Date Published: 2/28/2010 3:22:44 AM
Last Modified: 2/28/2010 3:22:44 AM

Vandy gets ahead early, thumps UA

FAYETTEVILLE — Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings finally got his first victory at Walton Arena, and the way his Commodores dominated Arkansas on Saturday, it might have felt like two for him.

The No. 16 Commodores were in control from start to finish in cruising by the Razorbacks 89-72 before an announced crowd of 14,146.

Vanderbilt (22-6, 11-4 SEC) led by 27 points in the second half before Stallings took out his starters, none of whom played more than 28 minutes.

“I didn’t want to do the bad sportsman thing,” Stallings said.
Brandon Marcello and Bob Holt discuss Arkansas' 89-72 loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt, which extended the Razorbacks' losing streak to three games.
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Before Saturday’s breakthrough, Stallings’ Vanderbilt teams had been 0-5 at Arkansas and 0-7 against the Razorbacks away from home.

“It’s nice not to have to come over here and wonder if you’re ever going to get a win,”said Stallings, who is in his 11th season at Vanderbilt. “But if our teams had played like this a few more times, we might have gotten another victory or two.

“I asked our guys if they’d get me off the schnide over here, and they did it.”

Stallings and sophomore guard Jeffery Taylor, who led the Commodores with 18 points, exchanged a highfive in the postgame interview room.

“We’re happy for Coach to finally get that monkey off his back,” Taylor said. “It’s just nice to win games, really.”

The Razorbacks (14-15, 7-7) lost their third consecutive game and are 1-4 in the past five after once leading the SEC West at 7-4.

“Every time we lose it’s going to be tough,” said Arkansas sophomore guard Rotnei Clarke, who had 14 points Saturday. “Being in our home building makes it worse because we’ve got fans supporting us.

“Not coming out and performing and protecting our home court is tough.”

Vanderbilt finished 53.3 percent from the field (32 of 60), but was above 60 percent for much of the game as the Commodores continually got open looks.

“I think the biggest thing is, defensively, we’re not where we were a week or so ago,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “Because we’re not able to get as many stops, we’re not able to get out in transition to score andget easy baskets.

“We’re constantly grinding it in halfcourt and it’s putting a lot of pressure on us to score and it’s not happening.”

Pelphrey said the Razorbacks, who shot 37.8 percent(28 of 74) from the field, have to step up their defense if they’re going to have a chance to win next week’s games at Tennessee on Wednesday night and against Ole Miss at home Saturday.

“The ball is going in the basket at an alarming rate,” Pelphrey said, referring to Vanderbilt, not Arkansas.

Pelphrey was asked specifically what the Razorbacks didn’t do Saturday that they were doing earlier in the season to play effective defense.

“If I could really get it down that minute and I can figure it out, I’d probably already have said that to our team,” Pelphrey said. “Teams are playing better than us. That’s the reality.”

Vanderbilt jumped to a 6-0 lead as Arkansas committed turnovers on its first three possessions without getting off a shot.

The Commodores, who got 14 points from junior center A.J. Ogilvy and 13 each from sophomore guard Brad Tinsley and freshman guard John Jenkins, pushed their lead to 18-8 eight minutes into the game and led 45-35 at halftime.

“I thought we just came out and got off to a real goodstart,” Stallings said. “Offensively we seemed very in sync, very together and very purposeful.”

Arkansas, which was led by freshman forward Marshawn Powell’s 27 points, didn’t get closer to Vanderbilt than eight points in the second half.

“They got on a quick run, which I think got them a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence playing here,” Clarke said. “That was big for them.”

Arkansas sophomore point guard Courtney Fortson had a tough game, shooting 3 of 15 from the field with 5 turnovers, 8 points and 8 assists.

Senior forward Michael Washington, who missed the Razorbacks’ 65-54 loss at LSU on Wednesday night because of a sprained right ankle, played 22 minutes off the bench against Vanderbilt and had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

“I know Washington’s not 100 percent, so we might have caught them at a fortuitous time for us,” Stallings said. “But nevertheless, I still thought out guys really played well and followed the game plan.”

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