Jerry Stackhouse explains how Vanderbilt overcame slow start against Missouri

The Vanderbilt Commodores picked up a much-needed win against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. The Commodores took down their SEC foe at home 68-61, picking up their first conference win of the year.

The game did not start out the way the Commodores would have liked as the Tigers jumped out to an early 20-9 lead. But Vanderbilt stayed poised and was able to chip away at the lead, swiping it from Missouri with a 23-9 run to end the first half.

After the game, in the postgame press conference, Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse explained how His team was able to maintain their composure and flip the script in the first half to take the lead despite the slow start.

“It was really a poor transition defense early on,” said Stackhouse. “It was something that we talked about; this team really thrives off of poor shot selection and turnovers, and they really get out and run. But they were even running off of made baskets… they got ahead of us a couple of times for a couple of easy dunks.”

“But what got us back in the game was we really locked in on the transition defense [and] got our defense set. Now, they had to play against our half-court defense. And we feel like teams that do that, and it’s to our advantage. And then we’re able to get out ourselves [and] get up the floor.”

Vanderbilt utilized their tight half-court defense, which helped slow down the Tigers offense. Missouri shot just 37.3 percent from the field and 26.9 from beyond the ark. With the win, Vanderbilt moves ahead of Missouri in the SEC standings, as the Tigers are the only team in the SEC that has yet to pick up a conference win.

“I thought we did a good job of moving the ball. The ball was popping. We went with a little bit more of an experienced group today; we ran those guys heavier minutes.”

The Commodores will look to keep the momentum going on Tuesday as they take on one of the top teams in the conference and in the nation, the Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky has arguably the most formidable offense in the SEC, as they are averaging 88.7 points per game, which ranks fourth in the nation. Stackhouse and company will have to make sure that their defense does not get off to a slow start in that matchup if they want to have a chance at upsetting what are the SEC’s top teams.