Vanderbilt Wins at Auburn for First Time Since 2016, Moves to 20-4
Commodores win at Auburn
Tonight, the Vanderbilt Commodores men’s basketball team was back on the floor and on the road at Auburn. The Dores bounced back from their upset loss to Oklahoma on Saturday and took down the Tigers 84-76 in Auburn, Ala., for the first time since 2016, improving to 20-4 (7-4 SEC) on the year.
Vanderbilt only trailed for 20 seconds of this game. Still without Duke Miles and Frankie Collins, the Dores’ depth has been something to watch over the last few games. Auburn did what they could to key on Tyler Tanner tonight, but he still turned in a solid performance as usual, dropping 25 points with six assists, four rebounds, and two steals.
Tanner, as always, does a fantastic job of driving and drawing contact. The Commodores shot a total of 30 free throws, knocking down 26, and Tanner contributed 12-of-13 from the line.
Jalen Washington had his best performance of the season with 22 points, five rebounds, and a block. He shot 7-of-8 from the field, including 2-for-2 beyond the arc and 6-for-6 from the stripe. This was Washington’s first game in double digits since the Florida game on January 17, and the last time out against Oklahoma, he only scored four points on 2-of-3 shooting in just over 27 minutes. He had to had to come with more than that.
“That game just left a bad taste in our mouth,” Washington said postgame on the SEC Network. “We knew we had to come out aggressive and make a statement. We wanted to punch first. I feel like that’s what we did. We executed it well, we competed, and we just played hard all 40 minutes.”
He and the Dores were on a mission to come out fast and land the first punches in a hostile road environment, and it worked for them heavily. In the first half, Vanderbilt went 6-for-13 from beyond the arc. Four of those were from him and McGlockton.
“I just wanted to force the issue a little bit on the offensive end,” Washington said. “Instead of finding my groove, just force the issue and just be aggressive right out the gate.”
Devin McGlockton was perfect on the night, contributing 12 points on zero misses and leading the team with seven rebounds, but all of that came in the first half. The second half brought quick foul trouble, and he only saw seven minutes after the break.
The name of the game is to win, and that is the main thing. I will say, with the lack of depth right now, the Commodores have to tighten up on the fouls, and the bench has to bring quality minutes. One player who has shown up a good bit lately is Chandler Bing.
Bing’s numbers may not pop off the stat sheet, but he provides a solid presence on the floor and does the things you don’t really see numbers for. Talk about smart play. In 32 minutes of action, he committed just one foul and one turnover while contributing eight points and a rebound. Putting forth 32 minutes with only a couple of mistakes is almost unheard of in this game.
Even with Vanderbilt leading for 38:10 of the game, Auburn never really went away. The Tigers gave it a go as best they could in the second half but could never get closer than four points. That came with 2:42 to go, but an AK Okereke three and a heavy dose of Tanner free throws pulled Vanderbilt away for good.
Tahaad Pettiford led the Tigers with 21 points, and Auburn had five players finish in double figures, but they just could not make the extra stops needed to catch the Dores. Credit to Vanderbilt for staying in front and getting it done on the road. This is a good win.
“When we get out there on the court, we know there’s just us. We’re just going out there and trusting each other and communicating, executing our plays with great pace and just trusting each other. I feel like that was one of the biggest keys that we had for tonight,” Washington said.
Vanderbilt returns home Saturday to host the Texas A&M Aggies at 12:00 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
