Vanderbilt basketball snaps 3-game losing streak by beating Arkansas 85-82

At this time last season, the Vanderbilt basketball team was on its way to a strong finish with hopes of making a splash in the postseason.

Time is running out for Vanderbilt to stage a strong finish this season, but Tuesday night's 85-82 win at Arkansas' Bud Walton Arena showed the Commodores still have a pulse.

It was Vanderbilt's first road win this season and first SEC road win since beating Kentucky 68-66 at Rupp Arena on March 1, 2023. It also was the first time Vanderbilt has scored 80 points this season.

Vanderbilt (8-20, 3-12 SEC) snapped a three-game losing streak with three regular season games left before the SEC Tournament tips off at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Last season, the Commodores won eight of their last nine down the stretch, creating momentum to knock off LSU and Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.

Vanderbilt defense shuts down Arkansas

Early on, it appeared Vanderbilt would fall steadily behind like in so many games this season and just go through the motions on the way to another SEC loss.

But after Arkansas (14-14, 5-10) took a 20-10 lead, Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse began switching up his defenses. He switched zone schemes several times and in and out of man-to-man attacks.

"They're so good at drawing fouls and getting in the paint and we knew that coming into the game," Stackhouse said. "They lead the league in free throw attempts, so we knew we had to try to get in the gaps and do the things that we could to be more square on the ball. We took our theme of 'no middle,' we took that out tonight. The zone helped us a little, kept them out of the paint and they missed some threes."

Arkansas was just 10-of-30 on 3-pointers.

At one point Stackhouse said he had to switch the zone to help get Vanderbilt's offense going.

"The 1-3-1 (zone) gave us a little bit of problem rebounding," he said. "We went to our 3-2 and that helped us out. Helped us get more bodies in there to rebound it."

The switching defenses wreaked havoc on the Razorbacks. Arkansas never really got into an offensive rhythm in the first place and Vandy's switching defenses forced the Razorbacks to miss 17 of 18 field goal attempts during one stretch in the first half.

While shutting down Arkansas' offense the Commodores went on a 21-7 run, taking their first lead at 29-27 on a pair of free throws by JaQual Roberts with 3:46 left in the half.

Arkansas rally falls short

Vanderbilt led 35-31 at the half and surged ahead 69-53 with 16 minutes left, but Arkansas rallied.

The Razorbacks finally starting making some threes. They went on an 18-9 run to trim the Commodores' lead to 78-75 on back-to-back 3-pointers.

Vanderbilt moved back in front 83-78 on a 3-point play by Ven-Allen Lubin off a missed free throw with 1:42 to go.

"There was no play bigger than that play Ven had," Stackhouse said. "That 3-point play gave us a cushion that we needed."

Ezra Manjon put the Commodores up 85-82 with a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining. Tramon Marks got a clean look at a 3-pointer to tie for Arkansas, but it missed at the buzzer.

"I love it; I'm not scared of that moment," said Manjon, who was 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. "I felt very confident going up there. I just had to knock them down and seal the deal."

Manjon led Vanderbilt with 22 points and Tyrin Lawrence added 21. Khalif Battle, coming off a 42-point game vs. Missouri, led Arkansas with 36 points.

"Any road game is tough," Manjon said. "We were playing great and went up big in the second half and then they kind of started making threes and their crowd got into it and it got pretty tough. But it was just a matter of our older guys weathering the storm. That's what you've got to do to get a road win in the SEC."

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball snaps 3-game losing streak by beating Arkansas 85-82