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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > LeAnne Harrington > Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Preview
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Preview
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
Posted: January 17th, 2008 @ 7:03pm
The Vanderbilt Commodores, fresh off a disappointing outing against the Bayou Bengals (that’s the LSU Tigers for those not used to my parlance) which saw the Commodores shoot a season-low from the field in the first half of that loss on Sunday, return to the friendly confines of Memorial Gym this evening. But don’t get too excited that coming home translates into an automatic win, because the Dawgs are comin’, and they’re lookin’ for revenge. Georgia started the season 13-0, but have lost two of their last three games, with both losses coming on the road - first to Xavier, and most recently a 30-point loss at Auburn this past Sunday. Couple those losses with the fact that Vandy knocked Georgia out of the 2007 SEC Tournament by a score of 81-56 in their last meeting, and it’s easy to see that the Bulldogs are ready to tear into the next team in their path, especially one they’d like to serve a little payback to.
The Commodores are currently 12-5 overall, 1-1 in the SEC and have dropped out of the Top 25. Georgia enters tonight’s matchup with an overall record of 14-2, (1-1 in conference play) and have slipped slightly in the polls (#11 USA Today/ESPN, #12 AP). I hesitate to say that this is a “make or break” game because conference play is just getting underway, but the loser of this one will fall to 1-2 in the SEC, and for Vanderbilt, they can’t afford another loss at home, especially with their upcoming schedule (let’s just say that when the Commodores next take the court, they will be hard-pressed to find any black and gold in the sea of orange they will be surrounded by…)
Vanderbilt is led in scoring by senior center Liz Sherwood, who is averaging 13.5 points per game despite coming off the bench the past four games. Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb had this to say about Sherwood: “What I’m trying to do with Liz is bring offense off the bench, basically… we've tried to go more with defense and rebounding to start and then bring Liz off the bench. She's been in that role the last two years and she's comfortable with that role." It seems to be working: Sherwood currently leads the conference and the nation in field goal percentage, connecting on 71.7% of her shots from the field. Junior Christina Wirth is the only other Commodore averaging in double-digits (12.8 ppg) while junior Jennifer Risper is at 9.1, sophomore Meredith Marsh is at 8.1 and fellow soph Jessica Mooney is at 7.9.
Meanwhile, Georgia has a potent weapon of their own in senior post Tasha Humphrey. Humphrey leads Georgia in both scoring and rebounding for the fourth consecutive season with averages of 16.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. In addition, sophomores Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson are averaging double-digit points per game at 13.0 and 10.8, respectively. Houts also leads the Lady Bulldogs in assists (4.6 apg) and steals (3.0 spg), while Robinson is tops on the team in blocks at 1.8 per game.
Probable starters for Vanderbilt:
Jence Rhoads, 5’11” FR PG - 4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3 apg
Merideth Marsh, 5’9” SO G - 8.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.9 apg
Jennifer Risper, 5’9” JR G - 9.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.1 apg, 3 spg
Hannah Tuomi, 6’ FR F - 4.9 ppg, 3 rpg
Christina Wirth, 6’1” JR F/C - 12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.5 apg
Probable starters for Georgia:
Ashley Houts, 5’6” SO G - 13 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.6 apg, 3 spg
Angela Puleo, 5’9” FR G - 8.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.1 apg
Megan Darrah, 6’3” SR G/F - 9.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.9 apg
Tasha Humphrey, 6’3” SR F - 16.1 ppg, 9 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.3 spg
Angel Robinson, 6’5” JR C - 10.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.8 bpg
My prediction is this is one is going to be physical and ugly, and the home court team may just wind up on the short end of the stick. Georgia is a more physical, athletic team, and Vanderbilt really doesn’t have anyone to counteract Humphrey’s firepower of Robinson’s size. Vanderbilt, despite their best efforts to become more physical, are still more of a cerebral, finesse ball club. That may have served them well in the first half of the season, but when it comes to conference games, physical play wins more often than not (and I shall refrain from any derogatory comments about officiating).
Game time is set for 7pm CST at Memorial Gym in Nashville, TN and can be viewed on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).
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