Vanderbilt knocks off Missouri

[January 17, 2014]  NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Undermanned Vanderbilt had come close to pulling an upset all season but couldn't get one — until Thursday night.

The Commodores, already behind the eight-ball because of defections, suspensions and injuries, survived foul trouble to two key players and managed to upset Missouri 78-75 at Memorial Gymnasium.

Vandy's only seniors, forward Rod Odom and guard Kyle Fuller, stepped up with 24 and 22 points, respectively, and combined to hit 10 3-pointers. Odom also tied for the team high with eight rebounds and added four blocks.

"Probably the reason we won tonight and won some of the others is that we took care of the ball tonight," said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, whose team had just nine turnovers.

Guards Jabari Brown (22 points) and Jordan Clarkson (18) led Missouri, which started the year 12-1 but has lost two of its last three games.

It was a frustrating evening for Missouri, which gave up more 3-point attempts (32) and makes (12) than it had all season.

"(Vanderbilt) set a lot of screens," Brown said. "Sometimes, you're helping on one screen and you're trying to fight off another. They have a good offense."

Tigers coach Frank Haith expressed concerns about what happened on both ends of the floor.

"Our inability to come up with rebounds on free throws, our inabilities to make layups around the basket (hurt). We missed at least seven chippies," Haith said.

Vanderbilt led 56-51 with 8:20 left when center Damian Jones joined forward James Siakam as the second starter on the Commordores' bench with four fouls. The lead stayed at five when forward Luke Kornet got open for an easy dunk with 4:31 remaining, but Brown hit a jumper from the right corner to make it 60-57.

Kornet then had a 3-point shot rim out from the left side, but forward Shelby Moats hustled for the offensive rebound, allowing Vanderbilt to kill more clock.

Fuller hit a 3-pointer from the right side to make the lead six again. Missouri guard Earnest Ross got a layup, but Moats, on the low right block, spotted Odom on the other side of the floor and kicked it out to him for a long trey that put Vanderbilt up 66-59.

Brown and Vanderbilt guard Dai-Jon Parker traded two free throws before a double-teamed Clarkson banked a shot off the glass from the low right block. Fuller hit a step-back jumper from straight-away to make it 70-63.

After a Ross miss, Vanderbilt took possession on a held ball and Siakam made one of two free throws with 45.8 seconds left before fouling out 4.8 seconds later.

Missouri kept converting its chances, but Fuller was 6 of 6 from the line from there to help Vanderbilt hang on.

It was a remarkable feat for a team that had three players — Odom, Fuller and Parker — play 40 minutes.

Fuller was asked if having to play the entire game helps a player's mentality because he can make a mistake and get yanked off the floor. The Californian shared a long laugh before answering.

"I'm not going to lie, that does help a lot, because I did throw some ill-advised passes," said Fuller, who had five assists and three turnovers. "But I need to make more good plays than bad plays, and I think I did that today."

Vanderbilt stormed out of the gate, taking a 17-5 lead as Missouri called timeout with 15:52 left in the first half after Odom and Parker both made two 3-pointers.

Missouri inched closer throughout the half, but an assortment of missed layups, dunks and defensive assignments on outside shooters helped Vanderbilt maintain the lead.

The Commodores threatened to take a double-digit margin into the locker room at the half.

The crowd erupted when Siakam blocked a shot that Odom rebounded, sprinted downcourt and took a long fast-break alley-oop from Fuller before throwing down a thunderous two-hand dunk to make it 39-29 with 1:25 left.

The Tigers countered with a free throw by forward Keanau Post and a Clarkson layup to cut it to 39-32 at the break.

"It's tough (to play catch-up), especially on the road," Brown said. "You can't get in holes like that. You can't spot them eight, 10 points."

NOTES: Missouri F Tony Criswell, coming off his second suspension of the year, was back. ... Odom hit a 3-pointer just 1:28 into the game, extending Vanderbilt's 3-point streak to 880 games. Vandy, Princeton and UNLV are the only teams to hit a 3-pointer in every game since the streak was instituted.

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