It was an ugly effort for most of the game but the Cats were able to fight out of an early hole and hang on in the end.  For most of the first half of today’s 70-60 victory over Vanderbilt, the Cats struggled to get even with the Commodores in scoring.  After getting out to a Perry Stevenson powered good start, the Cats stumbled through their offense and relaxed too much on defense.  Patrick Patterson picked up his second foul with just over 10 minutes left in the half and sat on the bench for the rest of the first.  Ramon Harris’ three pointer with 1:30 left in the half tied the game up forthe first time since it was knotted at eight.  A Perry Stevenson basket followed by a Michael Porter two pointer in the final minute stretched the lead to four at the half.

Going into the second half, I felt the Cats were in good position because they had fought back to get the lead without the services of Patrick Patterson for most of that run.  Patterson only had 2 points in the first half and no rebounds.  Throughout the first 12 minutes of the half, the Cats stretched their lead out, peaking it at 20 twice around the 8:00 mark.  The rest of the game seemed to see the Cats revert back to their play in the early part of the first half.  They seemed to relax again on defense and got lost several times allowing easy buckets for the Commodores.  Vandy got within 6 but no closer.  The Cats put them away with free throws in the last minute to win by 10.

There were some good things that came from this game.  The Cats only turned the ball over 12 times, 6 in each half which is much better than the UL game but still a little more than needed.  Talk all week was about need ing a third scorer and today we had a third and fourth scorer show up in Ramon Harris, who had 12, and Perry Stevenson, who had 10.  The defense held Vandy to just 32% shooting for the game while the Cats shot 44% from the field.

This wasn’t the prettiest game in the history of basketball but after all is said and done, a win is a win.  This is just what the Cats needed to regain their confidence after having the last week to think about the Louisville loss.  Tennessee is up next on Tuesday night in Knoxville so these guys need to get their intensity and focus back before then.