Saben Lee put on probably the most remarkable performance in Vanderbilt basketball history last night . The heart and soul of a young team that has been getting better and better and looks promising the rest of this season and next year, our phenomenal junior point guard scored 38 points on 14 of 20 from the field, including 6 of 7 from trifecta range, he added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, one a critical block with us up 78-73 and 2:42 left in the game, as we defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 87-79 in Tuscaloosa.
This was our first road victory since March 3, 2018 and moved us to 10-20 overall and 2-15 in the SEC. That may not seem super, but the way we’re getting better and better with Saben dominating and Scotty Pippen Jr, Dylan Disu, Ejike Obinna, Maxwell Evans, Braelee Albert and Oton Jankovic all improving rapidly as players, I feel like we have a good shot Saturday with South Carolina visiting and we can do some damage in the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashvegas starting next Wednesday, March 11th.
Saben put the team on his back, but Dylan was 5 of 10 from the field and 4 of 9 from triple for 14 points and added 8 boards and 1 blocked shot. Our freshman is going to be a terrific player for us. So is Scotty Pippen Jr. SPJ. added 13 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. He was also 6 of 9 from the line, so he’s back to being a good free throw shooter which he should be. Would like to see him make all 9 or 8 of 9. We’ll need him to going forward. But he’s showing signs of his dad’s game though he’s a point guard and his dad was a small forward. But he has his dad’s talent. Scotty Pippen Sr is at all home games. SPJ has the heart of a champion and has a very bright future on the West End. He’s really been trending well as a player and his potential is unlimited. Max Evans added 8 points and 3 boards and was 2 of 3 from trifecta. Obinna and Jankovic contributed too with buckets and boards. Braelee Albert is becoming a really solid player for us. Stack went small late in the game using Isaiah Rice, so we had a quicker group out there. We made some key free throws at the end.
We were 30 of 54 from the field, 56%, a sizzling 15 of 28 from 3, 54%, wow, and 12 of 16 from the charity stripe, 75%, which was solid. We held Alabama to 41% from the field, 33% from 3, 12 of 36, they were 15 of 21 from the line, 71%, and we out-rebounded them 35-33. We turned it over 18 times to their 12, so we need to polish that up for Saturday.
Amazing stuff from Stack, Saben and this young, dramatically improving team. Who knows what can happen for us going forward this season, our trajectory is outstanding right now, and we’ve got a shot to do well going forward. Next season looks extremely promising if Saben comes back, the great Aaron Nesmith decides he wants another year with Stack, and this young core, along with some excellent transfers, keep matriculating the way they have this season, we’ve got a shot to make the tournament and then all bets are off, you’ve got a chance to go the distance. I think we’re close to being back. Stack has us positioned well for the rest of this season and the future. Saben lit it up last night in Coleman Coliseum and gave this team the boost they needed for the rest of this season and continuing on into 20-21.
Saturday at Memorial hosting the South Carolina Gamecocks, a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, 11:30 AM CT on the SEC Network.
Baseball a winner again
Six Vanderbilt pitchers combined to stymie the Central Arkansas bats in a 10-2 Commodore victory yesterday at the Hawk.
DH Ty Duvall had 2 hits and 2 Ribeyes, left fielder Cooper Davis had a pair of hits and an RBI, center fielder Tate Kolwyck was 2 for 2 with 2 Ribbies filling in for Austin Martin at the end of the game, shortstop Carter Young was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and 3rd baseman Parker Noland drove in 3 runs.
Ethan Smith got the start on the mound but struggled, but freshman Michael Doolin pitched 2 innings, gave up 1 hit with a walk and 5 K’s. Our great freshman Jack Leiter, pitched an inning, gave up 0 runs and struck out 2. Nick Maldonado, another freshman arm, pitched 2, gave up 0 runs with a walk and a K. Luke Murphy, a redshirt frosh, pitched and inning, gave up 1 hit with a walk and a pair of K’s, and Chris McElvain, another frosh, pitched an inning, giving up 1 hit with 0 walks and 2 K’s.
Just a workmanlike performance from our team. There were 3,182 fans at the Hawk cheering the team on after a traumatic night in Nashville. We were 10-1 on this homestand.
Corbs and the Boys head out west for games against UCLA, USC and TCU in LA. The UCLA game is Friday at 8 PM CT and will be streamed on vucommodores.com . Saturday’s game with USC is at 4 PM CT and will also be streamed live on vucommodores.com . The game Sunday versus TCU at 12 PM doesn’t have streaming as of now, but if we get a stream, I will sure let you know.
We’ll see if Mason Hickman can start Friday. Want to be careful with him though this is an important weekend for us with some excellent competition. Kumar should be able to go Saturday and I wouldn’t mind seeing Jack Leiter get the call on Sunday. If Mason is unable to go, Kumar might get the ball Friday, Jack Saturday, and to be determined on Sunday. SEC play starts at home next Friday versus Kentucky coming in for a weekend set. We’ll host Toledo on Wednesday. More information on those next week after this important weekend series against 3 stellar teams.
Men’s Golf excels in Mexico
Our 20th ranked men’s golf team finished 3rd in a loaded field at the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico. We shot -10 as a team. No.9 Arizona State won it at -20 and No. 6 Texas A&M finished 2nd at -12. We finished ahead of No. 14 Arizona and No. 13 Baylor among other high quality teams in this 15 team field.
John “Clutch” Augenstein shot 68 yesterday, -3, and Reid Davenport was -1. Harrison Ott was +2 and William Moll and Matthew Riedel were at +4. The tournament takes the 4 lowest scores from each team as it does in all collegiate tournaments. We were +2 yesterday after shooting -2 the first day and -10 the second day. So very good showing for the guys. Harrison Ott finished tied for 10th at -3, John was tied for 14th at -2, Reid was tied for 19th th at -1, and William Moll was tied for 22nd at Even par.
Next up for us is the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate this Saturday and Sunday in Scottsdale, AZ. Then we’ll go to the Valspar Collegiate Championship on Palm City, Florida March 16th and 17th, a Monday and a Tuesday. That’s always a loaded field so we will be tested.
Coach Scott Limbaugh said we needed our senior, Johnny Clutch, to lead us, and Coach Limbaugh said John did a fantastic job of that. He said we’re not where we want to be yet, but he’s seeing progress and thinks we can be a possible championship caliber team with continued hard work, discipline and improvement.
The SEC Championships are in Sea Island, GA. April 23rd-26th, and the NCAA Regionals are May 18th-20th at a site to be determined. The NCAA Championships take place in Scottsdale, AZ, May 29th-June 3rd. A lot of work to do and tournaments to play in to get ready for those. We’re used to being at the NCAA Championships and doing very well there. The expectation is still the same this year.
I’ll talk to Scott soon.
Women’s Tennis
The Women’s Tennis team is now 5-3 after defeating Mississippi State in Starkville last Sunday, 4-3, in a dramatic comeback victory by our team. We are now ranked 17th in the the ITA Rankings. We’ve got another excellent team and Geoff McDonald will have us peaking in April and May. Will talk to Geoff coming up in the next week or so.
Football stuff
We are on spring break but have had a week of spring practice. We have new coordinators in OC Todd Fitch who comes from Louisiana Tech where he led prolific offenses. Really excited about Todd. Ted Roof takes over the defense and he has a very accomplished resume. He was most recently at App State in 2019 where he led his defense to the 18th best scoring defense in the country.
Coach Mason and Coach Fitch will need to find a starting quarterback. Freshman Ken Seals, a 5.7, 3 star and junior college quarterback Jeremy Moussa along with junior Jack Bowen are getting the reps right now. Jeremy is banged up I understand, but should be good to go either later in the spring or in August. Four star Mike Wright is coming in this summer as is junior college transfer Danny Clark, who started his career at Kentucky and recently played at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Deuce Wallace transferred as did Alan Walters, and Mo Hasan had to quit football due to concussions. But I like our options for next season and like what Coach Fitch can do with these guys.
We got a huge breakthrough on February signing day when 4 star safety Donovan Kauffman signed with us. Huge get for Coach Mason and the staff. Donovan had committed to us but decided to look at test the waters instead of signing with us in December. We battled it out with Florida State and Ole Miss and landed Donovan in the end. He said he felt most comfortable with Coach Mason, the staff, the players and the campus and liked the world class education component as well. Awesome stuff by Coach Mason and the staff hanging tough and landing Donovan.
I will have more on the signing class in a later post. Our class was ranked 47th by Rivals. It was a solid class.
We have a lot of very good players, just need to develop them. I sent a direct message by twitter to Running Backs coach Tim Horton and he’s excited about his material but says there’s a lot of work to be done to get to where we need to be as a running back corps.
Our spring game will be Friday, April 3rd at 7 PM CT on the SEC Network. Will be interesting to see how the guys execute in front of a national audience. We’ve got talent back. Offensive line will need to jell, but I like our material there. Wide receiver looks excellent and defense, we’ve got some really good d linemen and I like our linebackers and secondary.
Our first game is Saturday, Sept. 5th vs Mercer at Vanderbilt Stadium. Time is to be determined. Then we’re @ Missouri, Sept. 12th, @ Kansas State, Sept. 19th, versus Colorado State, Sept. 26th, @ Georgia, October 3rd, vs Ole Miss, Oct. 10th, @ Kentucky, Oct.17th, open date Oct. 24th, versus South Carolina, Oct. 31st, vs. Florida, Nov. 7th, @A&M, Nov. 14th, vs. LA Tech, Nov. 21st, then vs Tennessee, Nov. 28th.
So a lot of work to do in preparation for the season. We just need to start with having a good spring. Will keep you updated.