National Basketball Association
Vanderbilt 77, Mississippi State 48
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 25, 2017
Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee
Officials:
# Terry Moore, # Marc Ellard, # Karl Hess
Attendance:
14316
By The Sports Xchange
Vanderbilt has spent the last month fighting long odds to make the NCAA Tournament, and the Commodores certainly passed the eye test in a 77-48 demolition of Mississippi State at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
Forward Jeff Roberson scored 17 points in the first 6:52 of the second half, and the Commodores hit 14 of 29 (48.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Vanderbilt (16-13, 9-7 SEC) led by 33 with 11:13 left, and put it on cruise control from there. Roberson finished with 23, while center Luke Kornet added 10, and guard Riley LaChance, 11.
Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon was the only Bulldog in double figures with 15 points.
Trailing by 37-23 at the break, things quickly took a turn for the worse for the Bulldogs early. Starting guard and third-leading scorer Mario Kegler picked up fouls three and four within the first minute and a half, while the Commodores' Roberson scored the half's first eight points as Vanderbilt built a 45-23 lead at the 17:52 mark.
The junior was far from done. Moments later, he hit 3s on three straight possessions, the last coming on an assist from guard Matthew Fisher-Davis that put the Commodores up, 56-28.
After starting 1 of 5 from the field, Vanderbilt took the lead for good in the first half when LaChance sunk a 3 off a cross-court pass from guard Nolan Cressler, putting the Commodores up 9-7 at the 14:12 mark.
The Commodores spent the remainder of the first half building that lead. When Kornet drained a 3 off a pass from guard Payton Willis at 1:36, the margin stretched to double digits for the first time at 35-23.
Mississippi State (14-14, 5-11) is the country's least-experienced, team, according to Ken Pomeroy, and it showed. The Bulldogs had 17 turnovers and shot only 29.8 percent.
Top Game Performances
| Mississippi State |
|
Vanderbilt |
|
Quinndary Weatherspoon 15 |
Scoring |
Jeff Roberson 23 |
|
Lamar Peters 2 |
Assists |
Nolan Cressler 4 |
|
Aric Holman 6 |
Rebounds |
Luke Kornet 8 |
|
Lamar Peters 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Jeff Roberson 4 |
|
Mario Kegler 2 |
Steals |
Jeff Roberson 2 |
|
Xavian Stapleton 1 |
Blocks |
Djery Baptiste 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Mississippi State
|
48 |
29.8 |
7-18 |
13-16 |
7 |
27 |
1 |
8 |
17 |
| Vanderbilt
|
77 |
47.4 |
14-29 |
9-12 |
15 |
34 |
4 |
6 |
12 |
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