On Saturday, the usual line of students ready to flood into Humphrey Coliseum the minute the doors opened was defeated by threats of severe winter weather. The tipoff time had been moved from 5 p.m. to 11 a.m and admission was free to accommodate the switch. However, with 15 minutes until tipoff, not one section of students was full.
The upper rows of the Hump were lightly sprinkled with fans, and the noise was noticeably quieter. When the student section was highlighted by cameras, only light clapping and waving followed instead of the usual shouts and cheers.
Throughout the first half, Vanderbilt kept a 10-point lead consistently, and the Bulldogs struggled to keep up. The whole game, Vanderbilt fought to keep possession and simply worked together to score more consistently.
In the post-game interview, senior guard Josh Hubbard talked about the advantage that the Commodores had.
“They had a big game plan against us, defensively and offensively,” Hubbard said. “We kind of talked about a fight. Like when you go to games, and you go into the first round — they kind of got us bloody a little bit. So they went on that run, and after that, we were just trying to crawl up that hole.”
Hubbard also spoke about how the team’s confidence has been affected after multiple recent losses.
“We don’t like to lose, but we never let that change our approach to practice or the next game,” Hubbard said. “We lift each other up, we get to the next game, we practice hard still.”
It took a bit for MSU to get its groove, but even as they started scoring, it was still hard to get within 10 points of Vanderbilt. MSU star-scorer Jayden Epps discussed how the team works through their struggling moments.
“We just try to lift each other up and have some energy, feel some enthusiasm, because at the end of the day, that’s what we gotta do when we get down, we gotta learn to find a way to get back up,” Epps said. “So we’re just going to keep fighting — we’re going to be down again this year. We’re going to have to fight back.”
After halftime, the team unfortunately stayed down, and Vanderbilt continued to dominate.
Hubbard shared what he thought Vanderbilt had the advantage of throughout the game.
“[The Commodores] were very handsy on the ball and off the ball,” Hubbard said. “They were making every pass and every catch tough. They did a tremendous job in ball screen defense as well. We had to make quick decisions, and with all that combined, they just made the court shrink a little bit.”
Vanderbilt brought strategy and skill with them from Nashville. It was evident that their intensity on offense and on defense shocked the Bulldogs. However, this is why practice matters — preparing for teams like Vanderbilt, who are ranked higher and have more games won.
Head Coach Chris Jans discussed how the team practiced the day before and how this preparation showed in the game.
“My practice yesterday was really good, it was intense, we guarded, we rebounded, played like how we’re trying to play,” Jans said.
In the SEC, it takes grit and preparedness to win games. Jans talked about how the team needs to move forward coming off these losses.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way to stay together,” Jans said. “Coach better, compete more.”
The Bulldogs will be back in Humphrey Coliseum on Jan. 31st at 2 p.m. to take on the Mizzou Tigers, which can be watched on SEC Network or ESPN+.
