The streak is over. For the second time in less than a month, a historic losing streak comes to an end.
Vanderbilt is finally a winner once again. Their 26-game SEC losing streak ended as they won their first conference game in just over 23 months, and in the process, they handed LSU their first SEC loss with a 99-90 win in Nashville on Wednesday night.
It was quite a fall for a program that had been a steady one for a long time. No one will mistake the Commodores for Kentucky, Florida or even Mississippi State among SEC schools, but they have been a program that didn’t usually have long rebuilding cycles and made its share of NCAA Tournament appearances. Under Kevin Stallings, they were especially steady, going to the NCAA Tournament seven times in 17 years (at one point, five times in six years) and going to the NIT five other times. They won just over 60 percent of their games during that time.
Bryce Drew brought them to the NCAA Tournament in his first season, then a 12-20 rebuilding year figured to be a bridge year of sorts since a great recruiting class came in behind that. But once Darius Garland tore the meniscus in his knee and was done for the season, the wheels came off, with the Commodores losing 20 straight including their entire SEC schedule.
Recently departed athletic director Malcolm Turner fired Drew quite unceremoniously and brought in Jerry Stackhouse. While there is plenty of reason to believe Stackhouse will win there and perhaps elsewhere later on, as he brings much to the table, there was bound to be be some growing pains at first. Sure enough, the Commodores couldn’t get untracked in SEC play, and losing top scorer Aaron Nesmith to injury isn’t helping. Along the way, they ended a streak of having made a three-pointer in every single game since the shot came into college basketball.
As Wednesday night’s game came down the stretch, you wondered if this could be it, but doubt surely had to be there. LSU has been a master of winning close games this year, especially in SEC play; the Tigers won their first six SEC games each by four points or less, including four by one possession, and after those six games, they beat Texas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge by two, for good measure.
When Skylar Mays brought LSU within 91-86 with 2:05 left, you figured there’s plenty of time left. Once Scotty Pippen Jr. hit a three-pointer with 1:11 left to make it 96-87, however, there was reason to believe this might be the night. But it probably wasn’t until an Emmitt Williams miss that was rebounded by Matthew Moyer with less than a minute to go that it seemed real. A three-pointer by Javonte Smart made it 97-90 with 46 seconds left, but Vandy got the ball past midcourt against LSU’s press, Pippen Jr. made two more free throws and at that point it looked over. Will Wade visibly called off the dogs after a Trendon Watford miss was rebounded by Moyer.
The streak was over. The players doused Stackhouse in the locker room, not unlike what Clemson did to Brad Brownell upon finally winning at North Carolina. Adding in two SEC Tournament losses, it was a 28-game losing streak, but any way you slice it, this was their first SEC win since knocking off Ole Miss on March 3, 2018.
And now Saben Lee (33 points) and the Commodores can go about the business of winning games the way they usually do, and perhaps even start a new winning streak instead.
Side Dishes
Elsewhere in the SEC, Georgia had a night to forget, blowing a 22-point lead at Florida and losing to the Gators 81-75 despite 32 points from Anthony Edwards, while Ole Miss beat South Carolina 84-70 behind 38 points from Breein Tyree.
The individual highlight of the night was how Butler edged Villanova 79-76, as Kamar Baldwin hit a fade-away three-pointer from the right wing as time expired to give the host Bulldogs a big win. With that, the Bulldogs have now won three of four after losing three straight. Elsewhere in the Big East, Seton Hall handled Georgetown 78-71 in the nation’s capital behind 34 points from Myles Powell and eight blocked shots by Romaro Gill, while Providence got a big night from A.J. Reeves (22 points on 8-13 shooting, including 6-8 from deep) and was 12-20 from long range to beat Creighton 73-56 at home.
Wake Forest ran out a 46-34 halftime lead at Louisville, and looked like they could be on their way to a stunner. But the Cardinals turned it all around in the second half, and theirs was the better one in a classic tale of two halves as they escaped with an 86-76 win.
Purdue shot 63 percent from the field, including 19-34 from long range, and blew out visiting Iowa 104-68. For the Hawkeyes, this is a game to basically forget and move on from. Minnesota took care of Wisconsin 70-52 in the other Big Ten game on tap.
Northern Iowa took care of Valparaiso 63-51 and Southern Illinois also went on the road to win at Evansville 64-60 in Missouri Valley action, and the Panthers remain a game ahead of the Salukis. Loyola-Chicago had a chance to join Southern Illinois in second, but Indiana State instead joined them in third place at 7-4 as the Sycamores blew them out 68-39 as the Ramblers shot just 33.3 percent from the field on the night and were never really in the game.
In Big 12 action, Oklahoma State finally got on the board with a 72-57 win over TCU in Stillwater, as the Cowboys had lost their first eight Big 12 games, while West Virginia took care of Iowa State 76-61 in Morgantown.
Other results of note: Duquesne swept Saint Louis, winning on the road 82-68 on Wednesday night to go a game ahead of the Billikens behind 26 points from Marcus Weathers; Virginia held off Clemson 51-44; Colgate blew out Lehigh 81-51 to stay on top of the Patriot League as Boston University won 80-66 at Army; Stephen F. Austin beat Nicholls 70-64, and with Sam Houston State losing 72-71 in overtime at Incarnate Word, the Lumberjacks have a three-game lead atop the Southland Conference; Memphis handled Temple 79-65; NC State handled Miami 83-72 in Coral Gables; and Utah State took over in the second half to beat UNLV 69-54.
Tonight’s Menu
A busy night is ahead, and there’s also an early game in the day as well. Here are some highlights.
- A couple of key games in the American Athletic Conference are on tap as UConn visits Tulsa and Cincinnati travels to Wichita State (7 p.m.)
- The day actually starts before noon as IUPUI hosts Green Bay in a Horizon League tilt (11 a.m.)
- The CAA slate features a first place showdown as College of Charleston hosts William & Mary, while Delaware hosts Towson in another key game (7 p.m.)
- One of the best games of the night should be a rivalry game in the Ohio Valley Conference as Murray State visits Belmont (7:30 p.m.)
- A big game in Conference USA is Western Kentucky hosting Louisiana Tech (9 p.m.)
- Out west, the Pac-12 has a busy night that includes Arizona hosting USC (9 p.m.), Utah hosting Stanford (10 p.m.) and UCLA visiting Arizona State (11 p.m.)
- First place in the Big Sky is on the line as Montana hosts a hot Eastern Washington team (9 p.m.)
