Good Bounce Back

[Jason94]

While not perfect, at this moment any win is a good win, and something we can build upon. Wright and Robbins showed that they indeed are not as bad as they showed in the first two games, and perhaps needed to play with their backs against the wall in a hostile environment to determine if they were going to bow up or fade away. The issues we had were the issues I was concerned about at the start of the season, but in the end even after giving up the lead they didn't fold and got a massive jumper from Manjon and finally a defensive stop against Dunn to seal the win.

This was the version of Wright that we need to see on a consistent basis. Assertive, able to not only hit shots but create for others and grab rebounds. You can build a team around this version of Wright, and his creativity at his size makes him a matchup issue for opponents. Stute made his shots and when he does is very dangerous, his rebounding has been good on the defensive glass and he didn't turn the ball over. At this point he is essentially a poor man's Kyle Korver, which isn't great but not someone who is going to magically expand his game. Robbins was excellent offensively off the bench, outside of the four turnovers - 11 shot attempts and none from three, making 9 of them. We just need to see a little more on the boards from our centers - 5 boards in 44 minutes is not great. Manjon was very good as our point - poised with 9 assists and zero turnovers, made the game winning shot and hit his shots. We knew he wasn't going to hit his threes, but he has to turn things around from the line - His track record suggests this will occur over time but it has been a poor start. Lawrence was ok, but he has become so passive offensively over the last two games that it transfers responsibility to other players - he needs to look for his shots more often.

Lewis was good off the bench - hit his shot, got some assists and rebound, not too many turnovers. About all you can ask out of a freshman point that isn't very highly rated out of HS. Ansong had the same number of boards as our centers in just 13 minutes, shows he can make some shots inside, but is going to struggle from the line this season. Smith was out for some reason and Dia was a bit wild with his shot so not sure what happened there. This led to Stute playing a very large number of minutes but he was hot so that worked.

Notably, Thomas and Shelby didn't play. It made sense with Thomas as we were really working the ball inside and Temple's big guards would have been major trouble for him. But this is Shelby's 2nd DNP - coaches decision in three games. Very surprising given his reputation. Dort is a little more understandable given the experience up front, but he's played 4 minutes in 3 games. Hopefully they are the nation's most patient 4 star recruits or CJS figures out some way to get them into the lineup.

Defensively giving up that many points is concerning, but one thing at a time. As CKS used to say, "happiness is winning on the road". The team can be happy they won but not satisfied in how they played and build off of that.

[commadore]

They said on the radio that Thomas and Shelby were nursing minor injuries.

[VUaskew]

Thomas and Smith were out with injury, according to The Twitter.

[DeefromAtlanta]

Was there a typo in the boxscore? 36% from the free throw line?

[MrMemorial]

UK lost to an unranked opponent. Syracuse blown out by Colgate.

Duke is playing Kansas right now... I predict one of them will get a loss.

[commadore]

Thomas and Smith were out with injury, according to The Twitter.

That is right. I just remembered it started with an S.

[Jason94]

UK lost to an unranked opponent. Syracuse blown out by Colgate.

Duke is playing Kansas right now... I predict one of them will get a loss.

The unranked opponent is Michigan State - currently at #18 in kenpom. Colgate is not a great team and the loss was at home, but they are a top 100 team in kenpom - and projected to win their league quite easily - they have been to the tournament the last two seasons. Even the UT loss was against a Colorado team that is a potential bubble team. I get that these things can happen, but it isn't in any way comparable to losing by double digits to a team that is picked to finish dead last in the sun belt conference and hasn't won double digit games in each of the previous three seasons. I think we can get past that and still have a good season, but that was the worst loss in Vanderbilt Men's basketball history by a pretty decent margin. Not too comparable to much that has gone on so far this year.

[Versus75]

Southern Miss nay turn out to be a decent team this year with all the experienced transfers. Just can’t tell so far because they keep playing non-Division I teams (William Carey, Loyola New Orleans). Mobile is on the horizon (or on the bay if you wish).

Those are games that should be pre-regular-season scrimmages.

[charlestonalum]

A much needed hard fought contest that in part reflected good coaching since Stack changed the offensive approach to aggressive going to the basket from passing it around and chunking up 3's that this team spparently can't hit. So congratulstions to players and coach. Clutch at end.

[alathIN]

Is Temple's paint defense so bad that it allowed Robbins to go off? Or is this an accurate reflection of Robbins' ability?
It feels like Wright and Stute are better from behind the line when the ball is kicked out to them than they are creating from the perimeter. With Robbins in the paint and Manjon and Lawrence capable of penetrating maybe we are better as an inside-out team than outside-in.

[Vandamnit]

I wanted to add...

In addition to much better intensity and play from the team, the coaching and gameplan was much improved as well. The use of our centers down low marked a much better approach. I guess that happens when you hit your 3's too, but there were a number of much better offensive sets in this game. That is to be expected as CJS gets a better and better sense of how to deploy his players to maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses.

BTW, was this the first game that Keeffe played? Was surprised to see him in there, but missed the first 5 min...

[VandyManners]

Is Temple's paint defense so bad that it allowed Robbins to go off? Or is this an accurate reflection of Robbins' ability?
It feels like Wright and Stute are better from behind the line when the ball is kicked out to them than they are creating from the perimeter. With Robbins in the paint and Manjon and Lawrence capable of penetrating maybe we are better as an inside-out team than outside-in.

When Robbins is hitting that little jump hook, it is very hard to defend. He was on last night.

[Jason94]

Is Temple's paint defense so bad that it allowed Robbins to go off? Or is this an accurate reflection of Robbins' ability?
It feels like Wright and Stute are better from behind the line when the ball is kicked out to them than they are creating from the perimeter. With Robbins in the paint and Manjon and Lawrence capable of penetrating maybe we are better as an inside-out team than outside-in.

I would say that most everyone is better from three when the ball moves inside out, as it is more likely they are catching the ball already with their shoulders squared to the basket.

Robbins is probably not going to shoot 80+% from the floor every night, but at his size he should be doing most of his work inside. He is probably going to be around 50% from 2 for the season if previous seasons are any indication. Not Blake Griffin, but that is more than good enough to force some double teams or at least keep teams from completely crowding our shooters.

[Jason94]

Southern Miss nay turn out to be a decent team this year with all the experienced transfers. Just can’t tell so far because they keep playing non-Division I teams (William Carey, Loyola New Orleans). Mobile is on the horizon (or on the bay if you wish).

Those are games that should be pre-regular-season scrimmages.

That is possible, maybe they are turning the corner in year 4. But on paper it is a horrible loss. It doesn't define the season but should have been a massive red flag for the players and coaches. Southern Miss could improve tremendously from last season and be no better than the Marist team we lost to in 2013. I would guess that sub 300 teams on kenpom almost never beat high major teams, and it would be interesting if there were an occurrence of a one beating an actual tournament level team. Maybe Chaminade vs Virgina would have qualified 40+ years ago, but that game was played 4,000 miles away from UVA's home court and was essentially a buzzer beater with questionable officiating.

Even in our worst seasons we've not lost to a sub 300 team and most of the teams we are winning by 25+ points. Basically, it takes more than just having a bad game to lost to a team like this at home, which is why it was so startling. Perhaps it is better that we lost to them instead of grabbing a 5 point win which might have preserved an illusion that things weren't in drastic need of adjustment.

[jpmando]

If the southern miss loss woke us up, then great.

That's why we play early season games.

I hope the schemes and intensity are the new normal.
Even on those nights where we shoot poorly, we will cause problems
For opponents if we play like we did last night.

Congratulations to players and coaches on a very good road win.

[VUinFL]

I watched most of the Memphis game and only some of the Southern Miss game, but they seemed to kick up the defensive intensity last night. Still probably not a "good" defensive team but they were much more disruptive - hands in faces, contesting shots, stripping the ball, etc. In the first two games it seemed like once an opposing player got within 8' of the basket it was a free layup.

[quasidiehardvandyfan]

What a turnaround. That's the Robbins and Wright we were expecting going into this season.

While it remains to be seen if either team is actually capable of being a tournament team, that had the feel of a tourney game; an unstoppable player on the other team (Dunn), back and forth lead changes, OT.

Manjon was excellent, I'm glad to see he's assertive enough to have taken that winning shot; feels like in years past that would have been a hot potato situation. Stute was on fire, love this guy when he's confident. Wish Shelby got those minutes over Keefe (no offense to Keefe).

Certainly was interesting to see Dezonie with a whopping 2 minutes played and a donut on the stat sheet. I imagine he is not thrilled with his PT, though I'm not sure who he'd be ahead of if he were here (Likely Thomas, maybe Lawrence?)

Hopefully we can build on this and keep it going against Morehead St. I'll be looking to see increased minutes from Shelby and Dort given the level of opponent (KP #226) and Thomas/Smith being out. Maybe we'll play Robbins and Dort at the 4/5 together for brief periods?

[geeznotagain]

Liam gets the Jekyll/Hyde award for the young season. What a difference between games 1/2 and game 3!! And a "great game, Mr. Dunn" acknowledgement. That dude was lights out and almost won the game for Temple singlehandedly.

[Nashmann]

Where is our Dunn? Can you imagine this team with one player like Dunn? Amazing what one player can do...

[MrMemorial]

I think we can get past that and still have a good season, but that (the blowout Marist loss after Marist just lost 87-44 to unranked West Virginia) was the worst loss in Vanderbilt Men's basketball history by a pretty decent margin.

FIFY