Stackhouse calls out Players, team to Rebound Better, Among Other Things
Nashville, Tn.-The Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team are who we think they are, a tough, gritty, young team who have some pieces, but overall are not a very good basketball team.
Their current record (9-19, 1-14 ), and stats prove that out as was the case on Wednesday night when the Commodores dropped a 61-52 decision to the visiting Missouri Tigers inside Memorial Gym.
It was perhaps the last chance the 2019-20 Commodores team had to secure another conference win. Of course, anything is possible, but the odds are against Vanderbilt winning either of their next two games, at Ole Miss and Alabama or last home game versus South Carolina next weekend, meaning that they let a golden opportunity slip through their hands because of the same issues that have plagued them throughout this season.
While there are several deficiencies with this team, from time to time they overcome them and make things close only to fall in the end. Such was the case again Wednesday that the Commodores were still in the game late despite woeful free-throw shooting and a lack of rebounding.
The Commodores left this one at the line and inside the lane, hitting just 16 of 29 charity tosses and being dominated on the glass 42-27 by a Tigers squad that entering Wednesday's game were being outrebounded by almost seven board per game.
Yet somehow the Tigers managed to manhandle the COmmodores inside and grab a 16 board advantage on the night.
Commodores head coach called out multiple players in his post-game comments on their rebounding in this one, saying that his team has an issue when Maxwell Evans, a 6'2" guard is their leading rebounder with seven.
Stackhouse didn't miss the mark at all. Yes, Dylan Disu picked up his third and fourth fouls of the game less than:30 into the second half and spend most of the final twenty minutes sitting. Still, he managed to play 20:39 and leave with six rebounds, second to Evans.
Ejike Obinna, the biggest inside presence for the Commodores logged 35:35 against Missouri and at 6'10" has to produce more on the glass than the four he totaled in this one.
Obinna is not a major offensive threat at this point in his career, though he did finish with nine points, but he can and must be a better rebounder. It's a skill that for someone his size isn't that difficult to master, and a way he can contribute more to this team.
We could go on and on about these two deficiencies, and perhaps next time out the Commodores shoot lights out from the stripe and hold their own on the boards, but then shooting or turnovers or something else will rear its ugly head.
It's too late in this season to expect this team to make dramatic improvements overall, and while I believe we have seen signs of improvement individually, there is still a long way to go from the team perspective for this program to begin to turn the corner and come out of this two-year slide to the abys.
