Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington wants more unselfish play from his team when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.
It was a balanced scoring effort put forth by the Commodores (3-0) when they cruised to a 92-62 home win against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday.
Tyler Harris came off the bench and led five Vanderbilt players who scored in double figures with 17 points. But Duke Miles (15 points), Tyler Tanner (13), Devin McGlockton (11) and AK Okereke (11) weren’t far off Harris’ pace.
Vanderbilt handed out 19 assists to Eastern Kentucky’s nine, which is Byington’s key to success.
“The style we play is making the right play for your teammates,” Byington said. “It’s going to be different guys on different nights. Sometimes the ball finds guys in different situations and they can make plays. The main thing is if we play the right way it will be different guys and we will show balance. Everybody on my team can score, make plays and have value.”
Because five players average in double figures with a sixth, Frankie Collins (9.7 points), just a shade under the 10-point threshold, Vanderbilt is a challenging team to guard. Another Vanderbilt trait that gives defenses pause is it has connected on 10 or more 3-pointers in every game this season.
“Our spacing is good,” Byington said. “When the spacing is good we get to the paint, drive the ball and make the defense collapse and make a decision.”
The Golden Lions (0-4) lost 95-69 on Tuesday at Oklahoma, paced by Milhan Charles with 15 points. Alex Mirhosseini and Jaquan Scott each tallied 14 points, and Quion Williams and Trevon Peyton both scored 11 points for Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The Golden Lions have a competitive veteran roster this season.
“We’re just more experienced, and I think that’s why our gym is way more competitive, because we got older guys,” Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Solomon Bozeman said. “A lot of these guys on their last ride are hungry, and then we got some (Division II) guys that are hungry to prove themselves. Our gym has been really, really competitive, man.”
