Scouting Report: Vanderbilt Commodores

The grind of the Southeastern Conference schedule is a little bit easier during a winning streak. Kentucky has certainly been on the less pleasant side of these quick turnarounds too. However, this time the Wildcats head to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores while riding a three-game winning streak. After upsetting Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena, the ‘Cats took care of business at home last week with wins over Georgia and Texas A&M. They now sit at 13-6 overall and 4-3 in the SEC. Meanwhile, the Commodores are 10-9 overall and 3-3 in the league.

Vanderbilt is coming off of a hard-fought 85-82 victory at Georgia on Saturday. In that game, they shot 10-21 from three-point range and 21-29 from the free-throw line. On Tuesday evening they were competitive against Alabama despite shooting 6-33 from beyond the arc. This is a team that is going to live and die on the three-point shot to some extent. When they scored 97 points in a win over Arkansas they shot 10-18 from deep and 29-36 from the line. The Commodores run unique offensive actions and are never shy of letting it fly from three-point range.

Coach Jerry Stackhouse has methodically, and somewhat quietly, built the Vanderbilt Commodores into a real Southeastern Conference basketball program entering year four. After finishing in the cellar each of his first two seasons, Coach Stackhouse got Vandy over .500 in his third year in Nashville. It was their first above .500 record since the 2017 NCAA Tournament team. The Commodores have improved their talent each year under the former NBA All-Star which has brought out the best in his unique offensive system. This season that has translated to a Top 50 offense in college basketball. Opponents can no longer simply pencil in a “W” next to this game on the schedule.

Another game, another scouting report. We’ve been hard at work in the KSR Film Room preparing another opponent deep-dive for your pregame reading pleasure. You’ll get a full in-depth look at Vandy’s personnel, a breakdown of both offensive and defensive schemes, and the ever-important keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Vanderbilt Commodores Personnel

Starters

#3 Paul Lewis: 6’2″ 170 lbs, Freshman Guard

2.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.6 apg

Has only played in seven games with two starts. Shooter! No 3s! 8 of 13 shots have been 3s. Shooting a much better percentage from 3 than 2. Need to be tight to him to take away the 3s. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Get up into him on the perimeter and make him drive it. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. When he does drive it he is looking to drive it right. No right-hand drives. Do not over-help when he is driving it left. Would rather make him finish 2s than let him get going from 3. Will shoot them off of the dribble. Have to break his rhythm. Pressure him. No 3s!

#0 Tyrin Lawrence: 6’4″ 200 lbs, Junior Guard

11.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.8 apg

Lefty. Much more aggressive as a left-hand driver. NO LEFT-HAND DRIVES!!! 13-47 from 3 (27.7%). Closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Bounce back to cut off the left-hand drive. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Closeout and guard him in a way to stay between him and the basket. Shouldn’t be able to penetrate driving it left. Will shoot the pull-up some going right. Be ready to contest the pull-up jumpers. Do not over-help when he is driving it right. Not a threat. When he drives it left you can pick your spots to come take it off of him. You are only helping to try and force a turnover. 34 assists to 32 turnovers. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then close out short. Always want to stay between him and the basket. No left-hand drives! No layups!

#4 Jordan Wright: 6’6″ 220 lbs, Senior Guard/Forward

11.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.4 apg

Big, physical wing. Will play both on the perimeter and around the basket. Capable shooter. 20-63 (31.7%). Need to be there to give a hard contest to the obvious catch-and-shoot 3s. More dangerous as a right-hand driver. No right-hand drives! Need to bounce back after taking away the initial catch-and-shoot to guard against the right hand drive. Will get some catches off of the block with his back to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Will shot fake and pivot. Stay down and wall up. If they ballscreen for him in the post you need to switch it. Make him score over you. Be physical at the end of his drives and don’t go for the shot fakes. Want to stay between him and the basket. Box out! No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s. No right-hand drives.

#10 Myles Stute: 6’7″ 215 lbs, Junior Forward

10.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.7 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3s!!! 110 of 154 shots have been 3s. Shooting a much better percentage from 3 than 2. You have to run him off of the 3-point line and take away his ATTEMPTS. Be tight to him at all times. Absolutely no help off of him. Your only job when guarding him is taking away his 3-point attempts. Pressure him on the perimeter. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. Make him drive by you. Not comfortable handling it. 13 assists to 33 turnovers. Make him dribble! Loves to pick-and-pop. Have to switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3s. Will slip the ballscreens into a pop as well. If there is no screen there is no switch. Stay attached to him at all times. Tighten up as the ball comes toward you. No 3s!!!

#42 Quentin Millora-Brown: 6’10” 245 lbs, Fifth Year Center

3.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.7 apg

Physical 5-man. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Looking to score almost exclusively at the rim. Will score it with either hand, but is better going to his right hand over his left shoulder. Need to be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off the block you make him catch it. Will shot fake and pivot to try and finish around you at the rim. Stay down on the fakes and wall up. Make him score over you inside. No drop steps. Going to be very physical when the shot goes up. Don’t let him play harder than you. Be physical and box him out! No right hand, left shoulder baskets inside.

Bench

#5 Ezra Manjon: 6’0″ 170 lbs, Senior Guard

9.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.9 apg

Aggressive backup point guard. Going to be in attack mode with the ball in his hands. He is a NON-SHOOTER!!! 1-14 from 3. BACK UP and stay between him and the basket. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Closeout short to him on the perimeter. He is looking to drive it right. NO RIGHT-HAND DRIVES!!! No reason for you to be all the way out on the perimeter guarding him. Likes to use the left-to-right crossover to get downhill. Don’t let him come back right. Make him score contested 2s going to his left. Don’t over-help when he is driving it left. Get the ball stopped in transition. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then close out short. The goal is to keep him out of the paint. Dare him to shoot jumpers. No right-hand drives. No layups!

#12 Trey Thomas: 6’0″ 160 lbs, Junior Guard

6.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.5 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3s!!! 78 of 96 shots have been 3s. Shooting a better percentage from 3 than 2. Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3s. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. Switch if there is too much space and get OUT to take him away from 3. Not worried about him scoring 2s. We want to make him drive it. Has only made six 2s on the season. Absolutely no help off of him on the perimeter. Tighten up as the ball comes toward you. You want to be close enough that you force him to drive it. Do not over-help when he drives it. Just get your hands up and make him score over you. Your only job when guarding him is taking away his 3-point attempts. No 3s!!!

#1 Colin Smith: 6’8″ 215 lbs, Freshman Forward

4.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.8 apg

Backup stretch 4-man. Shooter! No 3s! No catch-and-shoot 3s! 45 of 66 shots have been 3s. Shooting the same percentage from 3 as from 2. Need to be tight to him on the perimeter to take away the catch-and-shoot 3s. Pressure him and force him to drive it. Looking to pick-and-pop on the perimeter. Be very willing to switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3s. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Will face up and shoot the jumper. Contest all jumpers. Very good offensive rebounder. Box out. No catch-and-shoot 3s!!!

#23 Malik Dia: 6’9″ 240 lbs, Freshman Forward

2.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.3 apg

Backup stretch 4-man. Shooter! No catch-and-shoot 3s! 22 of 36 shots have been 3s. Looking to pick-and-pop on the perimeter. Be very willing to switch the ballscreens to take him away from 3. When he catches it inside he is primarily looking to shoot the turnaround jumper. Need to give a hard contest to any jump shots in the post. Right hand, left shoulder. Be physical and get him off of the block. Doesn’t really want to make traditional post moves. He would rather face up and shoot. No catch-and-shoot 3s!

#20 Emmanuel Ansong: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Fifth Year Forward

2.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.1 apg

Undersized backup forward. Capable shooter, but more aggressive as a slasher and right-hand driver. No right-hand drives! He wants to attack your closeout to drive it right. Close out short to stay between him and the basket. Not very aggressive from the perimeter. We will adjust if he makes a couple. Will pivot around and use a lot of shot fakes at the end of his drives. Stay down on the fakes. Wall up and make him score over you. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Always coming back right to finish. Will crash the offensive glass hard. Box out. No right-hand drives!

Vanderbilt Commodores Offense

There isn’t a coach in the Southeastern Conference, or maybe even in the country, who runs more unique offensive actions than Coach Jerry Stackhouse. He and his staff are incredibly creative with different entries, screening actions, and ways to get their best players in space. The Vanderbilt Commodores will ballscreen the post some, run a lot of zoom and staggered zoom action, run staggered Iverson cuts from the corner, and get some set plays from a 1-4 high alignment. They are going to throw a lot at you with their halfcourt offense.

This season, Coach Stackhouse has been able to mix his excellent scheme with the most talent he has had since taking over the Vanderbilt program. That has proven out on the floor as the Commodores currently have the 44th-rated offense per KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. They will have to play for a while without leading scorer Liam Robbins, but their mixture of excellent shooters and playmakers still makes them a tough team to guard. Let’s take a look at some of what you’ll see on Tuesday night.

---

Starting with the Vanderbilt Commodores’ most basic action, they like to backscreen the roll on their high ballscreens. Using #10 Stute as the back screener is especially effective because you can’t help off of him for fear of his ability to pop for a 3-pointer. That fear is essentially what gets #5 Manjon a layup here as Georgia provides little to no help as he turns the corner. This is where being more willing to switch can be effective.

---

Here is a look at an up-screen to cross-screen set they will run. Georgia’s main issue here was too much initial attention to #10 Stute when he caught the ball off of the up screen. We aren’t that worried about him scoring 2s. Also, you can help more off of #42 Millora-Brown when he is on the perimeter. Need to communicate the switch better on the high cross screen. #0 Lawrence isn’t a shooting threat so you can also hop under the high cross-screen if you see it coming.

---

This is a good look at one of the Vanderbilt Commodores’ more prolonged offensive possessions. When they come down in secondary this little handoff, to flare screen, to ballscreen action on the side is what they get to. We want to switch all of the ballscreens set by #10 Stute to make sure to take him away on the pick-and-pop. Especially late in the shot clock, but really at all times, you have to stay TIGHT to Stute. Do not let him sneak out to the perimeter for a 3 like this. No 3s!!!

---

Anytime Vanderbilt is in a Horns set with #10 Stute at one of the elbows you need to be ready for this sort of action. When you are guarding him your ONLY thought should be taking him away from 3. Stay tight, chase, and take away his 3-point attempts. It is hard to guard, but we have to do the best job possible. If he misses you just got lucky.

---

One of the more unique actions the Commodores have consistently run since Coach Stackhouse took over has been ball-screening the post. They usually do it when one of their wings gets a catch off of a diagonal back screen as you in this clip. #4 Wright is the primary guy they will run this for. When they ballscreen the post like this you need to be very willing to switch because it is so close to the basket. Anytime #4 Wright gets a catch with his back to the basket it should trigger in your mind that a ballscreen may be coming.

---

Vanderbilt runs a lot of staggered zoom action out of the corner. Depending on the personnel they can either come off of the double into the handoff or they can curl the first screen and then come off of the second single into a handoff. They will often flare in on the backside as they do on this possession as well. Be very willing to switch the handoff and then get out there on the flare depending on who is coming off.

Vanderbilt Commodores Defense

The Vanderbilt Commodores are a man-to-man defensive team. They will extend a little fullcourt pressure from time to time, but it is mostly token pressure to just slow you down. For as dangerous as the Commodores have been offensive, they have struggled on the defensive end of the floor. They are among the worst in the country at forcing turnovers, aren’t great on the defensive boards, and have allowed 80.8 points per game in SEC play. The rebounding issues, as well as rim protection, will be especially tough for Vandy now that 7’0″ center Liam Robbins is out with a sprained ankle. We need to play through Oscar Tshiebwe in the post and try to dominate the game inside.

Keys to the Game

• No 3s for #10 Stute or #12 Thomas. Have to be tight to them at all times. Need to limit them to no more than four combined 3s.
• Dominate the glass. We’ve had three straight excellent rebounding games. Vanderbilt isn’t as good on the boards as any of the previous three opponents. Must be 77% or better on the defensive glass once again.
• Contain the ballscreen. The Vanderbilt Commodores have a lot of success playing off of ballscreens. #5 Manjon, #0 Lawrence, #12 Thomas, and #4 Wright are the primary ball handlers. Only #12 is a shooting threat so we need to give ground and stay in front of the other three. No 3s behind the ballscreen for #12 Thomas. No strong hand drives for layups for the other three.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.