Vanderbilt VS Wake Forest
Article Written By: Aaron Lewis
Vanderbilt took the tip o> and the momentum in the first half here in Winston
Salem, starting the game with a 14-5 run in the first 4 minutes of the game that included
three 3-pointers from the Commodore’s senior Forward Tyler Nickel. The first half was a
record one for Nickel, shooting 6-8 from three-point range and a total of 20 points, beating his previous high first half points total of 19 a week ago vs Central Arkansas. Vanderbilt outplayed Wake Forest in nearly every category, most notable of which was the
Commodore’s bench points, outscoring the Deacon’s bench by 10 in the first half as
Vanderbilt lead 54-37 heading into the locker room.
Whatever adjustments were made by the Deacons to start the second half were
quickly countered as they were outscored 10-2 in the first three minutes. The rest of the
second half was more of the same as Vanderbilt finished the game strong, only allowing 67 points for a Deacon’s Defense that averages 85 per game. The one bright spot in this game was Wake Forest’s second half defense as they held Vanderbilt to only 44 points, 10 fewer points than they gave up in the first half. But with an already established lead, how much of that was better defense by the Deacons, and how much of it was a slowed pace of play by the Commodores?
Wake Forest never seemed to find a rhythm, with their largest run of the game at
only 5 and never having had the lead in this game. The Deacons massively underperformed
from three-point range as well only hitting 4 of 21 attempts, all 4 makes coming in the first half as they went 0-9 in the second half. The Demon Deacons have ten days to try and reconcile their issues before heading on the road to take on NC State, a team that seems to be catching fire at the right time.
Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel tied his career high three-pointers made in a game, which
was previously set at 8 against Central Arkansas, on his way to post up 26 total points
leading the Commodores in scoring for the game. As a team Vanderbilt continues to
overachieve and take the NCAA basketball world by surprise as they are the only SEC team to remain undefeated up to this point in the season with a perfect, now 12-0 start. They look to keep this momentum going at home against New Haven December 29th, before
opening conference play up against the South Carolina Gamecocks January 3rd.
