Vanderbilt 93, South Carolina 81: A big, satisfying win

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports Four Factors

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?

Vanderbilt got its first SEC win of the season and it was never really in doubt except to Vanderbilt fans, who have seen the flipside to this story play out too many times. South Carolina hit a couple of early threes to take a 6-3 lead, then Vanderbilt went on a 20-2 run to build a 23-8 lead. The rout wasn’t quite on just yet: Jerry Stackhouse took Dylan Disu and Scotty Pippen Jr. out of the game, and the Gamecocks would come back to cut the lead to 33-29. But Vanderbilt would extend the lead out to 52-37 at the half, and the 12-point final margin was actually the closest South Carolina got in the second…