Jordan Wright: The magic is back inside Memorial Gymnasium

When January came to a close, Vanderbilt hoops was on its way to another unfortunate but anticipated season for the program. The Commodores went down to Tuscaloosa on the final day of the first month of the year and got rocked by Alabama, losing by 57 points to punctuate a three-game losing streak and 3-6 start to conference play.

Well, then the calendar flipped to February and Vandy has been a completely different ball club. They’re 8-1 since the Alabama beatdown while posting wins over Tennessee, Auburn, Mississippi State and even at Kentucky — a marquee victory of the Jerry Stackhouse era. Besides the victory in Rupp Arena, those other big wins came at home, where senior Jordan Wright says Memorial Gymnasium has been revitalized this season.

The Mississippi State game this past weekend was his senior day, and Wright’s waited four whole years to see his home crowd finally embrace the program with such excitement. Particularly, he appreciates the support the students provided in SEC play this year.

“I say the students for sure. Coming in and seeing them 60 minutes ahead of game time running down here and trying to get to the front of the court, you feel like you just can’t lose for them,” Wright said of the atmosphere following the MSU win. He continued, noting just how much of a boost a good home crowd can be.

“You feel like you’re playing for the city of Nashville, you feel like you’re playing for Vanderbilt. There’s a lot of school pride here. There’s a lot of school pride here. You’re feeling an arena, just feel like you can’t lose at this time. So, you know just having the students, having that energy in the arena, you feel like you can’t lose. The magic is back for sure.”

The magic is back for that unique arena. One of the stranger and most special buildings in all of college hoops finally has a fire to it again. Perhaps their performance early in the year ultimately weighs them down too much, but this scalding streak of wins by Vandy has this group at least in the NCAA Tournament picture, and that hasn’t been the case for half-a-dozen years in Nashville.

Even if this year’s team winds up in the NIT rather than the NCAA Tournament, there’s no question 2022-23 is a massive step in the right direction for Jerry Stackhouse after many were questioning whether he’d make it through this season. Take it from Jordan Wright: Vanderbilt basketball is back, baby!