Jerry Stackhouse shares emotions of buzzer-beater win vs. Texas A&M

The SEC had some fireworks on Tuesday night, highlighted by a Vanderbilt buzzer-beater to take down Texas A&M inside Memorial Gymnasium.

Guard Ezra Manjon did the honors, making an improbable bucket after his first shot attempt to tie the game in the waning moments was partially blocked. After the game, Vanderbilt players sported ear-to-ear smiles and coach Jerry Stackhouse explained how much the win meant.

“It’s a lot of fun for these guys, just to see obviously they’ve been battling and battling and battling,” Stackhouse said. “It’s good for us to have these type of moments because they stick together and they continue to work and we try to improve on the things that we’re not good at and try to get better at those things.”

The game was fairly even throughout. Texas A&M boasted a one-point halftime lead, but both teams battled back and forth throughout the evening.

One of the major differences for Vanderbilt, which had lost nine of its last 10 games entering Tuesday night’s contest against Texas A&M, was being more competitive on the boards.

“Again, our focus has been, being a little bit of a smaller team right now with our makeup, rebounding the basketball,” Stackhouse said. “And I thought we did a good job of competing on the boards, not only our defensive boards but our offensive boards as well. For us to have 12 offensive rebounds against a team like that, we were aggressive as well.”

Vanderbilt lost the rebounding margin but made it competitive at 30-27. As noted, the Commodores had 12 offensive rebounds, providing the opportunity for some second-chance points.

Keep it close and you give yourself a shot at the end, even for a potential buzzer-beater.

“Good establishing being in the post and letting Ez be Ez there at the end of the game,” Stackhouse said.

In the middle of a tough year, this was a signature win of sorts for Vanderbilt. It won’t suddenly win the team NCAA Tournament eligibility or even put it on the bubble.

But it will help validate that the work they’re putting in is paying off. A Buzzer-beater tends to do that.

“It was a great feeling for them. Happy for our guys,” Stackhouse said. “When you see a team like that and how they’re happy for their teammates’ success, it just speaks volumes of the type of kids that we have, and I’m proud of it. They may not be exactly where they will be within their growth of their basketball games, but as people they’re some of the best and I’m glad that they’re ours.”