As Vanderbilt’s team identity begins to take shape, the Commodores may have found their center of the future — and present.
While the team had another up-and-down week with a 79-76 win over UNC-Asheville and a 93-89 overtime loss to No. 10 USC, Djery Baptiste put together the two best games of his college career.
Baptiste started the week with a 13-point, eight-rebound performance on 5-of-6 shooting in the win, then added nine points, seven rebounds and good defense against the Trojans.
He smashed his career high with 25 minutes against UNC-Asheville, only to do so again with 34 minutes against USC. He made eight of 10 free throws over the two games and registered a plus-7 plus-minus despite the Commodores’ minus-1 aggregate margin.
Baptiste’s presence as a lob threat and offensive rebounder helped Vanderbilt to score in bunches against a good USC defense despite having him on the floor with another non-shooter, Larry Austin, Jr.
Baptiste played a key role in holding USC NBA prospect Chimezie Metu to 8-for-21 shooting Sunday. He even had words for Riley LaChance and Austin late in the loss after Vanderbilt’s perimeter defenders blew the ball screen defense against USC’s Jordan McLaughlin for the umpteenth time.
It says a lot about Baptiste’s improvement that it takes three paragraphs to provide proper context for how big of a step forward these last two games represented for him.
“[Djery]’s really stepped up his play these last two games, and we’ve needed every single part of it,” LaChance said Sunday. “That’s been huge for us, and if he can continue to do that going forward, that’ll add another dimension to our team that’s gonna be hard for teams to guard and teams to keep up with.”
While Baptiste doesn’t contribute on offense in the same ways Luke Kornet did — namely, by stretching the floor — he brings some positives Kornet didn’t. His seal of Metu on LaChance’s and-1 with 47 seconds left in regulation put Vanderbilt in great position, and he’s had multiple offensive rebounds in all four games.
With Vanderbilt’s perimeter scorers along with Jeff Roberson, it doesn’t need Baptiste to average double figures. Head coach Bryce Drew only needs smart play and consistent effort.
“I think he’s played with a lot of confidence these last two games, and I think he’s building confidence from his teammates too on his aggressive play,” Drew said Sunday. “[Metu] had some great moves down the stretch, but Djery did a great job on him for the first 35 minutes.”
Of course, Baptiste still has plenty of room to grow. After committing countless offensive fouls on moving screens last year, he’s overcompensated and now often fails to make contact at all.
He’s turned the ball over on 29.9 percent of his used possessions according to Ken Pomeroy, barely an improvement over his sky-high 31.4 percent turnover rate last year. He has only two blocks in 84 minutes and had a mediocre nine defensive rebounds in his 59 minutes last week.
The difference for Baptiste, however, is that these issues are on the margins. Last year, he looked lost; a good result for him was treading water for a few minutes while Kornet got a breather.
Now that Baptiste is having a positive impact on both ends of the floor, he’s a legitimate asset for the Commodores. Even if he doesn’t score more than a couple of baskets per game himself, his size and strength should allow him to neutralize most SEC centers.
Opposing centers like Bam Adebayo, Tyler Davis, and Chris Silva were highly productive against the Commodores last year, but big men might have a tougher time this season.
Vanderbilt needs to start picking up wins at some point, but even the USC loss suggests pieces are falling into place. Baptiste’s emergence is one of those pieces, and it could eliminate the Commodores’ biggest weakness heading into this season.
While starting 2-2 isn’t optimal, credibly filling Kornet’s huge hole this early would be a big win.