Commodores come up Short as Tennessee wins Again
The Vanderbilt Commodores kept things close against the Tennessee Volunteers for 32:55 at Thompson-Boling Arena but in the end, their poor shooting, lack of depth and foul trouble, along with another late scoring drought did them in as the Volunteers earned a hard-fought 65-61 home win
The Volunteers led 63-53 with just:56 left in the game, but the Commodores would not go quietly, as they ended the game with a 9-2 run to trim the Tennessee advantage to just two points with:06 remaining but could not finish the comeback.
The loss spoiled a career-best 23 point performance from Jordan Wright, who led the Commodores in scoring. He also collected six rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
The first half was a struggle for both teams offensively as Tennessee managed to hit just 9-27 for 33% from the floor while Vanderbilt was only slightly better, hitting 10-28 for 36%. The Commodores connected on 4-11 three-point attempts while the Volunteers were just 2-10 in the first half.
The free-throw stripe kept Tennessee close in the first half as they were 8-10 from the line while the Commodores were a perfect 4-4.
Jordan Wright (14) led the Commodores in scoring in the first half while Jordan Bowden led Tennessee with 12 through the first twenty minutes.
The Commodores also battled foul trouble as Dylan Disu, Maxwell Evans, Scottie Pippen Jr., and Ejike Obinna all collected two personal fouls and missed much of the final ten minutes of the half.
The second half would mirror the first as the two teams traded baskets throughout the first ten minutes before the Volunteers would gain control in the closing minutes to set up the Commodores furious comeback.
Saben Lee finished the night with 18 points while Dylan Disu finished with 11 points.
Bowden and John Fulkerson finished the game with 17 points each to lead the Volunteers, while Santiago Vescovi netted 14 points, including some clutch shots down the stretch.
Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse noted in his post-game comments that had his squad shot just over 40% for the game that the outcome might have been different.
The Commodores shot just 36% from the field, connecting on just 21 of 58 attempts and 30% from three-point range while hitting 11-13 free throws.
Conversely, the Volunteers managed 42% from the field, 21-58, and only 4-16 from long range. It was the free-throw line that ultimately won the game for the Volunteers as they finished the contest hitting 19 of 22 from the stripe.
The Commodores return home to host the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gym with the hope of finding their second conference victory of the season.
