the half court offense, especially the quarter-court, where they love to get stuck. But overall, a win is a win in this conference, and lets win 5-6 more games and go dancing.