Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball — after defeating Jackson State on Saturday to open the season with four straight wins for the first time since the 2018-2019 season — is riding some serious momentum into a Nov. 21 evening showdown with Nevada. The Commodores will hit the road for the first time this season to take on the Wolfpack in the first game of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic.
The eight-team tournament will also feature VCU, Seton Hall, Florida Atlantic, Oklahoma State, Miami and Drake. The tournament will be a compass draw, meaning the losers of the first contests will compete in a back draw format and are guaranteed to play three games each.
Head coach Mark Byington’s team has been a breath of fresh air for Commodore fans through four games this year. Vanderbilt is averaging 91.5 points per game and playing at the fifth-fastest pace in the entire nation at just over 14 seconds a possession.
The Commodores have the fourth-most steals per game in the SEC and have produced a legitimate ten-player rotation with four players averaging double-digit scoring. While Vanderbilt’s first four opponents haven’t given it much competition early on, this year’s team has taken care of business — something that it struggled with during the Jerry Stackhouse era. The Black and Gold will face their first real test, however, in their neutral site clash with 4-0 Nevada.
Two-man wrecking crew
Nevada is ranked 38th in KenPom’s rankings and has been led by two standout players: junior forward Nick Davidson (18.0 points per game) and graduate guard Kobe Sanders (16.8 points per game). Davidson, checking in at 6’10,” was a key part of last year’s team that earned Nevada a No. 10 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Sanders is a Cal Poly transfer in his fifth year of eligibility who averaged 19.6 points per game for the Mustangs last season.
The two have wreaked havoc against their first four opponents this year, specifically in the Wolfpack’s last game against Sam Houston, where Davidson and Sanders went for 26 and 27 points, respectively. With 6’7” Devin McGlockton and 6’8” Jaylen Carey being Vanderbilt’s tallest forwards, the Commodores may have a tough time matching up against Davidson, especially after getting outrebounded against Jackson State, 43-to-32.
Shooter’s touch
There is one disparity between the Commodores and the Wolfpack that stands above the rest: 3-point attempts. Nevada has made one more 3-pointer on the season than Vanderbilt but has taken 50 fewer shots than the Commodores. The Black and Gold check in at 34-of-122 (27.9%), while the Wolfpack are shooting at a 35-for-72 (48.6%) clip.
Playing at a faster pace — as Byington’s squad does — will lead to more shot opportunities, but Vanderbilt has been inefficient from behind the arc despite steady improvement in its last two games. Vanderbilt’s first two games displayed an abysmal 3-point shooting effort, as the Commodores shot 17.8% from behind the arc against Maryland Eastern Shore and Southeast Missouri. After shooting 28% from downtown against Cal,
Vanderbilt improved significantly against Jackson State, shooting 16-of-38 (42.1%) from deep. The Commodores will almost certainly need to shoot the ball at a high clip to stay competitive against a stronger Nevada team with a tough defense that has held opponents to 61 points per game.
Vanderbilt will tip off against Nevada on Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. CST. The winner will face the winner of Seton Hall vs. VCU in the semifinals on Nov. 22 at 4:00 p.m. CST.
