Five thoughts: Arkansas eliminates Commodores from SEC tournament

Vanderbilt Hustler Joe Toye (2) and Vanderbilt as the buzzer sounded on the Commodores' SEC tournament semifinal defeat to Arkansas on March 11, 2017 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Vanderbilt entered Saturday’s SEC tournament semifinal against Arkansas riding a wave of confidence. The Commodores had won seven of their last eight games against a difficult schedule, and they’d moved from the outskirts of the NCAA tournament conversation to right in the thick of it.
None of that mattered. Vanderbilt missed shot after shot and got run out of the gym in the second half of a 76-62 loss. Here are five takeaways from the loss, as the 19-15 Commodores wait for the NCAA Selection Committee’s verdict on Sunday.
Shots didn’t fall
This might sound overly simple, but ultimately the loss came due to poor shooting from the Commodores. Vanderbilt hovered around 23 percent shooting from the field for much of the second half, a value that would have easily set a season low.
Luke Kornet uncharacteristically missed five open threes, and no one else had much more success. The quality of shots Vanderbilt took was mostly fine, yet no Commodore shot better than 50 percent from the field; Riley LaChance led the team with a pedestrian 12 points on 2-for-7 from the field. Shooting below 35 percent rarely results in a win, and the Commodores’ 30.4 percent contrasts with their 52 percent shooting in an easy victory at Arkansas on February 7.
“Basketball, sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t,” Drew said. “We really liked the looks. I thought all Luke’s looks were very clean; we want him to keep shooting those shots.”
Turnovers didn’t help
Arkansas is known for its pressure defense, and the Commodores didn’t react well to it Saturday. Vanderbilt coughed up 15 turnovers, six of which came from point guards LaChance and Payton Willis. The ‘Dores haven’t been good ...


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