With the football season in the rear view mirror for another year and the turning of the calendar to 2019, it is time to bring back the basketball three keys for the Commodores. Vanderbilt went 9-3 in non-conference play with wins against USC and (especially) Arizona State standing out. We start the keys at a good time, with the ‘Dores about to play their first conference game of the year by hosting Ole Miss.
By Steve Wright
Here are the three keys:
Continue to thrive without Darius Garland
This is more of a refresher for those that have been locked into football mode as opposed to the happenings on the hardwood so far this season. While the ‘Dores have looked great in putting together a nine win resume so far, that run has come with consequences. The most obvious of these being that Vanderbilt lost Garland for the season to a knee injury against Kent State in late November.
The loss of Garland, who was averaging 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, did knock the ‘Dores out of their stride for a couple of weeks. Garland is a projected lottery pick and as the No. 1 overall point guard prospect in the class of 2018 he was expected to have a huge impact on the Vanderbilt team this season.
With all that said, this is still a team that can do great things this season.
Force more turnovers
This Vanderbilt team is better defensively than the outfit that Bryce Drew put on the court last season for the Commodores. There are a number of reasons for the defensive turnaround, with the main one being that the Commodores are simply contesting (and blocking) more shots than they were able to a year ago. Blocking shocks and making an opponent take contested looks around the basket are, after all, the easiest ways to force misses.
While Vandy has been very good at this aspect of defense, there is another area where the team has yet to really excel this season. Vanderbilt is 300th nationally in forcing turnovers, meaning that the defense around the rim has had to be great as opponents are getting shots on virtually all of their possessions.
Vanderbilt is an athletic enough team to force far more turnovers than they have been able to so far this season and this is a stat area that needs improving on quickly.
Make Ole Miss miss shots
The reason that Ole Miss is blowing out opponents, and blowing away preseason expectations, is because the Rebels don’t miss a lot of shots. One of just two teams in the SEC averaging over 50-percent from the field in non-conference play, Ole Miss is 10-2 despite being picked to finish dead last in the league’s preseason poll.
The Rebels are led in points by a pair of guards in Breein Tyree (17.3 ppg) and Terence Davis (15.5 ppg), but there are multiple players who have stepped up this season with big games to keep the scoring load spread out among players.
One area that Rebels have not been so strong, however, is on the glass and especially on the glass in the low post. Vanderbilt has the ability to outwork and out rebound Ole Miss, but only if the Commodores are working hard to make sure that the first shots are missed.
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