Vanderbilt dismantles Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM – It started bad, didn’t get much better and wasn’t over until much of the crowd had left Joel Coliseum.
Vanderbilt ran Wake Forest out of its own building in a 98-67 win on Sunday afternoon.
Wake Forest (9-4) gave up the first eight points of the game and never led. The closest it ever was came shortly after, when it was 8-5. That was answered by a Tyler Nickel 3-pointer — one of his eight 3-pointers.
Vanderbilt (12-0) led by 17 at halftime. It scored the first four points of the second half, the second bucket coming after a couple of Deacons stopped playing in anticipation of a whistle.
So, 67 seconds into the half, coach Steve Forbes fired a timeout. He took another one about four minutes later, when the deficit reached 28.
The last 12ish minutes were a formality in this one.
Thirteen seconds into the game, Nickel drained a long-range 3-pointer from the left wing.
That was all the senior sharpshooter needed to have a confidence explosion. He drilled another five in the first half, going to the locker room with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting (6-for-8 on 3s).
Vanderbilt scored 1.46 points per possession in the first half. Taking a 54-37 lead to the break, it was the first time the Deacons allowed at least 50 points in any half this season.
Wake Forest kept things from reaching embarrassment in the first half by making 11 free throws in the last 7-plus minutes.
But Vanderbilt just kept scoring. Wake Forest had two kills — three straight defensive stops — in the first half. The first one was in spite of two possessions with offensive rebounds and second-chance shots. The second one featured three straight turnovers, on which Wake Forest only scored two points.
