Vanderbilt makes it three in a row in the SEC

The Dores stick it to the Rebels today in Nashville, 71-61. The game was never that close, but we followed our tradition of late of letting teams creep back into it after we've seized control.

We were winning by 20 points, 66-46, with five minutes remaining. For the rest of the game, we were outscored 15-5, surrendered three three-pointers, turned the ball over twice (Taylor and Ogilvy) and were 1-2 from the charity stripe (Goulbourne).

But hey, we've won three in a row and have really gotten back on track after falling to 1-5 in the conference. And last week's win over Auburn looks even better after the Tigers hit a shot with seconds left today to beat Tennessee by one point.

We were better from the line today, but we only got there 12 times, hitting eight. A.J. had 17 points and nine rebounds, Jeffery Taylor had 14 and Brad Tinsley had 12. After lighting it up the last couple of games, Jermaine Beal took a break with eight points. Freshman Lance Goulbourne had 11 points in 12 minutes, including another monster dunk.

With George Drake coming off injury, freshman Steve Tchiengang started and chipped in five points and seven rebounds. He's an extremely long, athletic fellow who's a threat from inside and outside. That makes four freshmen who made big-time contributions today. Oh yeah, Festus is a freshman too. So make it five.

So we're 15-8 and 4-5 in the SEC. The Vols are up next in Knoxville.

If you can believe it, there's only seven games left in the regular season. And unfortunately for us, four of those are on the road (Knoxville, Gainesville, Athens, Baton Rouge).

OK, Athens doesn't strike fear in the heart of man, but the other three might.

Speaking of fear, after Thursday's victory in Nashville over Bama, Coach Stallings was scratching his head over his players' bout with nerves early in games at Memorial. It's supposed to be home court ADVANTAGE, guys. Hopefully they got over that today.

Like everybody's saying, this team is a work in progress, and lately it's been fun to watch.

That's all for now. Have a good Saturday evening.