Vanderbilt basketball took down the Hilltoppers to open the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Vanderbilt basketball took down Western Kentucky in an ugly 83-78 win in Wednesday's Battle 4 Atlantis to advance to the winner's bracket of the tournament. The Commodores will face the winner of VCU and USF on Thursday.
That was Vanderbilt's worst performance of the season, yet it left with a winThe Commodores’ offense finished with a season-low points on 45.3% shooting, it cashed in for just six points on Western Kentucky’s 17 turnovers, it put Western Kentucky on the free throw line 33times–which resulted in 24 points–and it struggled to run away from the Hilltoppers for the majority of Wednesday’s Battle 4 Atlantis opener. There’s two ways to take the Commodores’ Wednesday performance. One is to dissect this group’s uncharacteristically messy performance and find reason for concern within its struggles. Another is to take heart in the idea that a performance like Vanderbilt put together on Wednesday was enough to put together a win against a previously undefeated Western Kentucky team.Miles has scored in double figures in every game this season and appeared to be the best player on the floor on Wednesday afternoon as a result of his 28 point, five rebound and three assist performance in which he shot 50% from the field. The Vanderbilt guard appears to have the freedom and confidence these days that he didn’t as a complementary player at Oklahoma last season. He’s taking advantage of it, too. Vanderbilt is a balanced group, but it appears to have a clear candidate to lead it in scoring down the stretch.It didn’t end up mattering, but Vanderbilt exceeded its turnovers per game number of 7.6–which was second in the nation–in the early second half of Wednesday’s game and ended the day with just 18 assists to its 17 turnovers. Vanderbilt hadn’t turned it over more than 10 times in a game prior to Wednesday’s game and paid the price for its sloppiness as it allowed Western Kentucky to score 13 points off of its turnovers.Devin McGlockton’s best outing of the season Mcglockton went for 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting and grabbed three rebounds on Wednesday afternoon and appears to be trending the right way these days. After going for just 10 total points in the first two games of the season, McGlockton has scored 17, 14 and 22 points in the last three. It was a given that McGlockton would come around, but it’s now tangible for the Vanderbilt star.Tanner didn’t make a drastic mechanics change, but his shooting stroke is clearly smoother and more repeatable these days than it was this time a year ago. Perhaps the difference in the change in production is as simple as an increase in reps and confidence. Regardless of the reason, Tanner’s shooting numbers are drastically better than they were a season ago. The Vanderbilt guard entered Wednesday shooting–a ridiculous and likely unsustainable–52% from 3-point range. Tanner went 2-for-5 from beyond the arc on Wednesday.Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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