Gamecocks Drop SEC Opener to No. 11/11 Vanderbilt, 83-71

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Tyler Tanner had 19 points and a career-high 14 assists, AK Okereke scored 17 and No. 11 Vanderbilt improved to 14-0 with an 83-71 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

The Commodores (1-0 Southeastern Conference) are off to their best start since the 2007-08 team opened 16-0. They did it against the Gamecocks (9-5, 0-1) without leading scorer Duke Miles, who missed his second straight contest with an undisclosed injury.

Miles absence didn’t slow down Vanderbilt one bit. It used an early 13-0 run — which started on Okereke’s 3-pointer — to lead 15-4 over the first six minutes. When South Carolina closed 34-30 with 4:13 before the half, Vanderbilt ended the period with an 8-4 run sparked by another three from Okereke to lead 42-34.

Vanderbilt ended any chance of a Gamecocks’ rally with a 12-3 run to start the second half and were never pressured the rest of the way.

The Commodores face a test to keep their streak going next time out when they return home to play No. 14 Alabama. Should they get past the Tide, they’ll look to match their program-best 16-0 start at home next weekend against LSU.

If Vanderbilt shows this kind of depth, it will be difficult for any opponent to slow them down. The Commodores finished with five players in double figures and shot over 50% from the field. They outrebounded the Gamecocks 37-25 and did not have a shot blocked by South Carolina.

Tyler Nickel had 16 points with four of Vanderbilt’s 10 3-pointers. Devin McGlockton added 15 points for the Commodores.

Elijah Strong led South Carolina with 17 points.

KEY STATS

• Vanderbilt shot 50.9% (29-of-57 FGs) from the floor and 43.5% (10-of-23 3FGs) from behind the arc. The Commodores have now shot above 50.0% from the floor as a team in 10 of their 14 games this season.
• Carolina struggled to hit open shots from behind the arc, going 7-of-28 (25.0%) for the game and 2-for-15 (13.3%) in the second half. The Gamecocks were efficient from 2-point territory, going 18-of-30 (60.0%).

NOTABLES

• In his first career SEC game, Elijah Strong had a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
• Myles Stute hit a trio of 3s again and had 14 points, marking his third-straight game in double-figures. He added six rebounds to lead the team as well. Today was the team’s first loss against an SEC foe for Carolina over the last three seasons when Stute scores 10 or more points (team is now 17-2 in games where Stute scores 10+).
• Mike Sharavjamts had 13 points marking his team-high 12^th game this season in double-figures.
• Meechie Johnson had a season-high six assists today, his 22^nd career game with five or more assists.
• The Gamecocks had just four turnovers (three in the first half) total against a Vanderbilt team that entered today’s game 10^th in the nation in steals per game (10.6).

UP NEXT
Carolina hits the road for just its second true road game of the season traveling to Baton Rouge to face LSU (12-1, 0-0 SEC). Tip is set for 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday in the Red Stick with Lowell Galindo (pxp) and Pat Bradley (analyst) on the call for the ESPNU broadcast.