Vanderbilt-Oregon St. Basketball Game
Although watching Vanderbilt football improve tremendously this year has been awesome, I love nothing more than watching Vanderbilt men’s basketball games. This past Monday, Vanderbilt won an exciting game against a tricky Oregon State team 64-62 on a last second shot by Brad Tinsley to win the TicketCity Legends Classic at Izod Center in Rutherford, New Jersey.
I was worried that the loss to Cleveland State early in the year would set the much hyped Vanderbilt men’s basketball back and knock the team’s confidence. This does not appear to be the case, as Vanderbilt followed this shock defeat with an early season tournament victory. The starters all contributed to the win, with Jeffrey Taylor scoring 13 points, Brad Tinsley netting nine, and John Jenkins (the tournament MVP) scoring a team high 14 points. Jeffrey Taylor did an outstanding job of limiting the Oregon State scoring threat, Jared Cunningham, to just 9 points (Cunningham had scored 37 in their semi-final win over Texas). Vanderbilt had a ten point lead with just ten minutes left in the second half, only to have that lead cut as the minutes dwindled. With the game tied at 62, Brad Tinsley calmly netted a fifteen foot jumper with just five seconds remaining in the game, to seal victory.
The team showed a lot of heart in this tournament, clearly having something to prove after their dissapointing loss to Cleveland State. They also demonstrated their ability to stay cool under pressure, a valuable skill to have later in the season, when we face tricky SEC opponents. Vanderbilt has demonstrated their ability to win at home in Memorial Gym
, but this win shows their ability to win on the road as well. This tournament has made me even more excited for this basketball season and I can’t wait to see what the team can accomplish this year.