Tennessee State Tripped Up at Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- The Tennessee State men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, falling by an 83-59 final score on the road at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night at Memorial Gymnasium. Ken’Darrius Hamilton (Montgomery, Ala.) led TSU’s offense with a career-high 19 points on the night.

TSU (6-1) dug itself an early deficit as Vanderbilt (4-3) built a 21-point halftime edge. For the Tigers, which received votes in the Associated Press Top 25, Darreon Reddick (Belleville, Ill.) also turned in a double-digit scoring effort with 12 points.

Hamilton led the TSU offense with seven points in the first seven minutes as the Commodores jumped out to a 17-11 advantage. The Tigers found themselves down by 10, trailing 24-14 with eight minutes to play before halftime.



The Tigers cut the Vanderbilt lead down to seven on a Reddick jumper at 29-22 with just under five minutes to play before halftime.

The Commodores ended the half on a 14-0 run to take a 43-22 halftime lead. Vanderbilt shot 61 percent (14-for-23) from the field in the first half.

The scoring went back and forth in the second half as the Commodores maintained a 20-point lead for most of the final 20 minutes.

TSU forced 19 turnovers in the game, leading to 23 points off turnovers. The Tigers finished 20-for-49 (40.8 percent) from the field, while Vanderbilt finished with 25-for-46 (54.3 percent) shooting.

Vanderbilt was led by 22 points form Matthew Fisher-Davis and 13 from Jeff Roberson.

Next on the schedule, TSU plays at Lipscomb on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m. in an ESPN3 broadcast.

GAME NOTES: Tennessee State falls to 0-9 in the all-time series versus Vanderbilt… The Tigers are now 1-36 against teams that currently make up the SEC… Tennessee State received two votes in the most recent Associated Press Top 25… TSU is 5-1 away from home this season.

TSU Head Coach Dana Ford
“Obviously we have to play a lot better. A couple of disappointments tonight, obviously our play on the glass; I thought we would be a little more competitive on the glass. We just have to shake this one off and move on to the next one.”
- On Performance versus Vanderbilt

“The reason we were in foul trouble, was because they were the aggressor. At times the play got a little big for us and sometimes when that happens you can become a little passive and I think that led to some fouls.”
- On Teams Early Foul Trouble

“This is a high level game for us, to come over and play a power-five team who is bigger, stronger, faster and very well coached. This is a really good test for us and tells us who we really are, we are a very good Ohio Valley team and this is a good teaching moment for us.”
- On the Advantages to Playing Vanderbilt

“We needed to pay more attention to detail, which we did a very poor job of tonight. But we have to keep it in perspective. Our biggest fear coming into tonight was their size. And that was the deciding factor. We have never been outrebounded by 19, like it happened tonight. Some of that was size, but some was also the lack of attention to detail. And those are the things we will try to fix, starting tomorrow.”
- On Keys to Team’s Needs

BOX SCORE

PHOTO GALLERY - BY SAM JORDAN

PHOTO GALLERY - BY KATHERINE SEGHERS

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS