Scouting Report: Vanderbilt Commodores

The Vanderbilt Commodores enter Rupp Arena with an 11-9 record, 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Since their game against Kentucky on January 11th the Commodores have beaten Georgia twice with three consecutive losses to Tennessee, Florida, and South Carolina sandwiched in between. Their offense had really been sputtering until breaking out for 85 points on Saturday against the Bulldogs. The return of super senior guard Rodney Chatman helped open things up offensively as he went for 12 points and helped to take some pressure off Scotty Pippen Jr.

Coach Jerry Stackhouse has a dangerous team thanks to their ability to force turnovers, make three-pointers, and running out an All-SEC caliber guard in Scotty Pippen Jr. However, the overall talent level is still that of a bottom five team in the conference. Kentucky must do a better job this time around of taking Vandy away from beyond the arc. They made 12 threes in the first meeting including six from Pippen Jr. Limiting their threes will be the primary concern this evening.

As always, we’ve got a full scouting report ready for your consumption ahead of tonight’s SEC contest. This is a potential trap game against a dangerous opponent. We cannot overlook the Vanderbilt Commodores. In preparation we have updated the personnel breakdown, gone over some new offensive actions from recent games, and took a look back at our first meeting down in Nashville. Let’s dive on in.

Vanderbilt Commodores Personnel

Starters

#2 Scotty Pippen Jr.: 6’3″ 185 lbs, Junior Guard

18.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.4 apg

Aggressive scoring guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Need to pick him up early when he is bringing it. Break his rhythm on the perimeter. Don’t let him dribble into a 3. Stay tight to him at all times. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Get over ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space. Immediately take away the space. You are switching to take away the 3. No help off him. Likes to drive it right. Will turn his drives into post moves and post up against smaller defenders. Have to physical with him. Take away the quick spin baseline. Be physical on his left shoulder. Give a hard contest to the turnaround jumper. Switch the post ballscreen. Aggressively help when he drives and make him give it up. Make him finish 2’s with you between him and the basket. No 3’s!

#3 Rodney Chatman: 6’1″ 215 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

5.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.5 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Need to be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. 16 of 26 shots have been 3’s (6 games). Shooting just as good of a percentage from 3 than 2. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreen and flares. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Will handle the ball a lot to allow #2 Pippen Jr. to play off the ball. When you take away the catch-and-shoot he wants to drive it right. Get over and cut off the right hand drives. Get your hands up and make him finish over you. No catch-and-shoot 3’s for him.

#4 Jordan Wright: 6’6″ 215 lbs, Junior Guard/Forward

12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.0 apg

Physical wing. Capable shooter. 33.8% from 3. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. Need to be there to give a hard contest to the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Bounce back when you take away initial catch-and-shoot. You can hop under the ballscreens and handoffs to start, but do so with urgency to contest if he shoots. No right hand drives! He will drive it right hard and initiate contact. Be physical at the end of his drives. Will bring it up in transition some. Just get the ball stopped. Contest all mid-range jumpers. Be tight to him in the mid-range. Crashes the offensive glass hard. Averaging over 1.5 offensive rebounds per game. Box out!

#10 Myles Stute: 6’7″ 210 lbs, Sophomore Forward

8.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.5 apg

Stretch 4-man. Pick-and-pop. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3’s. 96 of 123 shots have been 3’s shooting 40.6%. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Absolutely no help off of him. Get all the way out to take him away. Stay with him when he replaces to the perimeter. Get over the flare screens!!! They will flare in for him a lot. You should already be tight to not get flared in. Switch the flare screen if there is space. Switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. Get up and pressure him on the perimeter. You should be touching him at all times so you are ready to stay tight and chase. No 3’s!

#42 Quentin Millora-Brown: 6’10” 235 lbs, Senior Forward

5.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.4 apg

Post player. Ballscreens and rolls hard to the basket. Looking for it on the roll. Continue to give ground on the ballscreen to stay between him and the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical on his left shoulder and make him score it back into you. Get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off the block you make him catch it. Make him finish over you. Don’t let him get layups or dunks on the roll. Keep giving ground towards the rim. Excellent offensive rebounder. Averaging 2.6 offensive rebounds per game. BOX OUT!!!

Bench

#12 Trey Thomas: 5’11” 160 lbs, Sophomore Guard

6.5 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.0 apg

Backup point guard. Will handle it a lot when he is in there. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 94 of 122 shots have been 3’s. Need to be tight to take away the 3-point attempts. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Get all the way out and pick him up early. You can pressure him on the perimeter. Make him drive it and see if he can finish inside. No help off of him. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Likes to use the left to right cross on the perimeter. Stay tight and make him drive it. No 3’s!

#23 Jamaine Mann: 6’6″ 230 lbs, Sophomore Forward

5.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.3 apg

Big, strong wing/forward. Very physical. Non-shooter. Closeout short on the perimeter. Right hand driver. No right hand drives!!! You are closing out short to stay between him and the basket and take away the right hand drive. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Good cutter off of the ball. Don’t get back cut. Help off of him but don’t lose sight. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!

#0 Tyrin Lawrence: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Sophomore Guard

4.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.9 apg

Lefty. Willing shooter. 5/32 from deep this year. Just throw a hand up to contest when he shoots. You can start the game by closing out short. We will tighten up some if he makes one. Don’t let him attack your closeout. Wants to drive it left. No left hand drives!!! Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short. Go under ballscreens and handoffs. Make him finish with you between him and the basket. No layups for him. No left hand drives!

#5 Shane Dezonie: 6’5″ 215 lbs, Freshman Guard

3.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.8 apg

Good shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. 11/19 from 3. Much better from 3 than he is from 2. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Closeout to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s and then pressure him as much as you can without getting smoked right. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. 16 assists to 27 turnovers. Make him uncomfortable and see if he will turn it over. No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#15 Terren Frank: 6’8″ 240 lbs, Sophomore Forward

2.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.2 apg

Backup forward. Willing shooter. 3/19 from 3. Will pick-and-pop. Just throw a hand up if he shoots. We will start switching the ballscreens that he sets if he makes one early. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Be physical with him inside. Really pressure him on the perimeter and make him uncomfortable. 4 assists to 11 turnovers. Box out.

Vanderbilt Commodores Offense

As they have each season under Coach Stackhouse, the Vanderbilt Commodores run some very unique actions offensively. They do things offensively that really nobody else in the country does which can make it hard to guard. There are a lot of ballscreens and usually four players on the floor at a time that are threats to shoot from deep.

Though the Commodores aren’t shooting a great percentage from 3, just 31.9%, they get up a bunch of attempts and can get hot in a hurry. We have to focus on taking them away from 3. In our last matchup, they went 12-30 from deep including 6 3’s by #2 Pippen Jr. Especially when #2 Pippen Jr. drives it we want to aggressively help, but then we have to rotate and recover with a bunch of urgency to get them off of the 3-point line. Do not let these guys get hot from beyond the arc, especially at home. Be willing to switch to take away the 3’s, don’t allow yourself to get flared in, and get over the ballscreens and handoffs.

Despite taking a lot of 3’s, Vandy also gets to the free throw line at a high rate. Per KenPom, 21.2% of their points come from the line which is 34th nationally. We must be ready to play without fouling and not give them easy points at the line. They were just 6-10 from the line in our first game.

We will see a lot of their actions on film here so you can get a feel for what to expect tonight. Again, they do things differently than any other team we will face. There will be a lot of flare screens that you need to be ready to get over the top of. They start many possessions with a unique staggered double out of the corner into a flare screen. Also, they will ballscreen the post some which we have to switch. The best way to prepare is just by seeing it all so let’s take a look at the film.

Secondary Side Ballscreen

More and more of their possessions are starting like this now. They will have #2 Pippen Jr. push the ball down the floor deep on the wing or even all the way to the corner. Then, they will set their version of a drag ballscreen deep on the side. We need to be willing to switch the ballscreens set for Pippen to keep a guy on a guy. If you don’t switch, give ground towards the basket to take away the roll and see if you can get Pippen to shoot a contested floater.

Here is a clip of Vanderbilt scoring on us off the same action. Especially if you get screened this hard you have to just switch it. This is way too easy of a finish on the roll.

Horns High Ballscreen

When the Commodores set their Horns ballscreens they will come out pretty high to set them. We still need to go over the top when they are set for #2 Pippen Jr. When he is driving it you need to either come aggressively help to try and steal the ball or tighten up to your man. The Georgia defender guarding #4 Wright in this clip isn’t doing anything. He didn’t really help on the drive but was also too far off his man to take away the three.

Horns Backscreen/In-Screen

Here is another action they will run out of a Horns alignment. They will set the back screen for #10 Stute but it is really just to set up having him come off the baseline pin down. This is why you have to stay tight to him at all times. Always have a hand on him and be ready to chase. Really good action here from the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Backscreen to Handoff

This clip gives a good extended look at the Vandy offense. These are mostly called actions here, but it is essentially Motion. Great job by Georgia to recognize the back screen set by #2 Pippen Jr. and just switch it. It is all about staying tight to him at all times. DO NOT GO UNDER THE BALLSCREENS/HANDOFFS. Be tight to #4 Wright as well. Too easy of a jumper for him.

Pippen 3’s

Do not go under the ballscreens set for #2 Pippen Jr. We have to do a much better job of taking him away from 3 tonight than we did a few weeks ago.

We have to have a lot of urgency when guarding #2 Pippen Jr. tonight. You should be constantly worried about him shooting 3’s. We want to be very willing to switch so we can keep a guy on a guy, but when you switch you have to take up the space and make him drive it. Do not give up a 3 on the switch!

Vanderbilt Commodores Defense

The last time the Vanderbilt Commodores had a defense this good, at least per the KenPom adjusted efficiency metric, Bryce Drew took them to the NCAA Tournament as a #9 seed. This year’s team comes in ranked 28th nationally in turnover percentage at 22.7% and are holding teams under 30% from beyond the arc. Just those two areas alone are a pretty good start to building an above-average defense.

Against us the first time, Coach Stackhouse went away from some of their pressure defense and decided to shadow the ballscreens to make guys hit contested 2’s to win the game. Unfortunately for him, that is exactly what happened as TyTy Washington lit it up from mid-range and Oscar Tshiebwe dominated inside. That advantage on the block will be there once again. However, expect to see the Commodores get out in the passing lanes, pressure the ball, and switch more than they did the first go-around. It wouldn’t even be shocking to see them come out and trap the ballscreens.

Keys to the Game

• No 3’s for #2 Pippen Jr., #10 Stute, or #12 Thomas. You have to be tight to these guys at all times. Get over ballscreens and handoffs. Chase them. Switch if you need to. Your goal at all times is to take them away from 3! No more than 5 3’s for these three combined.
• Take care of the ball. Vandy forces 15.5 turnovers per game including 7.6 steals. If we take care of the ball and get a shot each time down they won’t score enough to win. 12 or fewer turnovers is the goal.
• Dominate the glass. We had 12 offensive rebounds to their 4 in our first meeting. This should be a game where we have our way in the paint and on the boards. Take care of business.
• Go score 85+. We want to be sound defensively and follow the scouting report. However, if we just keep scoring it doesn’t always matter. Be aggressively offensively and let it fly when you are open. Confidence!