No. 19 Vanderbilt continued to put that home loss to Oklahoma from a week earlier behind it on Saturday afternoon with a thorough 82-69 victory over Texas A&M at Memorial Gym.
Just 7 days earlier in its same cozy arena in Nashville, Vanderbilt suffered a horrific home loss to the Sooners that stopped a 3-game winning streak. But the Commodores have gotten back to the business of winning this week, taking down Auburn on the road on Tuesday night before coming back home on Saturday and handling the fading Aggies, who suffered their 4th straight loss.
Meanwhile, Vandy improved to 21-4 overall and 8-4 in the SEC, continuing its surge up the leading standings as Texas A&M continued to do just the opposite. Just a few short weeks ago, the Aggies were the talk of the SEC at 7-1, but Saturday’s loss left them at 7-5 in the league and 17-8 overall.
Texas A&M shot just 39% from the field and 28% from 3-point territory on Saturday. Marcus Hill was the only Aggies player to score in double figures with 20 points, as Vanderbilt put the clamps on the other players in front of its rocking home crowd.
It was just the opposite story for the Commodores, who had 4 players in double figures led by Tyler Nickel, who had 25 points, including a 5-for-11 clip from 3-point land. AK Okereke added 23 points, Devin McGlockton chipped in 17 points and 8 rebounds, and Chandler Bing had 11 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.
Vanderbilt will look to keep its surge going on Wednesday night at Mizzou in a 9 p.m. ET tipoff on SEC Network. Meanwhile, Texas A&M will look to snap its skid that same night back at home against Ole Miss in a 7 p.m. ET tip, also on SEC Network.
But Saturday continued to show that, at least for right now, Vandy and Texas A&M are 2 SEC teams heading in opposite directions as mid-February hits.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
