Vanderbilt Survives in Oxford, Tops Ole Miss 89-86 in OT
It is inching close to my bed time and I have a long day of work tomorrow paired with episode 356 of The Dore Report to record in the evening, so this recap may be brief. This matchup between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt was also not a beautiful display of basketball. It was disjointed, clunky, and painful at times. Vanderbilt was able to outlast Ole Miss and escape Oxford with an 89-86 overtime victory.
Vanderbilt entered this matchup losers of three of their last four while Ole Miss entered coming off a victory over Auburn that snapped a ten game losing streak. In similar fashion to previous contests, Vanderbilt’s opponent started fast and the Commodores started slow. Ole Miss opened the game 3-3 from the field while Vanderbilt started 0-3. The Rebels led 8-0 early before AK Okereke got the Commodores on the board from behind the arc. Ole Miss continued to dominate early, jumping out to a 15-3 lead less than seven minutes into the contest. Vanderbilt eventually clawed their way back and Duke Miles tied the score at 27 with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Vanderbilt even took the lead on a Tyler Tanner three-pointer a couple minutes later, but that was quickly answered by Mississippi’s Travis Perry. Ole Miss took a 37-33 lead into the half.
As a team, Vanderbilt shot just 13-36 (36%) from the field and just 4-16 (25%) from behind the arc. Ole Miss shot 12-25 (48%) from the field and 5-11 (45%) from three-point range. Thanks to forcing nine turnovers and the resulting 13 points, Vanderbilt was fortunate to only be down 4 at the break despite a rough shooting half.
Ole Miss maintained a three to six point lead for a majority of the second half until an AK Okereke layup, a Chandler Bing free throw, and a Tyler Tanner layup gave Vanderbilt their first lead since the three minute mark of the first half, 65-64. Kamardine quickly answered with a three from Ole Miss. The game was back and forth the final four minutes with neither team able to take a multiple possession lead until a Malik Dia and-one put the Rebels up by four points with just over a minute to play. Duke Miles scored on back to back possessions before an odd review situation.
Malik Dia was fouled and at the line to shoot two. Ball game tied 74-74 with 26 seconds remaining. Mark Byington challenged a previous play and referees went to the monitor to review. Malik Dia had grabbed the leg of AK Okereke while attempting to run down the court at the 51 second mark. This was upgraded to a flagrant one foul, Malik Dia’s fifth foul. Dia went on to shoot his two free throws, making both. Then was forced to check out of the game while AK Okereke shot his two free throws that resulted from the previously uncalled flagrant one. Okereke hit both free throws and the game was tied at 76. We did not get a good explanation on TV – the official line was the scorer’s table was not notified Dia had fouled out. Was this officiated correctly since the flagrant, fouling Dia out of the game, occurred before the foul that sent him to the free throw line? I have no idea.
Regardless, Vanderbilt had the final possession of regulation with a chance to win the ball game. As he has done consistently this season, Mark Byington elected not to use a timeout and allowed Vanderbilt to execute their offense. This resulted in a not-so-great shot from Duke Miles at the buzzer. Miles missed and the game went into overtime.
Tyler Tanner took over in OT. Two and-ones in the first two minutes put the Commodores up by five, 84-79. Ole Miss answered back and cut the lead to just one before a slumping Tyler NIckel buried a much needed three with 2 minutes remaining, putting the Dores up 87-83. Illias Kamardine went up to the line for two free throws with 18 seconds left and Ole Miss trailing by two. He hit the first and missed the second. Jayden Leverett pulled down the board and quickly, and smartly, called a timeout before the Rebels were able to foul him. Instead of Leverett shooting, Vanderbilt got the ball inbounds to Tyler Tanner. Tanner knocked down both free throws, giving the Commodores an 89-86 lead. Vanderbilt played good defense and Patton Pinkins three-pointer was off target at the horn.
Vanderbilt escapes Oxford with a hard-fought, and ugly, 89-86 victory.
Box Score
Often I will take time here to rant about each individual player’s performance, whether positive or negative. I will not be fully doing that tonight. Trevor Hulan and I will be recording episode 356 of TDR tomorrow night and I will have my full thoughts available there. There is only one player I want to highlight – and that is Tyler Tanner.
Tanner was absolutely outstanding and should have had way more than seven assists if guys could have knocked down open looks. 34 points leading all scorers, Tanner was phenomenal and the reason Vanderbilt was able to sneak out a victory.
As a team, Vanderbilt pulled down 22 offensive rebounds versus Mississippi’s 12. Vanderbilt also score 29 points off turnovers while Ole Miss only scored 12.
Vanderbilt will travel to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers this Saturday, March 7th, at 1pm in the regular season finale.
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