NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt carries a 20-win season
into Saturday’s showdown at Rupp Arena against No. 1 Kentucky. It’s the seventh
20-win season in the last nine under coach Kevin Stallings — and yet, something
about the achievement seems to be a little bit empty.
“It used to be a real bench mark,” Stallings said after Wednesday’s 59-48 win
over South Carolina, which gave him the school record for 20-win seasons.
“We’re proud of it and we’re proud to get there. Like I said, I hope we got a
lot more in us. It was good that when we got our first shot at it, we were able
to knock it out. We’re hoping for a lot more than 21. I can assure you.”
Consider that the Commodores were ranked No. 7 in the preseason and, as of this
week, are nowhere to be found in the Top 25. Local sports talk radio is full of
dread that the Commodores will bow out in the first round of the NCAA
tournament for a third consecutive season and for the fourth time in four
appearances dating to 2008.
However, with a few games remaining, hope persists, as does a chance to fulfill
that preseason promise. Bridgestone Arena in Nashville — located about three
miles down Broadway from the school’s lush campus — will host first- and
second-round NCAA tournament games, which could provide the comfort and crowd
support for the foundation of a potential Sweet 16 run, if the selection
committee is so willing.
In addition, the Commodores (20-8, 9-4), currently third in the SEC, have three
regular-season games left and still have a chance to catch No. 11 Florida
(22-6, 10-3) for second. That would mean avoiding the 27-1 Wildcats until the
conference title game and the opportunity to improve their NCAA seeding.
The season has been a bumpy ride for the Commodores, including an early home
loss to Cleveland State by 13. They started without 6-foot-11 center Festus
Ezeli, who missed six weeks with a sprained MCL and PCL in his right knee.
Ezeli came back and played two games then sat out the next two before returning
permanently.
With Ezeli in the lineup, the Commodores are 13-5 in what could be considered
the more difficult, conference portion of their schedule. Another bright spot
has been the play of guard John Jenkins, the SEC’s leading scorer at 20.1
points per game.
“We’ve had some stretches where we’ve been really good,” said Jeffery Taylor,
the team’s No. 2 scorer and the SEC’s third-leading scorer at 17.3 points who
is in a bit of a slump, shooting 5 of 19 his last two games. “Obviously, we
struggled a little bit at the beginning. You can blame that on a lot of
different things if you want to, but I think for most of the year we’ve played
pretty good basketball.”
At times, the Commodores have struggled to put away some of the SEC’s worst
teams, like Georgia and South Carolina. Also, Ezeli’s play has left his coach
wanting on occasion. Ezeli called his one-point, one-rebound performance on
Feb. 19 against Georgia, in which he attempted only one shot in 13 minutes,
“probably one of my worst games of my career.”
He rebounded from that with a dominant second half against South Carolina in
which he posted 12 points, five blocks and four rebounds in only 12 minutes.
“I thought defensively that was the most presence he’s given us in quite some
time,” Stallings said. “It made a huge difference in our ability to keep the
game from ever really becoming a game there at the end. We had the lead and he
was blocking shots and changing shots and doing really good things on the
defense end. Plus, he was creating fouls and doing a great job of making his
free throws.
“He was a lot closer to being that kind of guy that we were hoping to have last
night certainly than he was on Sunday (at Georgia) or he was last week against
Mississippi or Kentucky. I was happy for him because it’s bothered him that he
hasn’t played better so, hopefully, that’s the start of something good for him
going down the stretch here.”
The Commodores will need a similar performance from Ezeli on Saturday when he
goes toe-to-toe with the Wildcats’ Anthony Davis, who is expected to be a top
pick in the NBA Draft. A win over Kentucky — a team the Commodores led in the
final four minutes of regulation at Memorial Gym on Feb. 11 — will do a lot
for Vandy both in the standings and also in the national rankings, the latter
of which is not much concern to Ezeli.
“I really don’t care about rankings,” he said. “I just think we have a chance
to show what we got and that’s what we need to do — show what type of team we
are.”
Stallings was asked if Ezeli’s second half against South Carolina can be a
springboard to something better.
“If Fes plays like that on both ends and maybe, again, we want a little bit
more — we want him to rebound more but he was really assertive — and, yes,
that will give us something to build off of and help us for sure,” Stallings
said.
If so, it could make for an interesting last few games — and possibly the
postseason.
