The Vanderbilt Commodores (7-19, 2-11) were clobbered by the Georgia Bulldogs (15-11, 5-8) 76-64 on Wednesday night. Vanderbilt never maintained a lead and was outrebounded by the Bulldogs 39-26.
“We didn’t have the energy to start the game,” Jerry Stackhouse said.
Jerry Stackhouse started Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Isaiah West, Evan Taylor and Ven Allen-Lubin on Wednesday evening. Backup guard Paul Lewis led Vanderbilt in scoring with a career-high 18 points.
“My main emphasis was to get aggressive when I got in and make the most of my minutes,” Lewis said. “The main goal is to win. We didn’t win. There is still work to be done.”
Georgia came out of the gates fast and got off to a quick 7-0 lead, thanks to a 3-pointer from Noah Thomasson and four points from Silas Demary Jr. Lawrence ended Georgia’s scoring spree with a driving layup, but Thomasson then knocked in another 3-ball before Lubin made a jumper from the paint.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim then scored a 2-pointer for Georgia, which was then followed up by Evan Taylor delivering the Commodores their first 3-pointer of the night with 14:38 remaining in the first half. Vanderbilt trailed Georgia, 7-12.
Georgia went on a 7-0 run right after, which was highlighted by Thomasson’s third 3-pointer of the night. On the ensuing possession, Manjon dribbled from the half-court line, siked out a few Georgia defenders and found Lubin for an easy pitch-and-catch slam dunk to put Vanderbilt down 10 points with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Commodores would go just over four minutes without scoring a field goal, while the Bulldogs extended their lead to 24-10 with 8:52 remaining in the first half. Georgia extended its large lead to 37-19 with just about four minutes remaining in the half.
Lewis and Manjon both connected on 3-balls soon after, which helped narrow Vanderbilt’s deficit to 37-25 with just over three minutes remaining. Lewis made three free throws to put Vanderbilt down 39-28 with 1:58 remaining in the half.
Georgia went on a 5-0 run to conclude the first half, which was capped off by a 3-ball from Abdur-Rahim right before the buzzer sounded. The Commodores went into halftime down 44-28. In the first half, Vanderbilt shot 31% from the field and Georgia had a 59.3 field goal percentage. The Commodores had no answer for Thomasson in the first half, who scored 15 of his 17 first half points from deep.
Vanderbilt started the second half up front as Ven Allen-Lubin made a layup to put Vanderbilt down 44-30 with nearly two minutes elapsed in the second period. Georgia punched right back as Abdur-Rahim made a 3-ball to put Georgia up 17 points.
A few moments later, Vanderbilt went on a 7-0 run in less than one minute. The Commodores now trailed the Bulldogs 51-40 with 14:34 to go in the game.
Georgia then went on a 12-0 run that was ignited by a jumper from RJ Melendez and was capped off by a layup from Jalen DeLoach with just under 11 minutes to go in the game. With a 65-43 cushion, Georgia was in the driver’s seat.
Just over seven minutes later, Georgia led Vanderbilt 74-55 at the final media timeout. Vanderbilt would outscore Georgia 9-2 after the last media timeout, thanks to four points from Manjon and four combined points from Lewis and Lubin.
The Commodores ultimately shot 36.2% from the field, while the Bulldogs shot 52.8% from the field.
Vanderbilt’s next game will come against the Florida Gators on Saturday at noon CST. The Commodores are in search of their first road win.
“There were twelve disciples and only of them was a Judas,” Stackhouse said. “There’s a lot of people pulling for our team and I just try to think about those people and make sure I continue to do my job.”
