Six of our players scored in double figures Saturday as we took care of business against the Florida Gators, 88-72, before 10,133 fans at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville.

Liam Robbins led us with 18 and added 9 boards and 5 blocks. Wow, the big fella is on fire. Senior point guard Ezra Manjon added 15, 4 assists and 0 turnovers as he continues to excel running the point. Tyrin Lawrence, who is playing on a terrifically high level, added 13 and 7 boards. Trey Thomas, Myles Stute and freshman Colin Smith, who is really coming on, each added 11. Myles was 3 for 9 from trifecta, Tryin was 2 for 2 and Trey hit a bucket from triple as well. We were 10 for 24 from 3, 42%. We also out-rebounded the Gators, 42-31, which is terrific. We only turned it over 6 times, an area we have made a vast improvement on in the last month or so. We were 16 for 23 from the stripe, which is 70%, pretty solid. Would like to see that get to 75-80% because that’ll win a lot more games.

We are now 16-13 overall and 9-7 in the SEC. We are presently tied for 5th in the SEC. And with 2 W’s this week, we could very well get in the top 4 of the conference and get a double bye for the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville starting next Wednesday, March 8th, and continuing through Sunday, 3/12, with the Championship game at 12 PM CT on ESPN that Sunday, March 8th.

But we’ve got a major challenge to concentrate on tomorrow night, Wednesday, in Rupp Arena against the now No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats. The game starts at 6 PM CT Wednesday and will be televised by the SEC Network.

Kentucky has been on fire lately including an 86-54 blasting of Auburn at Rupp this past Saturday. Big man Oscar Tshiebwe, all 6’9”, 260 pounds of him, finished with 22 points and 17 boards. He will be a load for Liam and Quinton Millora-Brown to handle, but I have faith in our two guys. Antonio Reeves (21 against Auburn) and Cason Wallace (19 points) are two major threats as well. Tshiebwe is averaging 16.4 ppg and 12.8 rebounds. Reeves, a 6’5”, shooting guard who transferred from Illinois State for this season, is averaging 13.4 ppg. Jacob Toppin, who had 13 against Auburn and is a 6’9”, 205 power forward, is averaging 12.1 and 6.8 boards. And Wallace, a 6’4” 193 freshman guard, is averaging 11.9 points and has 121 assists on the season. One thing about Kentucky, they always have a lot of length. We will be severely challenged on both ends of the floor.

Liam is leading us with 15.5 ppg and 7.1 boards and 82 blocks in 25 games. That’s over 3 per game. He brings a lot to the court for us. We’ll need him to play a huge role tomorrow night if we expect to be successful in Rupp. Tyrin is playing superb basketball and is averaging 11.4 ppg and 4.1 boards. Jordan Wright is averaging 9.3 ppg and 4.6 rebounds per game. Really need Jordan to step it up in scoring and on the boards tomorrow night. He didn’t play a lot on Saturday, so I hope he gets his shot in Rupp and he excels. Need his on-court skills and his leadership. Myles is averaging 9.1 and is 68 for 177 on 3’s, 38%. He’ll need to stroke it from 3 tomorrow night. So will Trey. That would be a huge boost for our chances. Some coaches like to say we need X amount of 3’s per game to knock off a favored opponent. I’d say we’ll need 10 to 12 tomorrow night and we’re certainly capable of doing that and even better. Ezra is averaging 8.9 and has 110 assists on the season in 29 games, that’s close to 4 per game. He only has 38 turnovers, which is a 3:1 ratio. Outstanding.

We’ll need everybody to contribute tomorrow night. Colin Smith has become a weapon for us. We’ll need Colin to be an impact player against Kentucky. He’s not a freshman any more. Technically he is, but he’s played a lot of college basketball now, and has been through plenty of SEC battles, so he’s expected to be an asset for us tomorrow night.

If the guys can just go into Rupp and believe we can win there, we’ve got a good shot. Should be fun. Nerve wracking but fun. Mississippi State in Memorial at 7:30 PM CT Saturday on the SEC Network. Need both of these, and one for sure to keep our NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Hopefully we can get both. You always have a shot in the SEC Tournament, but would like to handle business in the next two games to attain some serious momentum heading into Bridgestone.

Baseball playing well, but needs to hit, pitch in middle relief and field better

We took 2 out of three from then No.17 UCLA over the weekend after splitting a pair of mid-week games. We lost to Central Arkansas, surprisingly, 5-4, but they played an awesome game. We then hammered UAB, 13-1. Our starting pitching over the weekend of Carter Holton, Hunter Owen and Devin Futrell was terrific. And Nick Maldonado looks like the best closer in the country right now. Nick came in for the top of the 7th inning of our Sunday game against the Bruins and held them to one hit, 0 runs with 1 walk and 8 K’s in a 2-1 victory. That’s spectacular. That’s the kind of performance we’re going to see out of Nick all year. Nick with a lead gives us a good shot at winning every time he’s out there. Hopefully, we won’t have to bring him out in the 7th all the time, so we can keep his arm fresh. Futrell is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA with 6 walks and 9 K’s. Holton is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA with 5 walks and 11 K’s. Owen is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA with 5 walks and 13 K’s. Feel great about our entire left handed starting pitchers on the weekend. Would like to see them not walk as many guys, but that should come with more reps. Nick has pitched 5 innings, given up 2 hits, 0 runs with a walk and 11 K’s.

Three areas we need to shore up are our middle relief, our bats and our defense, particularly at shortstop. If we do all three of those things, we’ve got a shot to do very well this season. We are presently 5-3 and No.5 in the country by Baseball America and No.7 by D1Baseball.com. LSU is No.1. Tennessee is No.3. Florida is No.8, A&M is No. 15, Alabama is 20 and South Carolina is 23. We have a game today versus Austin Peay at 4:30 PM CT on SEC Network+ and a weekend series of 3 games against Nebraska (Friday, 11 AM CT), No. 18 Maryland (Saturday, 11 AM CT) and Minnesota (Sunday at 6 PM CT). This is the 2023 Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium. Thankfully for the players and fans, it’s indoors. There’s some weather going on right now from California to the Northeast, so hopefully we won’t have any problems getting to Minneapolis. Big Ten Network+ will carry the games. Will keep you apprised of our progress in the great Midwest.

Football

Football started spring ball today. The Black and Gold Spring Game will be Saturday, April 8th, at the Vanderbilt Soccer and Lacrosse Complex as FirstBank Stadium is being renovated with the Vandy United Fund going partially towards stadium improvements. Should be an awesome place to watch a game when the season starts. Out first game is Saturday, August 26th versus Hawaii. We have out of conference games also against Alabama A&M at home, Saturday, 9/2. We’re @Wake Forest, Saturday, 9/9, and @UNLV, Saturday, 9/16. For the conference, we’re vs. Kentucky, Saturday, 9/23, vs. Missouri, 9/30, @Florida, 10/7, vs. Georgia, 10/14, Off, 10/21. @Ole Miss, 10/28, vs. Auburn, 11/4, @South Carolina, 11/11, and @Tennessee, 11/25. The vs. games are all home games. It’s never easy in the SEC, but hoping AJ Swann really materializes in year 2 under Clark and the staff. If our sophomore quarterback can do that and stay healthy, we’ve got a chance to win several games. Senior Ken Seals will be behind him and he’s a steady hand to have in relief if necessary. We’ve got a couple of others who can help under center, but we need AJ to be who we expect him to be. He showed flashes of greatness last season, so now he should be ready to take it to the next level as a collegiate quarterback. We need him to. Will have more on the team as spring progresses. I like what we look like at wide receiver with some studs on the perimeter. At running back, we’ll need our three freshmen to help Patrick Smith and Chase Gillespie. We’re pretty young at running back, but we have talent. O line should be solid. I really like out O Line coach, AJ Blazek. He did an amazing job with our linemen last season and I’m expecting more of the same this season.Tight end will have to develop. Defense should be even better in year 3 under Clark and company. Will keep you posted and have a detailed report after the spring game.

Brandon Miller, Alabama fiasco

Last week after seeing all the facts of the Brandon Miller related tragedy, I was starting to have some sympathy for the kid and maybe thinking about cutting him a little slack. But after he did the pat down pre-game introduction on Saturday, I am on totally opposite ends of the spectrum from Miller apologists Jay Bilas and Seth Greenberg. Alabama has been irresponsible and almost unlawful in their handling of this situation. And either Miller is incredibly stupid, or he just doesn’t care. I think it’s more of the latter because I’ve heard him talk and he sounds plenty smart.

It’s a travesty that Alabama is allowing the guy to play and taking the basketball factory approach for a guy who can maybe get them to the Final Four and win it all instead of showing compassion for Jamea Jonae Harris, the victim, her three year old son and her parents. It’s disgusting really.

I don’t know what to say about this exept this guy should not be playing college basketball right now. There are no more excuses for him. He put the final nail in the coffin with his actions on Saturday.

I’d love to say Alabama is going to do the right thing and their president, Stuart R. Bell, is going to override the dysfunctional leadership of Nate Oats and Greg Byrne, but I don’t see him doing it. He’s as complicit as they are, if not moreso. Could very well cost them going forward as more fans are going to blast Miller, with “lock him up,” comments. And if there is any humanity down there, it’ll start bothering him, the team, and Oats. And it’ll be justifiable. It’s sickening behavior by the entire university. A young woman has lost her life and Brandon Miller and Alabama just don’t seem to care. That’s tragic and inexcusable.