NASHVILLE (AP)–Joe Toye scored 17 of his career-high 18 points in the second half and Vanderbilt shook off a sluggish start in beating Texas A&M 66-41 Thursday night at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
With the win, the seventh-seeded Commodores (18-14) snapped a four-game skid in the tournament with their first victory since beating Kentucky in the 2013 quarterfinals. The Commodores knocked down 8 of 14 outside the arc in the second half to beat the Aggies for a third time this season, led by Toye who hit a career-high five 3s on 8 attempts.
“Joe was extraordinary to start that second half,” Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew said. “I think when he started to make some 3s, it just gave our team a lot of confidence and a lot more guys started to make shots.”
Now Vanderbilt will get a chance at another three-game sweep of No. 17 Florida in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
Riley LaChance added 14 points for Vanderbilt, and Nolan Cressler had 11.
Tenth-seeded Texas A&M (16-15) was held to a season low in points. Tyler Davis led the Aggies with 18 points, and Admon Gilder added 11.
Coach Billy Kennedy said they were “outclassed” by Vanderbilt on the perimeter with the Commodores making almost as many 3s (11) as his Aggies made field goals (17).
“When you can’t score and you’re not deep with your depth defensively, it’s hard to grind out a win,” Kennedy said.
This was the first time these teams have met in the tournament, not that the change of venue mattered as Vanderbilt improved to 8-2 all-time in this series.
Both teams struggled to shoot in the first half. Texas A&M went through a scoring drought that lasted 10:18, turning it over eight times with one shot clock violation. Vanderbilt failed to take advantage, missing 14 of 16 shots and allowing the Aggies to tie it up at 9 with 7:44 left on an alley-oop dunk by Robert Williams.
Vanderbilt took a 23-20 lead into halftime with LaChance finishing the half the same way he started with a long 3.
Whatever Drew said at halftime, the Commodores came out knocking down shots after going 3 of 15 from 3-point range in the first half.
They hit their first three shots to take control. Toye hit a pair of 3s around a layup by Cressler for an 8-0 spurt. By the time LaChance hit his fourth 3, he gave the Commodores their biggest lead at 44-30 with 13:04 to go. They just kept hitting 3s and pushed the lead to as much as 25 on Toye’s final bucket, a layup with 5:33 left.
“Some of them were called for me, some I just found in the offense,” Toye said. “My teammates just kept passing it to me. So I’m just happy my shots were going in today.”
Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy, C Tyler Davis & G Admon Gilder
Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
Vanderbilt 66, Texas A&M 41
March 9, 2017 – Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tenn.)
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
– Texas A&M dropped a 66-41 decision to Vanderbilt on Thursday inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. … The setback left the Aggies’ overall record this season at 16-15.
– The all-time series between the schools now stands at 8-3 in favor of Vanderbilt.
– The Maroon & White fell to 3-5 all-time at the SEC tournament and 25-40 all-time in conference tournaments.
TEAM NOTES
– The 41 points were the fewest for Texas A&M in a game this season, with only four players scoring in the contest.
– Team shooting was the tale of the game as during the first half Vanderbilt shot just 24.1 percent from the floor and 20.0 percent from 3-point range before exploding to shoot 55.2 percent during the second half with an 8-of-14 clip (57.1 percent) from long distance … A&M shot 33.3 percent (17-for-51) for the game.
– The Aggies trailed 23-20 at the intermission despite owning a 24-13 rebounding advantage through the game’s first 20 minutes.
– A&M used the starting lineup combination of Admon Gilder, JC Hampton, Tonny Trocha-Morelos, Robert Williams and Tyler Davis for the ninth time this season (5-4).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
– Sophomore Tyler Davis scored in double-figures for the 24th time this season and 45th time in his career… The Plano, Texas, native finished the day with 18 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
– Sophomore Admon Gilder scored 11 points against the Commodores, with nine coming after halftime … It stood as his 34th double-digit scoring effort in the Maroon & White.
– Rookie Robert Williams fell just shy of his team-leading 12th double-double of the season, finishing with nine points to go along with 10 boards … The Oil City, La., native also blocked a Commodore shot to extend his school-record and NCAA-leading blocked shot streak to 31 games.
– Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy fell to 115-85 in his sixth season at Texas A&M and 326-264 in 19
seasons as head coach.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics