How Vanderbilt is Proving Itself on Both Sides of the Ball

NASHVILLE – Two of the nation's best offensive scoring teams faced off in Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The result and offensive production were very different from what many expected.

The midweek blockbuster matchup saw the No. 13-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide pay a visit to the No. 11 Vanderbilt Commodores. The Tide rolled into Nashville with a record of 11-3 while Vanderbilt entered the night at a perfect 14-0.

Two Elite Scoring Teams

Entering the matchup, everyone in the arena was expecting fireworks with the way these two teams' offenses have played all season. According to kenpom.com, Vanderbilt entered tonight’s matchup ranked fourth in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency, only 2.1 points behind the Crimson Tide, who ranked second.

Other sources confirm the scoring prowess of these two programs as well. Evanmiya.com ranked both Alabama and Vanderbilt tied for second in offensive efficiency, only trailing the No. 5-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the category.

“Both teams are extremely competitive. I mean, [Alabama] fought every inch, and, you know, we went into the game saying, no lead is safe,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Mark Byington said following the Commodores' win.

Byington knew coming in that it would be a difficult matchup just looking at the way both these teams score at will.

Both teams were in the top ten in points-per-game in Division One basketball entering Wednesday night's action. The Crimson Tide was averaging 94.1 PPG, ranking seventh in the country, with Vanderbilt not far behind, ranking tenth at 93.4 PPG.

A Refereeing Overload

This early SEC conference matchup set a Division One season high with 62 total fouls called. It felt like anytime either team would go up and down the court, there would be a whistle stopping the play. Byington noted how the heavy whistle from the referee crew affected the Commodore game plan later in the game.

“If you drove the ball, you know, you're going to get rewarded with the foul,” Byington said. “And so we had to adjust to that, and then we wanted to change our strategy, to make sure that we were not just going to take pull-ups and mid-range shots, that we had to put pressure on the rim.”

Both Head Coaches made their frustration with the officiating known throughout the game. About nine minutes into the second half, Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats received a technical foul for complaining about calls. There were moments where it seemed Byington would receive the same fate, but he was able to hold his temper just enough to avoid the technical.

Commodore Defense Proves Its Worth

Byington wasn’t only happy with his high-flying offense, he was also quick to praise one of the best defensive performances the Commodores have had all year. Vanderbilt has the thirteenth-ranked adjusted scoring defense in the country according to kenpom.com, and it showed why tonight.

“[Stopping Alabama] was a challenge. I thought for a while there, our defense was as good as it's been, and that's one of the hardest, probably, if not the hardest, team to stop in the country. And the way we started the game was tremendous on [defense],” Byington said.

Oats also recognized how well the Vanderbilt defense did at stopping the Crimson Tide's high-scoring offense.

“They play really hard, they contest, they fly around,” he said. “So yeah, there's a reason that they're as good as they are defensively… So a lot of credit to Vandy.”

For all the recognition that the Vanderbilt offense has gotten, its defense went out and proved that it can defend against offenses just as good as its own.

Neither team strayed far from their average offensive scoring totals in this matchup, but it was the Commodore defense and a higher level of offensive intensity from Vanderbilt that helped it edge out a 96-90 victory.

Keeping Things Rolling

Vanderbilt will look forward to another tough SEC matchup with LSU this Saturday in Nashville. Byington noted just how tough the SEC is and how strong he feels the Commodores' schedule is.

“It's the number one-ranked conference in the country,” he said. “So what we're gonna do is try to go 1-0 in every game, whoever comes, we're gonna try to beat them, and we've done it 15 times so far.”

With Vanderbilt currently sitting at 15-0, it is only one win away from tying the program record for best start to a season. The 2007-08 team started with an impressive 16-0 record before picking up its first loss, and this season's team looks to match and even potentially break the 18-year-old record.

The LSU Tigers pay a visit to Memorial Gymnasium at 12:00 PM CST, Saturday. For Byington and the Commodores, the weekend will bring another opportunity to “go 1-0 in every game.”