South Carolina: Odds and Ends

by Barca Blog

Complete recap: Vanderbilt 89, South Carolina 79

Helping hand: Vanderbilt's bench played a big role in their victory. The group of Festus Ezeli, Lance Goulbourne, John Jenkins, and Steve Tchiengang shot a combined 11-for-15 from the field and outscored South Carolina's reserves 30-7.

"Our depth has been very, very valuable for us," head coach Kevin Stallings said. "Lance and Steve gave us a great night. Fes was typical Fes: strong and tough in there. And John comes in and, of course, hits his shots. It was a good overall performance and one that we needed all of our guys to get."

Back on track: The Commodores connected on 15-of-19 free throws in the second half Saturday, compared to 13-of-27 in Wednesday's win over Alabama.

Beal inches closer to 1,000: With 10 points against the Gamecocks, "Dolla" now has 993 points in his collegiate career, just 7 shy of the 1,000 mark.

More stats: Through three SEC games, Vanderbilt is shooting 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range while attempting 33 more free throws than their opponents.

Quotable: "Despite the fact that (Devan) Downey scored 35, I thought there were times he looked very tired, which is more incredible with his performance." -- Stallings said when asked if his roster depth played a factor

Looking ahead: Vanderbilt, winners of eight straight, is off to its first 3-0 start in conference play in the Stallings' era. The 'Dores won't play again until next Saturday when Auburn rolls into town.

"We need to take advantage of the time and not sit back and think about what we've done this week," Stallings remarked. "We have to focus on an Auburn team that almost knocked off Kentucky tonight. We like these weeks because it's an opportunity to get ourselves better. There are some things that we need to work on and hopefully we can get better before next Saturday."