NASHVILLE, TN— Senior
Nych Smith scored a career-high 21 points, but the Winthrop men's basketball team fell 92-79 at Vanderbilt Tuesday evening.
WINTHROP (0-1, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
VANDERBILT (1-0, 0-0 SEC)
SCORING LEADERS
- Darius Garland (24 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists)
- Simisola Shittu (18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals)
- Matt Ryan (16 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)
FIRST HALF
- The Eagles were getting to the basket in the early going as the game was tied 8-8 five minutes in
- Winthrop went on a 7-0 run for a 15-8 lead as Nych Smith started with a layup and Charles Falden capped it off with a three
- After Darius Garland hit a three to make it a three-point game at the 11:34 mark, the Eagles went on a 6-0 run for its largest lead at 22-13
- Vanderbilt turned a seven-point deficit into a four-point lead in just over a minute with an 11-0 run for a 30-26 lead with 7:36 to play in the first half
- The Commodores added to that lead and turned the deficit into a double-figure lead with 5:08 to play in the half
- The Eagles went four minutes without a basket while the Commodores put together a 17-0 run that was ended by a basket inside by Josh Ferguson
- Eagles withstood the momentum shift and were able to pull within three points with a minute to play, but the Commodores scored the last four points for a 47-40 lead at the break
- Eagles finished the half making 5-of-16 shots, but made four of their final five shots to shoot 49 percent
- Vanderbilt made 17-of-22 over the final 12:02 as it finished the half shooting 57 percent
SECOND HALF
- Eagles opened the half making 5-of-9 shots, but it wasn't enough to trim down the Vanderbilt lead as it hit 7-of-8 to start the half and led 67-53 with 13:47 to play
- Winthrop chipped away and cut the deficit to 70-63 after a three-point play from Falden with 11:04 left
- Garland answered right back for the Commodores as he drilled a three to push the lead back to double-figures
- Vanderbilt maintained a consistent 11-14 point lead the rest of the way to hold off any effort by the Eagles to cut the deficit to single-digits
- Vanderbilt finished the second half shooting 50 percent from the floor while the Eagles shot 36 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop scored its first 12 points of the game inside the paint with four of the buckets off drives and one stick back by Ukaegbu
- Eagles won the battle of the boards in the first half 21-14 and finished with a 40-36 advantage for the game (Winthrop had 13 offensive rebounds)
- Winthrop received 28 points from its bench led by Pickett's 12 points as Falden added eight points
- Winthrop finished the game shooting 43 percent and was just 5-of-24 behind the arc (21%) while the Commodores shot 54 percent and were 10-of-30 from three (33%)
- The Eagles did earn 24 trips to the free throw line and finished the game 16-of-24 (67%)
- Both teams finished with 15 points off turnovers and points in the paint were nearly even as the Eagles finished with a 42-40 edge
NOTABLES
- Nych Smith had six double-figure contests out of 14 games played last year as he posted a career-high 21 points
- Smith also hauled in a career-best five rebounds while playing a career-high 38 minutes
- The Eagles are now 5-2 under Pat Kelsey in season-openers
- Winthrop finished with no blocks in the contest, which was the first time since Jan. 25, 2014 it didn't record a blocked shot in a game (143 straight games)
- Bjorn Broman hit one three in the game as he's not all alone in 10th all-time in program history
UP NEXT
Winthrop will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 10 as it remains on the road to take on Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 8 p.m.
