Vanderbilt (19-4, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) at Auburn (14-9, 5-5)
When: Tuesday, 6 Central
Where: Neville Arena (9,121) Auburn, Ala.
How to watch: SEC Network
How to listen: 102.5 The Game
Net rankings: Vanderbilt 15, Auburn 31
Vanderbilt looks to rebound from one of its worst performances of the season when it travels to Auburn on Saturday evening.
The Commodores dropped a 92-91 game to Oklahoma in Nashville on Saturday, making for their only loss outside Quad 1 of the NET. They trailed by 19 with under 3 1/2 minutes to play but a furious late comeback fell just short, leaving coach Mark Byington frustrated afterwards.
Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner scored a career-high 37 points, with 17 coming in the final 3:56. But the Commodores dug too big a hole with their play on the other end of the floor for the day’s first 35 minutes or so.
“This was our worst defensive performance of the year, maybe since I’ve been here. It was not good,” coach Mark Byington said afterwards.
Auburn, losers of two straight, fell 96-92 to Alabama on Saturday for its second home loss this season. Tahaad Pettiford scored 25 points and Keyshawn Hall, 24, as the Tigers blew a 41-37 halftime lead and gave up 1.29 points per possession. Coach Steven Pearl’s post-game concerns sounded a lot like Vanderbilt’s.
“We scored 92 points,” Pearl said. “We’ve got to be able to win that game scoring 92 points. It has nothing to do with our offense. It has everything to do with our defense. Our defense has to get better.”
Offense typically hasn’t been the Tigers’ problem. Auburn ranks 13th nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency, ranking 12th in offensive rebounding percentage and fourth in free-throw to field-goal attempts.
Hall, a leading SEC Player of the Year candidate, averages 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 39.6 from 3. Pettiford (13.8 ppg), Kevin Overton (12.6) and KeShawn Murphy (10.4) all average double-figure scoring for Auburn.
Vanderbilt—again—will be without Duke Miles (16.6) and Frankie Collins (7.8), both out with knee issues. Tanner (18.6) and Tyler Nickel (14.6) have been the Commodores’ two most dependable offensive players, with Devin McGlockton (9.8) and AK Okereke (8.9) and Jalen Washington (8.7) also capable of helping.
Keys to the game
1. Stay out of foul trouble. The Tigers’ ability to get to the line makes them a serious challenge for Vanderbilt. Hall has canned 166 of 194 free throws with Pettiford (66 of 79) and Overton (70 of 81) also getting to the line frequently.
McGlockton has drawn three or fouls in every SEC game except Kentucky (two). Okereke has fouled out three times in SEC games and Washington has fouled out twice and Mike James played just 13 minutes against Oklahoma before fouling out.
Okereke seems like the common-sense pick to guard Hall but whoever it is will have to be able to defend without getting in foul trouble, if that’s possible.
2. Start strong. When Vanderbilt starts slowly, it almost always loses. Its first-halves against Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma were poor and the Commodores trailed at half in all of them, while it led Florida by a point at half but did trail in double-digits in the period.
Vanderbilt not only has won its other 19 games, but it’s barely trailed in any of them.
Maybe it’s just a weird fluke of the season that’ll resolve in time, but it’s almost as if you can tell in the first 10 minutes whether the Commodores are going to win or not. So digging another hole early in the game is something Vanderbilt will need to avoid.
3. Keep Auburn off the offensive glass. The Tigers rank 12th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (37.7% per KenPom) while Vanderbilt has done a respectable job of defending the glass (pulling 71.8% of defensive boards).
The key, of course, will be doing this without fouling, which puts a lot of pressure on Washington (19.6% defensive rebounding rate) and McGlockton (20.2%), who are, surprisingly, just behind James (21.1%) in terms of being Vanderbilt’s best defensive rebounder.
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