Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball returned to Memorial Gymnasium to face No. 14 Mississippi State for its first home game and second SEC contest of the new year. The Commodores, despite a raucous home crowd and a nearly sold-out student section, couldn’t pull the win out, falling 76-64. Head coach Mark Byington’s group trailed by 22 points in the second half and made an impressive comeback effort, even clawing back within five, but never fully closed the gap.

The team’s 64 points marked their worst offensive performance of the year, as Jason Edwards — who was a game-time decision with a leg injury — couldn’t get it going. Edwards entered the game averaging 18.3 points per game but was held to zero points.

“I always kind of embrace setbacks as a chance for us to get better and learn,” Byington said after the loss. “We’ve got to figure out how to, you know, be good against a team that’s really good.”

Chris Mañon, Grant Huffman, AJ Hoggard, Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton drew the start for the Commodores.

First half

The Bulldogs won the opening tip but were foiled by sharp defense from Nickel, who forced a turnover from RJ Melendez. McGlockton electrified the Commodore faithful with a short jumper on the offensive end to give Vanderbilt an early 2-0 lead. Cameron Matthews recovered his own miss on the other end and sunk a putback layup to get his team on the board. 

Huffman took over from there, taking back-to-back passes from Hoggard and turning them into a crafty layup and a 3-pointer to make the lead 7-2. Buckets from Melendez and Michael Nwoko tied the game up, but Hoggard retaliated with back-to-back paint scores of his own. A circus triple from Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard banked in, marking the sophomore star’s first points of the game. Hoggard, looking to keep his hot hand, drew contact on a layup attempt to earn himself a pair of free throws on the other side of the game’s first media timeout. 

The graduate guard converted on one of two free throws, making the score 12-10. Hoggard was then burnt by Melendez on the other end, forcing him to foul on a dunk attempt, sending Melendez to the line. The senior connected on both attempts before Matthews connected on another layup. Matthews’ dominance continued as he garnered a steal and block on back-to-back possessions to get himself to the charity stripe, converting on both free throws.  

MJ Collins Jr. went down with an injury on Matthews’ steal, rolling on the ground in pain while gripping his left knee. He spent some time on the ground before limping off on his own as Tyler Tanner subbed in. 

Sloppy play from both sides — two of the nation’s best in terms of limiting turnovers — ensued after that. Vanderbilt turned the ball over three times as the Bulldogs committed two unforced errors to bring the game to the media timeout with the scoreboard showing 19-14 in favor of Mississippi State. 

Nwoko connected on a tough jumper out of the break as Edwards was called for a foul, keeping the ball with the Bulldogs. Some more stellar defense and free throws from Mississippi State extended the lead to 23-14 as Vanderbilt’s offensive struggles continued. A steal from Huffman produced a fast-break layup for Tanner to end a two-minute scoring drought for Vanderbilt. From there, the 3-pointers started falling again. Nickel and Huffman connected on back-to-back deep balls to bring Vanderbilt within three points ahead of a media timeout. 

Collins returned to the game after the timeout and was fouled on a 3-point attempt, hitting two of three shots to make the score 27-24. Turnovers continued to hurt the ‘Dores as a bad pass from Devin McGlockton and an offensive foul on Hoggard left them scoreless on two consecutive possessions. 

Stellar press defense from Tanner forced a 10-second violation on Riley Kugel, firing the home crowd up once again. He checked out of the game soon after to a round of applause. Melendez stole an errant pass from Hoggard on an inbound and took it coast-to-coast for a layup. Vanderbilt entered the final media timeout of the first half trailing 26-31. 

Tanner forced a turnover out of the break, but Jason Edwards’ scoring struggles continued as he missed on a triple and a layup, keeping him scoreless at 0-for-5 on the evening. Shawn Jones Jr. converted on a set of free throws after a McGlockton foul put Mississippi State in the bonus. Vanderbilt failed to get a shot up during its next possession as the shot clock expired. KeShawn Murphy, Melendez and Matthews connected on more layups to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 13. Vanderbilt suffered from a scoring drought of over five minutes before Huffman nailed a leaning jumper to end the half. The scoreboard flashed 39-28 in favor of Mississippi State as both teams headed into the locker rooms.

The story of the first half for Vanderbilt was one of sloppy, uncharacteristic play. Huffman led all Commodores with 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, but without his efforts, the Commodores scored just 18 points on 6-of-24 shooting. They also turned the ball over 10 times, more than they did in their full game against LSU (9 turnovers) over the weekend. 

“We got out of character, [I] give them credit,” Byington said. “We got down when we missed shots and that impacted our defense and we had some foul trouble in the first half.”

Second half

Mississippi State started with the ball as Claudell Harris Jr. kicked the second half off with a smooth triple. Nickel bricked a 3-pointer on Vanderbilt’s first possession of the half and Matthews drove to the hoop for a crafty layup on the other end. A layup from Nwoko extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 17. Huffman kept on as the team’s only source of offense, getting to the free throw line and making one while missing his second. McGlockton forced his way into the paint for an offensive board as Hoggard dazzled with a nifty mid-range jumper. The Black and Gold’s momentum stalled from there, though, as Mississippi State increased its lead to 56-34 as the 16-minute media timeout rolled around.

From there, the momentum shifted in Vanderbilt’s favor.

“We just got in the huddle and we talked to the team, and coach [said] ‘this game is not over,'” Huffman said. “They made their runs, and it was our turn to make ours.”

Jaylen Carey got on the board after a two-plus minute scoring drought from Vanderbilt with a slick euro-step as Tanner made his way to the hoop for a finger roll layup. A Mañon offensive rebound led directly to another layup from Tanner to give the crowd some life as Vanderbilt crawled back within 18 points. Vanderbilt had opportunities (a pair of triples from Edwards and a wide-open layup from Collins Jr) but couldn’t keep chipping at the lead until Tanner broke into the paint and was fouled on a shot attempt, bringing the game into a media timeout. 

Tanner went one-for-two from the line before Hoggard was fouled, putting Vanderbilt into the bonus. He connected on both attempts to make the score 56-41. A steal from Hoggard got Tanner into the fast break and he converted another layup. It marked the back end of a 7-0 run, forcing Mississippi State coach Chris Jans to call a timeout. 

Hubbard came out aggressive after the timeout, connecting on a hook layup to end Vanderbilt’s run. McGlockton converted one of two free throws before Jones Jr. nailed a triple to extend the lead back to 16. Both teams traded some misses — and Hubbard went 0-for-2 on a trip to the line — before McGlockton intercepted a pass and found Hoggard wide-open to cut the lead to 12. Melendez halted that momentum with a tough layup through contact right before the game went to media timeout. 

Carey sent the student section into a frenzy with a deep triple on a broken play at the buzzer. Hoggard ripped the ball from Melendez and won possession back for Vanderbilt on the ensuing defensive possession. The star guard then used a hop step to get into the paint, finishing through contact for an and-one finish that cut the lead down to single digits. He converted the free throw. 

Some impeccable defense — aided by a rowdy crowd — on the other end forced a travel and got Vanderbilt the ball right back, but it couldn’t capitalize immediately. Still, a few more defensive stops put the ball in Nickel’s hands, and he made the Bulldogs pay with an in-rhythm triple to cut the lead to five. Hoggard then bested Melendez on defense, sending an off-balance layup attempt out of bounds for his first block of the game. The play sent the game into its final media timeout with just four minutes to play as Memorial Gymnasium exploded with noise. 

Harris Jr. connected on a triple on the other side of the break to extend the lead back to eight before a layup attempt from Hoggard rolled in and out. Vanderbilt got a stop but couldn’t convert on offense as Mississippi State extended its lead back to double digits after a Matthews dunk.

In the end, Vanderbilt’s comeback bid failed, as it fell 76-64. The loss marked the team’s first since Nov. 24 against Drake. Hoggard led all Commodores with 16 points.

“I love the response we had. I thought, you know, the guys figured the game out, they competed,” Byington said. “We had a great crowd and hopefully they come back, keep supporting us and I know we’ll get better.”

Vanderbilt will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 11 as it hits the road to take on the Missouri Tigers with tip scheduled at 2:30 p.m. CST.