The No. 15-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores have to feel like they can make some noise this year on the basketball court, but head coach Mark Byington’s team is on a bit of a skid.
Following their 93-68 Tuesday night loss at No. 20 Arkansas, the Commodores have now lost three games in a row.
They were a perfect 16-0 before this streak of tough games, but it’s not just the losing that’s bothering Byington. Considering the way he’s talking about his team following the loss to the Razorbacks, clearly he feels that effort has become an issue.
“Right now we suck at rebounding,” Byington said in the postgame news conference (h/t On3). “We’ve addressed it. We have guys not competing. We have guys not hitting. We’ve played some bigger teams, more physical teams. We’ve also out-rebounded some teams earlier that were bigger and more physical. There’s a lot of things we’ve got to address.”
The Commodores were outrebounded 39-27 in the loss. They were also outscored 47-33 in the second half of the game.
Vanderbilt is now 3-3 in SEC play after losses to Texas, No. 19 Florida and Arkansas.
Vanderbilt Commodores have to get themselves right after a three-game skid
This is a team with the talent needed to turn it around, but there’s an old saying in sports that goes like this: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
The Commodores will have a couple of days off before taking on Mississippi State on the road on Jan 24. Byington is grateful for the time off because he’s going to need it to get his team back on track mentally.
“Right now, first off, being ready to compete is No. 1,” he said. “Rebounding’s been an issue. Thank goodness we have a couple of days. We need time to reset ourselves. We’ve got to get better. We’re better than this.”
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