Liam Robbins, Vanderbilt bounce back with 74-71 win over Ole Miss

Coming off an absolute shellacking at the hands of Alabama, a 101-44 defeat, Vanderbilt returned to its home floor looking to make a statement. And the Commodores came through with one after knocking off Ole Miss 74-71 to bounce back.

Coach Jerry Stackhouse‘s message for the team was simple.

“Just be us. We got our butts kicked at Alabama, and we knew that wasn’t who we were,” forward Liam Robbins told the SEC Network broadcast crew after the game. “That was a terrible reflection of us as a program and we wanted to come back on our home court and prove that we’re resilient. We weren’t going to fold from that, and we had to just go out and compete, that was the message.”

Robbins had a lot to do with the win, scoring a game-high 19 points and posting a double-double by also pulling down 12 rebounds. He also blocked seven shots.

And with those blocks, Robbins ran the floor routinely to transition to offense.

“That’s what the coaches tell me to do, they tell me to block shots and then put pressure on the defense by running down the floor,” Robbins said. “So I tried to do that and show that I’m going to be the first one down after blocking a shot or getting the rebounded.”

Vanderbilt kept itself accountable

The one thing that Stackhouse’s message really centered on was being accountable.

In a complete team effort, the ‘Dores proved just that on Saturday. Take Robbins, for example. He was sporting stitches above his right eye stemming from a beating he took against Alabama. He sported a shiner just under his left eye.

Yet he was still there giving it his all and helping Vanderbilt bounce back.

“Coach is always going to hold us accountable, but part of that is trusting that we’re going to take that message and we’re going to lift each other up and we’re get after it,” Robbins said. “We were really disappointed in ourselves, so we were really determined to come out here and get it a win. It was ugly, but we got it done.”

Robbins’ performance should put him in the running for SEC Player of the Week. And he felt like he could have done more in the bounce back outing.

“They’re a really good team, but they were doubling me as soon as I got in the post,” Robbins said. “We’ve got great shooters, so I tried to kick it out there. They helped me, I didn’t have a great shooting night. But props to my teammates, they found me and got open looks and also they knocked down open shots and won us the game.”