Vanderbilt Basketball’s Slow Start on the Road Comes Back to Haunt Again – Sports Illustrated

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was as if Vanderbilt fans were watching the same movie it has been subjected to this season for a third time. The Commodores have struggled to start games on the road in conference play well and have suffered two blowout losses already going into today. Saturday, it happened again in Lexington against Kentucky, losing to the Wildcats 91-77.
Kentucky came out of the gates red hot to begin the game. The Wildcats built up a double digit lead in the first seven minutes of the game and did not look back. Whether it was Vanderbilt not defending well and not following its scouting report or it was the Commodores turning the ball over that led to easy baskets in transition for Kentucky, Vanderbilt’s start to the game was pretty poor.
Some of that is a credit to Kentucky, but to a point Vanderbilt just did not come out looking like it was ready to play. Saturday was eerily similar to the way Vanderbilt has come out when it played Texas and Arkansas.
Against Texas, it was the Longhorns physicality in the post that caused Vanderbilt issues. Against the Razorbacks, their guards overwhelmed Vanderbilt’s defense. Saturday, it was Kentucky’s transition game getting going early that Vanderbilt could not recover from.
The common denominator between all three of those games? All of them were on the road.
Vanderbilt now holds a 3-4 road record in conference play with two more to go. Three of those four road losses were by 14 points or more. In a conference like the SEC, it can be difficult to win on the road, but to a point the way in which Vanderbilt has lost some of its road games has to be considered.
So, how much would Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington attribute the road performances to the challenge of winning in the SEC as opposed to its execution to start road games?
“Everybody’s got great environments. It’s hard to win here. But it’s one of those things you’ve got to be a little bit different on the road. And if you look at us in the first half, we were turning the ball over for points and you can’t do that. You can’t do that on the road,” Byington said.
Vanderbilt has indeed played in tough road environments. Going to some of the environments Vanderbilt has played in this season trying to win is no easy task. But in all four of its road losses, Vanderbilt has trailed by 20 or more at one point or another in the game.
That is more than just a result of a tough road environment. It is also a result of bad execution to some degree.
“I mean we always run to the passing lanes. He did it and he proved our scouting report right and he got transition baskets,” Byington said of Kentucky guard Otega Oweh, who scored 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor. “So there are certain things we have to do better. We have done them.”
The things Vanderbilt has done well that Byington is referring to are the offensive execution and defense it has played on the road when it has won. As Byington pointed out postgame, Vanderbilt did win three true road games in nonconference and have won three true road games in SEC play.
However, Saturday was not one of those days for Vanderbilt. There is credit to be given to Kentucky for shooting nearly 59 percent for the game and 50 percent from beyond the arc. It was essentially a 180 compared to the first matchup between the two teams in Nashville. 
‘We’ve been good on the road, but we weren’t today. So, two things: we weren’t as good as we should have been and I thought Kentucky played well,” Byington said.
The question going forward for Vanderbilt as it finishes the regular season with two road games and playing the postseason away from its home arena is if it is able to channel its best capabilities when it needs to the most. The Commodores still have to travel to Ole Miss and Tennessee before the SEC Tournament.
The most important time on the college basketball calendar is upon us. Vanderbilt cannot afford slow starts anymore with what is at stake going forward.
Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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