‘It’s going to be a close game’

[aubiefifty 16,791]

‘It’s going to be a close game’: Why No. 13 Auburn is approaching Vandy with caution

Updated: Jan. 17, 2024, 1:16 p.m.|Published: Jan. 17, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

5–6 minutes

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It’ll be the top of the SEC barrel vs. the bottom of the SEC barrel when the 13th-ranked Auburn men’s basketball team takes to Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium Wednesday evening.

While Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has the Tigers on a nine-game win streak and tied for first place in the SEC with an undefeated conference record, Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse and the Commodores are looking to find their first SEC win of the season.

And while the Commodores might be limping along to start SEC play, Pearl and the Tigers won’t be overlooking them come tipoff Wednesday night — especially after last year’s visit to Vanderbilt, which saw Auburn lose 67-65.

“We have a lot to play for,” Pearl said Monday. “I will try to explain to our guys a little bit about Auburn basketball history, and I’m going to remind our guys that prior to us having five out of the last six, we had lost 13 straight to Vanderbilt. That’s just not that long ago. So we’re going to work really hard to prepare.”

In squaring off against Vanderbilt Wednesday night, Pearl believes he’ll be pacing the opposing sideline of “one of the best offensive coaches in the country” in Stackhouse.

Stackhouse played his college career with North Carolina before the Philadelphia 76ers picked him up with the third overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft. Stackhouse went on to have a 18-year career in the NBA before transitioning to coaching.

Before landing at Vanderbilt in 2019, Stackhouse served as an assistant with the Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies, as well as head coach of Raptors 905 — Toronto’s Development League franchise.

“He was a really good pro coach. Jerry Stackhouse could coach in the NBA right now and be very successful,” Pearl said. “I would imagine he’s going to be there someday again, because he was. He’s got a phenomenal offensive mind.”

Stackhouse doesn’t have his most talented roster this season, Pearl admits.

However, Pearl knows that’s no reason to believe Stackhouse and the Commodores can’t pull an upset against the Tigers.

“They’re going to be patient,” Pearl said. “They also foul the least, and they also send teams to the foul line the least. So, he doesn’t give you easy ones, doesn’t foul you and then makes you — his team is patient, runs the shot clock down, (has) lower possessions, therefore closer game. They don’t turn the ball over, so you can’t get offense out of your defense.”

Vanderbilt also boasts Ezra Manjon, who Pearl calls the “fastest, quickest, most athletic, smallest guard that we’ll play against all year long.”

Manjon, who stretches 6-foot, is in his second year at Vanderbilt after spending three season at UC-Davis.

Now in his fifth year of his college career, Manjon leads the Commodores in scoring with 16.3 points per game and shoots the ball at a 47.5% clip — two marks that currently rank ninth in the SEC.

“He is the best undersized guard that I think I’ve ever seen score over size,” Pearl said of Manjon. “It doesn’t matter who he gets switched up on. It doesn’t matter what his matchup is. He is going to go downhill and he is going to find a way to score with either hand at a decent percentage.”

Last season, Majon made the game-winning bucket to beat the Tigers.

“I mean, tough shot after tough shot, but they’re not (tough) for him,” Pearl added.

Behind Manjon is fellow veteran guard Tyrin Lawrence, who averages 13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Down low, it’s the sophomore tandem in Colin Smith and Ven-Allen Lubin who lead the Commodores. Smith and Lubin, both stretching 6-foot-6, average 7.1 and 9.6 points per game, respectively. Meanwhile, Smith leads Vanderbilt on the boards with an average of 6.6 rebounds per game.

Auburn and Vanderbilt are slated to tip off at 8 p.m. Wednesday from Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

For the Tigers, they’ll be looking to stretch their win streak out to 10 games. Auburn’s last nine wins have come by double digits.

But against the Commodores, Pearl wouldn’t be surprised if a double-digit win isn’t the case.

“It’s going to be a close game,” Pearl predicted.

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[arktiger1975 516]

I would obviously prefer a blowout win. But I will gladly take a win any way we can get it.