Men’s Basketball: Three takeaways from Vanderbilt’s victory over Wake Forest – The Vanderbilt Hustler

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Vanderbilt men’s basketball (2-0,0-0 SEC) took on the Demon Deacons (1-1,0-0 ACC) Thursday evening, where they secured a 74-51 victory. After a slow start, the Commodores got hot from every part of the court, making their game look effortless. 
Leading scorer Tyler Tanner made shots when it counted and forced Wake into uncomfortable defensive schemes throughout the game. Despite 20 points from Demon Deacons guard Kevair Kennedy, Wake was never able to break free from the Commodores, leading only by two points throughout the entire competition. 
On a night where everything went right for Vanderbilt, let’s take a look at three takeaways from the Commodores dominate victory over Wake Forest.
With the departure of Duke Miles and Tyler Nikel last season, many wondered how Vanderbilt would be able to continue to dominate opponents with its offensive production. Head coach Mark Byington might of found his answer, in three new guards along with Tanner. He, along with freshman Ant Brown Jr. and transfers Ace Glass and T.O. Barrett, made a combined total of 47 of the Commodores 74 points, and took over this game from the beginning.  
Tanner, like always, was a force not only with the ball in his hands, but also in impacting the game in many ways. Tanner only had one steal, but seemed at times to live on the floor, diving for crucial loose balls and flipping the possession arrow in Vanderbilt’s favor.  
Outside the arc, Glass and Brown Jr. did their thing with a combined 8 total threes while drawing Wake out to the perimeter and opening the paint. Finally, Missouri transfer T.O. Barrett made his Commodore debut. Despite not scoring, Barrett had 4 rebounds along with an assist, and used his 6’6, 215 Ibs frame to take forwards to the basket. With these four taking over, defensive units across the nation are in for a headache in preparing for the Black and Gold. 
It is difficult for a college basketball team to look perfect for 40 minutes, especially when a team like Wake Forest has the star talent to take over. Byington’s squad showed some signs of struggle, letting Wake claw back into the game with a 12-3 run late in the first half. However, Byington showed why he is highly regarded in the coaching world, with key adjustments after timeouts to get the Commodores back and rolling. 
Out of multiple key timeouts when Wake was finding their rhythm, the Commodores were able to come back on the floor and put together multiple 5-0 or 6-0 runs to kill any opposing momentum. Specifically, towards the end of the first half, Chandler Bing came up with two key defensive takeaways that not only led to Vanderbilt baskets, but also a 12-point lead at half. If Vanderbilt can play with the same fire they do out of breaks for an entire game, the sky is the limit for this squad. 
With dominate guards in Isaac Carr and Kennedy, Vanderbilt knew coming in that stopping the downhill attack would be key to containing Wake. While both guards performed well, Vanderbilt’s man-to-man defensive scheme held up strongly for Byington’s squad. The team forced Wake to take contested shots, as well as deep shot clock runs, even forcing a shot clock violation early on. 
The team took advantage of missed shots, grabbing 31 defensive rebounds and converting them into points. The guards also had a field day picking off passes and lazy dribbling, taking the ball away from Wake six times.  
While Vanderbilt consistently put up a lot of points last season, they also allowed a lot of scoring on the other end. If the Black and Gold can keep this defensive intensity shown this evening, Vanderbilt has the potential to be a dual threat powerhouse as the season shapes up. 
Vanderbilt will return to Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 6:15 p.m. CDT to take on a strong Memphis Tigers squad. 
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