Vanderbilt Loses to Drake in Charleston Classic Championship Game
Vanderbilt has gotten off to a great start this season under their new head coach Mark Byington.
Buoyed by a roster full of transfer portal additions, it didn't take long for the experienced group to hit the ground running in Nashville as they dominated the early portion of their calendar to go into the Charleston Classic with momentum.
But, nobody quite knew what to expect for this Commodores team when they arrived.
Scheduled to play Nevada in the opener, that was their first major test of the year and would give some good insight into how they might look when stepping up in class.
Fortunately, Vanderbilt showed they can not only compete against one of the better mid-major programs in the country, but they can also win.
The Commodores won, 73-71, to set up their second round matchup against Seton Hall, which they also won to advance to the championship game against Drake on Sunday.
But, that's where this run ended.
Vanderbilt was beaten, 81-70, in a tough shooting performance that couldn't keep up with a Bulldogs team who continued to make shots.
Early on, it looked like the Commodores were going to go on one of their patented runs they've been using this tournament to create separation and hold onto the win.
After the two teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of the contest, Vanderbilt was able to take a six-point lead when Tyler Tanner hit a 3-pointer with 10:09 left in the first half.
Drake climbed their way back into the game and actually gave the Commodores a taste of their own medicine before heading into the locker room. They went on a little mini run to take a 34-31 lead at halftime after the game was tied 29 with under two minutes to go.
The Bulldogs were just too much in the second half.
They shot 57.7% from the field while the Commodores struggled with a 41.4% shooting clip.
For the game, Vanderbilt went 24-54 (44.4%) and 4-21 from beyond the 3-point line (19.0%).
Outside of Jason Edwards, who led the game with a season-high 26 points, the Commodores failed to consistently score as no one else joined him in double figures.
Meanwhile, Drake had four out of their five starters finish with double digit points, led by sophomore forward Cam Manyawu who had 18 and 11 rebounds.
It wasn't all disappointing for Vanderbilt after the tournament ended, though.
Edwards was given Shriners Children's All-Tournament team honors after he averaged 17.3 points and 1.6 steals per game, a great sign for what this Commodores team has going forward regarding who can be their go-to guy.
While they certainly would have liked to win their first trophy under Byington, this was still a good showing for Vanderbilt in the early part of the season as they get ready for some more non-conference games to close out the year before SEC play begins in January.
