Matthew Fisher-Davis finished 6-of-11 from trifecta for 18 points and pulled down 8 boards, Wade Baldwin IV had a super night on the hardwood with 25 points, which included 3-of-6 from triple country, and 12-of-13 from the line, and freshman Camron Justice made his presence known going four-of-seven from distance and finishing with 12 points as the Vanderbilt Commodores dropped the hammer on Tennessee in Knoxville, 88-74, to move to 3-3 on the season in the SEC, and 11-7 overall. UT dropped to 2-4 in conference and 9-9 overall.
After a huge victory on the road, the guys move on to Lexington to play the Kentucky Wildcats this Saturday @ 3 PM CT/4 PM ET on ESPN. The Wildcats play at Arkansas tonight at 6 PM CT/7 PM ET on ESPN.
This was a huge boost toward getting another SEC victory in Rupp on Saturday.
Our three-point shooting was phenomenal. It was mainly in the first half in which we were 10-of-22. MFD was draining shots from every spot on the court, Camron was going off, and WB4 was doing it all. We cooled down in the second half from trifecta, going 3-of-11, but the damage had been done. Jeff Roberson had another hard hat-lunch pale night for us with 11 points and 10 boards. Jeff is so reliable every time out. He's giving us tremendous minutes and he's an underrated gem on this team. Jeff brings it every night. He's so valuable to this team's success night in and night out.
Luke also had a double-double to go along with Jeff, finishing with 10 points and 14 boards. Luke is an enforcer in the paint. Damian only had six points, but he pulled down 7 boards. He fouled out after playing just 19 minutes, but they were 19 exceptional minutes. The Big Fella is going to figure out this fouling stuff. Joe Dean Jr, who was the color commentator for the SEC Network broadcast, said that the NCAA should look at raising the number of fouls to 6 for fouling out. With the tightly officiated games we have right now in college basketball, I agree with Joe; the NCAA should do this. The officials are kind of over-doing their tighter calling of games. I know the league told the officials to call it closer this year, so that basketball would be more of a skills game than a physical game, which I agree with, but we need to cut the players some slack, let 'em play a little more, and give them more opportunities to stay in the game by raising the foul limit to 6. The game has improved this year with the new 30 second clock and the officials calling it tighter, but as a VU guy, I want to see the Big Fella in there. Hopefully, Dame can get this figured out and stay in the game for 28 to 30 minutes or more, which we'll need him to for the rest of the season.
We shot 40% for the game from the field, 22-0f-57, 39% from three, 13-of-33, and 74% from the line, 29-of-39. Like that number from the charity stripe. Kevin said after Saturday's game we would work on free throws this week and it paid off. I looked at Wade's numbers going in and he was an 80% free throw shooter going into last night's game, but he seemed to have been struggling a little bit recently. He certainly rectified that last night. Wade is now shooting 82% from the line. We need WB4 to be good from the line. He goes there a lot, the way he penetrates and takes it to the cylinder. Riley didn't have his best shooting night as he finished with only two points, but he had five assists and always gives his team a great floor game, even when his shot is not falling, which doesn't happen much. Have to have Riley out there as much as possible. Just a stellar player for us.
Finally, Wade's defense on UT's key scorer Kevin Punter was spectacular. Punter finished with 26 points, but many of them were after the game had been decided. Punter came in averaging 22 points per game, and Wade held him in check most of the night. Punter finished 9-of-20 from the field and 3-of-5 from trifecta, but they were late buckets when the game was secured. Wade, Luke and Jeff are exceptional defenders. Damian a good defender and MFD is an underrated defender and an excellent rebounder. UT shot 10-of-33 in the first half, 30%, and 0-for-5 from three. They were 4-of-15 from three in the second half. We out-rebounded them 50-43. Just an overall terrific effort by the guys.
So, it's now on to Kentucky. Another huge game for our surging basketball team that has always possessed outstanding talent, and is now starting to put it all together. I know our guys can handle the intensity of Rupp. They are battle-tested the last two years and they're clutch. No doubt it's a challenge. But it's one we can prevail in. Firmly believe that.
RTI
Relentless, Tough, Intelligent
That's Coach Mason's mantra for his football program, and we're adding guys to the mix in 2016 that fit that billing to go along with the guys on our roster. Love the Jackson Winrow and Kalija Lipscomb commits last Sunday. Two excellent wide receivers to go along with solid three-star wide out Donaven Tennyson. A great pickup this weekend would be high three-star defensive end Kelvin Lucky from Elmore Alabama, Edgewood Academy School. Watched film on Kelvin. He's 6'5", 230, he can motor, he's an exceptional athlete, he is very aggressive and physical and he's an exceptional tackler. Would love to get Kelvin this weekend when he visits with a lot of our commits and some other recruits. Will keep you posted on Kelvin or anybody else who pulls the trigger.
One more thing:
Our four-star offensive lineman commit, Sean Auwae, warms up for the bench by doing a little lifting to the tune of 225 pounds, 28 times. Sean can bench 405, and by the time Coach James Dobson, our strength coach gets ahold of him, Sean will be throwing up 500 in the fall. His high school coach says Sean's a leader, one of the best guys you'll meet off the field, and one of the toughest competitors you'll meet on it. This is a super class Coach Mason and the coaches are putting together. Would love to see Kelvin join the Select 16 this weekend.
Next Week:
Will have a story on our defending national champions women's tennis team. I talked to our superb coach, Geoff McDonald, and got Geoff's thoughts on the season. Geoff is a great guy, a terrific coach and very interesting . You'll enjoy it.
Also, will have my interview with Corbs up next week probably middle of the week as Corbs' 2016 version of VU baseball approaches. Should be a another stellar year for baseball.
Any recruits who pull the trigger and all basketball news will be on the blog. Stay tuned.