Vanderbilt Commodores Have Major Achilles Heel To Overcome Entering SEC Play
The 2024-25 men’s college basketball season has gotten off to a wonderful start for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
With their victory over the Austin Peay Governors on Saturday, their record has improved to 11-1 on the year. The Mark Byington era could not have gotten off to a better start, as he has already matched or surpassed the win total that Jerry Stackhouse had in three out of his five campaigns at the helm.
Their strength of schedule hasn’t been daunting with their opponent's NET Ranking at 297 and College Basketball Reference putting their strength of schedule at -3.46, which is ranked No. 283 out of 364.
But, that will certainly change over the coming months since the SEC is going to be daunting to navigate.
Eight teams from the conference are currently ranked in the top 25, with the Tennessee Volunteers and Auburn Tigers ranked No. 1 and No. 2. The Kentucky Wildcats, Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gators are all inside the top seven as well.
There will be ample opportunities for the Commodores to pick up quality wins to bolster their resume. But, if they want to make any noise during conference play this season, there is one Achilles heel they have to overcome; 3-point shooting.
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 25 in the nation with 85.4 points per game, as they are incredibly efficient shooting 2-pointers. Thus far, they are making 61.2% of their shots inside the arc, which is eighth in the country.
They are on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to 3-point shooting.
Despite ranking 98th in attempts with 25.5 per game, they are 144th in makes with only 8.3 per game. The Commodores are shooting an underwhelming 32.7%, which puts them at No. 231.
Unfortunately, they are even worse at defending the 3-point line than they are at converting their own shot attempts.
Their 34.4% 3-point shooting percentage allowed is No. 245 in the country.
They have done a good job of limiting the opponent’s 3-point attempts, which has been their only saving grace.
Both areas will need to be improved during SEC play, or the Commodores are going to run into some serious issues.
Three of the top 44 3-point shooting teams currently reside in the conference, and four more are in the top 100.
If Vanderbilt cannot tighten things up on the perimeter and start knocking down some 3-pointers of their own, their hot start could quickly be undone.
