Vanderbilt Commodores 68, Chaminade Silverswords 41 - 11/24/09

-
As thousands of Commodore fans are itching to leave work and embark on a long Thanksgiving weekend, most are doing a quick check to make sure Vandy took care of business against Division II Chaminade. On the surface, a 68-41 victory is very reassuring. In reality, it was two games rolled into one. At halftime, the 'Dores were clinging to a 6-point lead, and nobody seemed happy about the way things were going. The ESPN guys mentioned that Vandy looked asleep like 30 times. The whole team looked passive and that they were mailing this one in. In front of a crowd reminiscent to a middle school game, you could hear Coach Stallings clearly barking at his players. When Brad Tinsley made a silly decision on a drive, you could hear an audible, "What's wrong with passing to the open guy?" Maybe I'm wrong, but at halftime the Vanderbilt locker room must have been the most miserable place on the entire island.

Things finally clicked with 15 minutes left to play. Leading 38-34, Vanderbilt went on a crazy run and outscored Chaminade 24-0 over the next 10 minutes. With 5 minutes left to play, the 'Dores led 62-34 with the game no longer in doubt. With a renewed defensive effort, the Silverswords were held to only 15 points in the 2nd Half. It's hard to know what to take away from this game. I think we'll know a lot more from tomorrow's game against the winner of Arizona/Colorado. Let's just all agree that a game at 830am in Hawaii against a DII school builds character and leave it at that.

Just a quick note about one player:

John Jenkins

Jenkins led the 'Dores with 14 points, including four 3's. He hit some clutch shots to help the team break away from Chaminade. The freshman's confidence seems to be growing and you are starting to see glimpses of why he never scored fewer than 30 points in any game last season. Also, does anybody wanna bet that he starts tomorrow over Tinsley? If not, it has to be coming soon, right? Tinsley isn't hitting shots and seems to be a reckless in his play. My prediction is that if its not tomorrow, Jenkins will be starting against Missouri next week.
-