Sometimes, growth curves aren’t linear.
As a freshman, Riley LaChance scored 429 points. To put that number in context, that’s more than Shan Foster — Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer — had as a freshman. But LaChance’s sophomore year is still a mystery. His shooting percentage dropped like a ro k, largely because he went from converting a solid 49.4 percent of twos as a freshman to an awful 34.0 percent as a sophomore. Riley’s confidence was shaken to the point that in the closing seconds of a loss to Mississippi State — which we’ll all remember as the beginning of the end of the Kevin Stallings era — Bulldogs coach Ben Howland elected to intentionally foul LaChance with Vanderbilt holding a two-point lead.