It took Vanderbilt most of the first half before it broke away for good in its 94-81 win over visiting Jackson State in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday afternoon.
Jason Edwards scored 16 points and Tyler Nickel hit four 3-pointers en route to 15 points for the heavily favored Commodores (4-0). AJ Hoggard added 13 points.
Shannon Grant finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers (0-4), who are playing their first 13 games of the season on the road. Marcus Watson Jr. also scored 16 points, Jayme Mitchell Jr. had 15 and Dorian McMillian 13.
Vanderbilt led by 16 at halftime, pushed the lead to 23 early in the second half on consecutive treys by Nickel, and never let Jackson State get closer than 15 again until the final 19 seconds of the game.
The Commodores, who entered in the bottom four in Division I in 3-point shooting at 21.4 percent, found their antidote, as the Tigers began the day at the bottom nationally in 3-point shooting defense (50.7 percent). On Saturday, Vanderbilt hit 11 of its first 22 shots from long range before finishing at 16 of 38 (42.1 percent). The Commodores shot 52.4 percent overall.
Jackson State made just 39.7 percent of its shot, including 7 of 19 from deep.
Vanderbilt quickly built a nine-point lead in the first half, but Jackson State pulled within one thanks to an 8-0 run. The Commodores later scored 11 straight points, five from Grant Huffman, to push their lead to 12, but the Tigers whittled that deficit to four with 7:57 left in the half.
Edwards shifted the momentum back to Vanderbilt with a steal and layup, and the Commodores went on to shoot 7 of 9 from the floor to finish the half and lead 52-36 at the break.
Edwards and Hoggard scored 10 points in the half for Vanderbilt, while Watson had 11 for Jackson State.
Jaylen Carey added 11 points for Vanderbilt, and Devin McGlockton had 10 points and three blocks. The Commodores had 11 blocks as a team.
–Field Level Media
