Vanderbilt basketball allows 13 3-pointers in loss to San Francisco

Vanderbilt basketball dropped another nonconference game, this time to San Francisco 73-60 Wednesday night at Memorial Gymnasium.

Though the Commodores (4-5) shot relatively well, a vast rebounding deficit and struggles from the free-throw line doomed them against the Dons (6-3).

Vanderbilt had its presumed five top players — Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Evan Taylor, Colin Smith and Ven-Allen Lubin — available for the first time all season, but it ultimately resulted in another uneven performance.

Colin Smith returns

After missing the past three games with a concussion, Smith returned. Though he came off the bench, he played starter minutes (26). He finished with eight points, two rebounds and two steals.

Rebounding struggles

Rebounding generally has been one of the team's biggest strengths this season, but it struggled mightily against San Francisco. While Vanderbilt normally doesn't force many turnovers, it won the takeaway battle against the Dons (15-8). But San Francisco won the battle handily on both the offensive (9-5) and defensive glass (30-16).

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Bombs away

Both teams shot well from beyond the arc and took a high number of 3-point shots. Tasos Kamateros led the way, going 3-for-6. Smith was 2-for-5 and Jason Rivera-Torres was 2-for-2.

But San Francisco, which shot 26-for-51, went 13-for-29 from 3, a 45% clip.

The Commodores didn't shoot well from the free-throw line (3-for-9), while San Francisco did (8-for-9), and that made a big difference.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball loses to San Francisco as defense falls short