Sports
Vanderbilt basketball opens season with disastrous Presbyterian loss – Tennessean
Eight months after missing the NCAA Tournament in part due to a handful of bad early season losses, Vanderbilt basketball began its 2023-24 season much the same way.
Coach Jerry Stackhouse scheduled Presbyterian, a team that went 5-27 last season and was ranked 315th of 362 teams preseason by KenPom, and several other mid-major opponents, early on in hopes of banking wins. Instead, the Commodores took a disastrous 68-62 loss to start the season at Memorial Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Vanderbilt (0-1) was without three key players in Tyrin Lawrence, Ven-Allen Lubin and Lee Dort due to injuries. That led to just three available scholarship players who had previously played for the Commodores, and just five who had any college playing experience.
An 11-0 run from Presbyterian (1-0) in the middle of the second half gave the Blue Hose a double-digit lead as they led by as many as 15. Defense was also a struggle for the Commodores, especially in the second half as Presbyterian shot over 50% from the field.
Vanderbilt struggled on offense in all phases, shooting just 33% from the field, but especially from the 3-point line, going 8-for-33. It didn’t help that Ezra Manjon sat much of the first half with two fouls.
All five of Vanderbilt’s scholarship freshmen saw time in the game, including a few minutes when all five were on the floor at the same time.
Of the group, wing Jason Rivera-Torres saw the most minutes. The freshmen combined for just 16 points; Carter Lang led that group with seven.
Although Stackhouse suggested he would play his starters more in early season games at SEC Media Days, he rotated through players frequently and three freshmen saw double-digit minutes.
With Lawrence injured, Vanderbilt struggled to get its offense going. Replacing Lawrence as the starting shooting guard was Paul Lewis, who played relatively well but didn’t provide the same slashing ability.
Lubin, the Notre Dame transfer, also left the Commodores light on post depth. South Dakota transfer Tasos Kamateros started at forward and provided some pick-and-pop ability with two 3-pointers. Freshman Carter Lang also saw significant post minutes. He proved a capable rebounder, grabbing 10 boards, but struggled otherwise on offense.
STACKHOUSE SPEAKSWhat Vanderbilt basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse said of Tyrin Lawrence, transfers
Lehigh transfer Evan Taylor was supposed to provide a shooting threat but he struggled from beyond the arc early on before hitting several 3-pointers late in the game.
Manjon led all Vanderbilt scorers. Nobody else got into double digits
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
