Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball (20-10, 8-9 SEC) welcomed the Arkansas Razorbacks (18-12, 7-10) into Memorial Gymnasium for their final home game of the regular season on March 4. A hot start gave the Commodores an early lead, but an ultimately poor showing offensively doomed them as they fell to the Razorbacks, 90-77.
Vanderbilt played with some defensive tenacity in the first half and forced 10 turnovers. It needed all of those stops to stay in the game, as it shot just 10-of-35 from the field in the opening 20 minutes and turned the ball over 9 times.
“It was a tough night for us,” head coach Mark Byington said after the game. “We played pretty good the first 12 minutes of the game and [Arkansas] dominated the last 28.”
The second frame was much of the same, as the Commodores either struggled to string together consistent offensive possessions or couldn’t get the stops they needed to come back. Jason Edwards, the team’s leading scorer, shot 0-for-11 from the field and scored just 2 points. Outside of Tyler Nickel’s 3-point shooting (4-of-6), Vanderbilt shot just 6-of-18 from deep and ended up shooting 38.3% from the field on the evening.
“We were a half step slow and we were off,” Byington said. “We were out of character and we can’t play that way against a team like [Arkansas].”
First half
The ‘Dores rolled out their usual starting five of Edwards, AJ Hoggard, Chris Manon, Nickel and Devin McGlockton. Zvonimir Ivisic won the tip for Arkansas before turnovers from Karter Knox and Edwards stalled momentum. Hoggard got the Commodores on the board with a pull-up jumper. A deep ball from McGlockton and block from Manon fired up the crowd before an Ivisich triple tied things up at five-apiece.
Nickel kept things going with a triple off a McGlockton offensive rebound and MJ Collins Jr. drilled a spot-up 3-pointer from the left wing. Johnell Davis ended the quasi-run with a deep ball of his own and sent the game into a media timeout with the score flashing 11-8.
Trevon Brazile silenced the crowd with a posterizing dunk out of the timeout and Jaylen Carey got his first points of the game off a tip-in layup. A Tyler Tanner triple — the Commodores’ fourth of the game – and two free throws from Collins saw the lead balloon to eight points. Billy Richmond III went on a run of his own with a steal and slam to go with a made free throw two possessions later. Davis kept it going with his second triple of the game to cut Vanderbilt’s lead to two points as the under-12 media timeout hit.
McGlockton responded accordingly with three buckets down low, but Knox ended the big man’s 6-0 run with a driving layup. Davis found the bottom of the net on a layup through contact, plus a foul, and completed the old-fashioned 3-point play at the charity stripe. A Tanner turnover gave way to another and-one, this time from Richmond.
A number of turnovers, fouls and missed shots slowed things down after that as Vanderbilt’s scoring drought approached — and ultimately exceeded — three minutes. Ivisic cut the lead to just two with a craft layup down low, but Hoggard reignited the crowd with a triple from the top of the key. Knox converted two and-ones within moments of each other to give Arkansas its first lead of the game, and Brazile ended the half with a fastbreak windmill to bring Arkansas into the break with a 43-37 lead behind a 13-3 run. Vanderbilt started the half shooting 9-of-19 and ended it shooting an abysmal 1-of-16.
Second half
Brazile and McGlockton traded triples to start the half. Knox and DJ Wagner converted on layups to keep building the Razorbacks’ lead, taking the home crowd out of the game completely. Wagner got to the line and drilled a pair of free throws to make Arkansas’ lead that of double digits, and Brazile’s triple forced a Byington timeout with the scoreboard showing 55-42 in favor of the Razorbacks.
Manon hit his first field goal of the game and forced a turnover on the ensuing possession, but Vanderbilt could not capitalize. Jonas Aidoo came back with an and-one finish on the other end as Arkansas built its lead to 14 points. Nickel gave the Commodores life with a deep 3-pointer. Vanderbilt lucked out when Aidoo missed a pair of free throws, but Wagner corralled the loose ball and poured in a floater to make the misses a moot point. Collins also missed a pair of free throws before Carey and Ivisic traded shots in the paint.
Nickel cut the lead back to 14 points with his third triple of the game, and a pair of free throws from Carey gave the ‘Dores an open door. In an effort to close the door, Ivisic dunked all over Hoggard, plus the foul. Hoggard came right back with an and-one of his own, though, and his free throw made the score 70-57. A Nickel floater and Brazile putback slam kept the Razorbacks’ lead at 13 heading into the under-eight media break.
Arkansas head coach John Calipari was called for a technical foul during the break, and Nickel made his two free throws. Hoggard then connected on two of his own to cut the lead down to nine points. Wagner soon crushed Vanderbilt’s momentum with a deep triple as the shot clock expired. Nickel and Collins connected on 3-pointers and Tanner hit a layup to cut the deficit to nine, but a Brazile triple shut the door for good.
In the end, Arkansas won 90-77. Nickel and his four 3-pointers (16 points) led all Commodores in scoring, while Davis (20 points) set the pace for the Razorbacks.
“We weren’t there tonight,” Byington said. “We looked tired.”
Vanderbilt will now look ahead to its final game of the regular season on March 8, when it takes on Georgia at 11 a.m. CST.
