Vanderbilt bounced back from a deflating road loss with a 65-62 win over Wofford at Memorial Gymnasium.
The win moves Vanderbilt to 4-4 on the season and 2-2 on their home floor.
The Commodores were led by 14 points from Liam Robbins, Tyrin Lawrence also chipped in 13. Vanderbilt shot 49.1% from the field and 34.8% from three in the win.
“That was a gritty win for us, we really needed it.” Head coach Jerry Stackhouse said.
“We made timely plays and our defense was solid and solid all night, I think that’s what preserved the win for us.” the fourth-year coach added.
Due to the absence of Jordan Wright, Stackouse turned to a starting lineup of Ezra Manjon, Lawrence, Myles Stute, Quentin Millora-Brown, and Robbins.
Saturday afternoon’s game marked the first time this season where Millora-Brown and Robins started alongside each other.
That lineup stayed on the floor until the 13:35 mark and got out to a 15-10 lead behind a scorching hot start from Stute that included 11 of Vanderbilt’s 15 points and perfect shooting from beyond the arc.
Shortly thereafter, the Commodores went on a 7-0 run that was punctuated by Lawrence getting the crowd going with an alley oop. That run extended the Vanderbilt lead to eleven.
Right when it looked like Vanderbilt may break this one open, the Commodores went on a scoring drought that lasted almost three minutes. That drought led to a 6-0 Wofford run before Robbins scored his first two baskets of the game to extend the Vanderbilt lead to nine.
The ‘Dores held their lead for the rest of the half and went into the break up 34-25 on the Terriers.
Vanderbilt was led by 11 points from Stute and seven from Manjon in its 13-for-30 shooting half.
Wofford wouldn’t go away, though, and got out to a 10-0 run to open the second half, that run gave the Terriers a 35-34 lead before Trey Thomas put Vanderbilt back on top with a corner three.
Vanderbilt and Wofford traded buckets for a few minutes but the Commodores gave themselves a bit of breathing room behind a stretch of scoring from Robbins and Colin Smith.
That run put Vanderbilt up 57-52 heading into the under-eight media timeout.
At the final media timeout the Commodores led 62-57 with 3:29 to go.
Vanderbilt’s lead was trimmed to one until Lawrence put the Commodores up three on a reverse layup with 16.3 seconds to go.
The Terriers had a chance to tie it in the final seconds, but Vanderbilt held on to seal their three point victory.
Vanderbilt holds off Wofford in first game without Wright
For a game in which it was a nine-point favorite, Vanderbilt let Wofford hang around a little too long, but held on for its fourth win of the season.
The most encouraging part of Saturday’s win was that the Commodores found a way to do it in a contest that didn’t feature Wright.
Wright clearly wasn’t his normal self after suffering a back injury in the second half of Vanderbilt’s win against Fresno State. But today was the first game in which the Commodores were without their offensive “alpha.”
"He's just trying to get healthy, his back spasms tightened up on him, we don't want him at 50% or 60%, we don't want him at 80% we want to get him back 100%." Stackhouse said of Wright.
The senior wing's absence brought up plenty of obstacles that Vanderbilt was able to overcome just well enough to beat the terriers.
Robbins led the ‘Dores with 14 points and was one of four total Commodores to score in double figures. Manjon, Lawrence, and Stute also chipped in double-digit outings.
Three Quick Takes:
Vanderbilt won but wasn’t overly impressive
Wofford certainly isn’t a pushover type of team. The Terriers entered their contest with Vanderbilt at 5-3 with the 61st highest offensive efficiency rating in the country.
Jay McAuley’s team also took LSU to the wire in a 78-75 loss on LSU’s home court.
Winning today’s game wasn’t a given for the Commodores because of the way that Wofford had competed with other teams on their schedule, but Vanderbilt did as a nine-point favorite and won by just three.
The Commodores held Wofford to their second-lowest scoring output of the season but had their second-lowest offensive output themselves.
Wofford was ranked 278th in defensive efficiency heading into Saturday’s contest but held Vanderbilt to just 65 points.
The Commodores also committed 15 turnovers, got outrebounded, and shot a lower percentage from the field than the Terriers.
The Commodores shot a solid 49.1% from the field along with 34.8% from 3-point range, but never shot it quite well enough to pull away from a team that isn’t quite known for their defense.
What mattered most was that Vanderbilt came out with a win, but Stackhouse will probably need more from his group offensively to consistently win conference games.
Ezra Manjon had the best game of his Vanderbilt career
Throughout the offseason, Stackhouse raved about Manjon’s ability to ignite Vanderbilt’s offense. But the fourth-year coach seemed to like what he had seen defensively just as much.
That defense had a tangible impact on Saturday afternoon’s game.
"I think for me that's where the difference is and that's where I can bring the most impact to the team, just being the head of the snake and bringing that energy and getting defensive stops." Manjon said
The 6-foot guard may have drawn the toughest defensive assignment of any Vanderbilt player in his matchup with Jackson Paveletzke.
Paveletzke came into Memorial Gymnasium averaging 16.4 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 turnovers per game. The freshman guard was also shooting 58.8% from the field and 52.6% from three entering Saturday’s contest.
Manjon, along with Trey Thomas, held the Wofford guard scoreless in the first half and forced him into two turnovers.
Vanderbilt’s transfer guard also contributed seven points on 3-of-5 shooting and didn’t commit a turnover on the offensive end in the half.
Manjon finished with 11 points, three assists, a block, and two steals while shooting five-for-eight from the field.
The senior guard’s numbers weren’t wowing but his impact on both ends was the difference between the two backcourts.
Paveletzke finished with just six points and five assists while shooting two-for-eight from the field.
Without Wright, Vanderbilt needed other members of their backcourt to step up in order to come out of Saturday with a win. Manjon did just that and helped to propel Vanderbilt to its fourth victory of the season.
Manjon is "definitely" becoming more comfortable as the orchestrator of Vanderbilt's operation.
To win against the high-level backcourts of the Southeastern Conference, Manjon will need more performances like he had today, particularly on the defensive end.
Two-big lineups are something that Vanderbilt may use going forward
Stackhouse surprised by putting out a starting group that featured the two players that he had previously used almost exclusively at center.
The fourth-year coach allowed Robbins to play alongside Millora-Brown for double-digit minutes throughout the afternoon and played Lee Dort alongside Millora-Brown for a few minutes as well.
"We used our big lineup a little bit tonight, we're starting to figure out some ways that we can utilize those guys, it's just good having those older guys on the floor together, the more experience you have out there in college basketball the better." Stackhouse said.
The two-center lineup gave Vanderbilt more size on the interior to capitalize on their height advantage against Wofford’s shorter bigs.
The lineup provides less spacing than Vanderbilt would typically have but could be functional on the offensive end because of Robbins’ ability to stretch the floor. Millora-Brown also made his case for the lineup by assisting Robbins for an easy layup.
The lineup could work defensively because of the shot blocking ability and mobility that the two bigs have, but isn’t a finished project on that end.
Wofford’s frontcourt of B.J. Mack and Messiah Jones combined for 35 points. Mack was also left open a few times on the 3-point line and converted on four of seven attempts from 3-point range.
Stackhouse hopes to get more out of his two-big lineup on the glass and hopes to see Robbins along with Millora-Brown convert more around the rim.
There is room for improvement with this lineup and in all aspects for Vanderbilt but they found a way to win Saturday afternoon, that is the big story.
Notes:
Jordan Wright was inactive today due to a back injury that he suffered against Fresno State. Paul Lewis was also unavailable again due to concussion symptoms and the flu.
Millora-Brown scored the first basket of the game.
Colin Smith and Lee Dort subbed in at the 13:35 mark and were the first players off the bench for the Commodores.
Stackhouse went nine-deep in the first half. Emmanuel Ansong and Noah Shelby were the only scholarship players not to see the floor in the half.
Ansong checked in during the second half.
Trey Thomas had all eight of his points in the early second half to slow down a Wofford run.
