Louisiana’s lone men’s basketball program in this year’s NCAA Tournament went one-and-done Thursday, but not without a respectable fight.
No. 12 McNeese State (28-6) led No. 5 Vanderbilt (27-8) much of the first half of their South Region opener in Oklahoma City and were within a single possession well into the second half.
But the Commodores rode an 8-2 run to a lead at the midway mark and had just enough, led by sophomore floor general Tyler Tanner, to cling to that edge the rest of the way and pull away late, 78-68.
“Kind of the last four minutes, it’s a three-point game, and they made the plays that we just weren’t able,” McNeese State coach Bill Armstrong said. “But so proud of these guys and their effort all year long. They handled adversity all year long for us to go to 28-6. We came in here wanting to represent McNeese University and represent the Southland Conference, and I think that we did that today.”
The Commodores carried their momentum into a 7-0 start to the second half, but McNeese State swung right back with seven straight of its own and into a back-and-forth stretch for the next several minutes.
Three free throws by senior guard D.J. Richards Jr. pulled the Cowboys within 63-60 with 6:33 remaining, but Vanderbilt shut them out for the next nearly six minutes and grinded its way to a decisive run of nine unanswered points, including seven straight by Tanner.
“They came out in the second half and hit those big 3’s to go up by 10, and then we called timeout and we came back out fighting and got the game all the way back to three just doing what we do and getting defensive stops,” Armstrong said. “I thought we just had that little lull there to end the half. They scored like 18 points to end the half and then start the second half. And in the end that was too much to overcome.”
Tanner played all but three minutes and scored a game-high 26 points on 7-for-16 (43.8%) shooting from the floor, 3-for-8 (37.5%) from deep and 9-for-10 (90.0%) from the foul line. The Commodores’ sophomore point guard also filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists and a steal.
“We just wanted to come out with energy,” he told the postgame television broadcast. “We had a long halftime where we could recoup a little bit and get our energy back and get our legs under us, and that’s what we did.”
Said Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington: “He’s special, but not just the basketball player. Everything about him’s special. He’s elite in every way.”
Four different McNeese State players scored in double figures, and Richards added nine critical bench points with 2-for-4 shooting from deep, 3-for-3 from the foul line, four rebounds and two steals.
Junior guard Garwey Dual led the way with an efficient 16 points on 7-for-13 (53.8%) shooting, six assists, three rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.
Freshman phenom Larry Johnson had 15 points and five rebounds, and junior guard Tyshawn Archie finished with 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Senior guard Javohn Garcia chipped in 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
And senior forward Jerrell Colbert, who began his college career at LSU in 2021, highlighted the Cowboys’ defense with six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.
McNeese State turned the ball over just six times, hit all nine of its free throws and largely battled Vanderbilt evenly on the boards and from beyond the arc.
“I thought we were able to get our game plan into the game for the most part,” Armstrong said. “Turned them over 13 times, which they don’t do much. Won the turnover margin by seven. I thought that gave us a chance to win. And we fought on the boards — with an SEC team, only getting out-rebounded by three, we were right there. We shoot 18 more shots than they did. We just didn’t finish as many plays down the stretch. I thought Tyler Tanner made some really hard ones at the end of the shot clock off the dribble.”
The Commodores were able to get into the lane for high-percentage shot and free-throw opportunities — finishing with 18 fewer field-goal attempts, but making 26-of-51 (51.0%) and cashing in 17 of its 20 foul shots (85.0%).
Graduate student Duke Miles, who scored the first two points of the 9-0 run late, also joined Tanner in double-figures with 13 points, three assists, two steals and a rebound.
And seniors Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel had eight points each, plus eight rebounds and a block by McGlockton and three rebounds and two assists by Nickel.
Graduate student A.K. Okereke scored seven points, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, dished out four assists and blocked a shot.
“We got off to a bad start — we were moving slow, and we weren’t ourselves,” Byington said. “I think we had an SEC Tournament hangover a little bit, but we found our groove. We played better the last 25 minutes.”