NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When the clock hit zero, Jordan Wright turned and slung the ball into the frenzied Vanderbilt student section—a symbolic move of relief and joy after a volatile 40 minutes at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday.
Wright scored 17 and was part of a relentless Vandy second-half barrage that helped take down No. 15 Arkansas 97-84.
“I just wanted to give them a little fire,” Wright said of the heave to his classmates. “They were a big reason why we won this game.”
Arkansas led by as much as 10 in the second half Saturday, but there was just no stopping the Commodores (9-8, 2-2 SEC).
Vandy shot 69.2 percent over the final 20 minutes and poured in 63 points. Five Dores finished in double figures (including Wright), led by Tyrin Lawrence’s 22. Myles Stute added 15, Liam Robbins scored 14 despite constant foul trouble and Trey Thomas chipped in 13.
Vanderbilt built a 14-point advantage with 7:43 to go, and the closest Arkansas (12-4, 1-4 SEC) could get was within six points with 2:20 on the clock.
“That was a tough game. That was a hard-fought game. Our guys they played their butts off. They competed,” Vandy head coach Jerry Stackhouse said. “That second half, they did exactly what we’ve been talking about: They led by example. No rah-rah, nothing but going out there and executing and being the veteran team that we are and playing like the veteran players the way they did. It was on them.”
When the competitive and highly contentious first half ended, Arkansas had a 42-34 lead. But the big story was the technical fouls with 49 seconds left in the period on Arkansas’ Kamani Johnson and Vanderbilt’s Ezra Manjon and Stackhouse. And Manjon was disqualified.
The Razorbacks got 24 of those 42 points from inside the paint and 31 of 42 from Ricky Council and Anthony Black. At that point, Vandy could do little to stop Arkansas from scoring inside, and the Dores suffered a five-minute drought without a field goal toward the end of the half.
“We came out with a chip on our shoulder,” Wright said about the difference between the first and second halves. “Liam got us going in the second half, Colin Smith got us going early in the second half—so we wanted to capitalize off that momentum.
“Our veteran presence kind of showed up there. We knew we had a lot of game left—20 minutes is a lot of time to play. They played their best ball, but like Coach Stackhouse said, we knew we had to come out and fight. And that’s…