2021-22 Winthrop Men’s Basketball Season – GAME #4
@ Vanderbilt Commodores (Southeastern Conference)
Saturday, November 20, 2021, 8:00pm EST
Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, TN
WU (2-1 overall record; NET/KPI/SOR/BPI/POM/SAG Rankings: NA/NA/177/90/174/145)
VU (2-1 overall record; NET/KPI/SOR/BPI/POM/SAG Rankings: NA/NA/176/95/83/101)
Vanderbilt’s Profile
Head Coach: Jerry Stackhouse (3rd season as head coach at VU)
Probable Starters:
G Scotty Pippen, jr (6-3, 185) – 17.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.3 spg, 45.9 FG%, 33.3 3PT% (5 made threes), 77.8 FT% – 31.3 min/game
G Tyrin Lawrence, so (6-4, 195) – 4.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.0 spg, 40.0 FG%, 0 made threes, 80.0 FT% – 17.3 min/game
G/F Jordan Wright, jr (6-6, 215) – 15.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 spg, 47.2 FG%, 30.0 3PT% (3 made threes), 71.4 FT% – 29.1 min/game
F Myles Stute, so (6-7, 210) – 8.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 47.4 FG%, 46.7 3PT% (7 made threes), 50.0 FT% – 22.5 min/game
F Quentin Millora-Brown, sr (6-10, 235) – 2.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.0 bpg, 28.6 FG%, 0 made threes, 50.0 FT% – 20.8 min/game
Key players off the bench:
F Terren Frank, so (6-8, 240) – 3.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 33.3 FG%, 28.6 3PT% (2 made threes), 50.0 FT% – 16.3 min/game
G Jamaine Mann, so (6-6, 230) – 6.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.0 spg, 41.7 FG%, 0 made threes, 71.4 FT% – 13.7 min/game
G Trey Thomas, so (5-11, 160) – 2.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 7.7 FG%, 8.3 3PT% (1 made three), 83.3 FT% – 13.3 min/game
G Peyton Daniels, fr (6-2, 185) – 3.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 23.1 FG%, 25.0 3PT% (2 made threes), 50.0 FT% – 12.9 min/game – Daniels entered the transfer portal on Friday and is no longer with the team.
G Shane Dezonie, fr (6-5, 215) – 2.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 16.7 FG%, 33.3 3PT% (1 made three), 83.3 FT% – 12.2 min/game
Winthrop will return to the Nashville area after suffering their first loss of the season at Middle Tennessee on Tuesday, as they will face Vanderbilt on Saturday. Both teams are licking their wounds after having rough performances in their prior games, with WU turning it over too much against MTSU, while Vanderbilt was completely inept offensively in a 48-37 loss to VCU on Wednesday.
Vandy has had a rough few years, going back to the end of the Bryce Drew era into the first couple of seasons of the Jerry Stackhouse tenure. They have hopes to improve a bit this season, being led by Scotty Pippen, one of the best players in the SEC. He’s a dynamic guard, good at getting to the basket and drawing fouls, and also an excellent distributor. Unfortunately for the Commodores, he doesn’t have a ton of help at the moment, though Jordan Wright has emerged as a good secondary option for the team on the wing. Part of the optimism for Vanderbilt going into the year was due to a couple of good grad transfers, in 7-footer Liam Robbins from Minnesota and guard Rodney Chatman from Dayton. But neither of those players have seen the floor yet due to injury, and it is doubtful either will be available on Saturday. One transfer that has been a good contributor for Vandy is a familiar face to Winthrop, as Jamaine Mann took his talents to Nashville after a really good freshman season at Gardner-Webb last season. Mann has been coming off the bench and providing some very good rebounding and solid scoring in his minutes.
The VCU game has really hurt Vandy’s stats across the board on the offensive end, as they only shot 22% from the field and made 2 of 25 three point attempts. But even in their wins over a bad Alabama State squad and a solid Texas State team, they have struggled shooting from outside. They’ve also been a bit turnover prone. They have done a good job on the offensive glass and do get to the FT line well, but they like to shoot the three, so until they get more consistent from outside, their offense is going to be a bit shaky. The Commodores have been very good defensively so far this season, though they haven’t really faced a good offense yet. They’ve guarded the paint really well and forced a lot of turnovers. WU will need to be much better at protecting the basketball than they did against Middle Tennessee, and Vanderbilt’s offense doesn’t need the help of easy baskets off of turnovers.
Pippen could be the best player that WU faces all season, and the Eagles’ hopes to pull the upset will likely depend on how well they can defend him. If Pippen is able to get to the paint at will and have options, either scoring or passing, Winthrop will be in trouble. But if WU can slow him down a little bit, the Eagles have shot at getting the win. The Eagles need to clean up quite a bit from Tuesday’s loss, but I feel like we’ll see a much better performance from the team.
My Prediction: Winthrop 72, Vanderbilt 68
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