Vanderbilt 81, Mississippi State 80: Finally, a win in a close game

If there’s a frustrating aspect to this basketball season, it’s this. Vanderbilt ranks 1st in the SEC (and 14th nationally) in opposing three-point attempts — meaning, in conference play, opposing teams have attempted fewer threes against Vanderbilt in proportion to overall field goal attempts — and rank 14th in the SEC in opponents’ three-point percentage. Inasmuch as opponents are shooting 43.6 percent from bonus-land in SEC play, and 36.5 percent on the season -- well, this isn’t easily explainable except as a run of horrendous luck.

Particularly since Vanderbilt has been quite good at preventing three-point attempts. Ken Pomeroy’s data has suggested that defenses don’t actually have that…