When it comes to John Jenkins, Vanderbilt teammate Festus Ezeli usually doesn't mind waiting.
Jenkins, the SEC’s leading scorer who is the top contender for conference’s player of the year honors, didn’t have a point in the first 26 minutes of the Commodores’ game at Georgia, and this made the ever-patient Ezeli a little uneasy.
Jenkins then scored 21 in the final 14 minutes, hitting five 3-pointers, to help Vanderbilt rally from a 14-point deficit to defeat the Bulldogs 64-56 on Wednesday night.
“Jenkins is a great player and works hard on every play,” Ezeli said. “I never get mad at him if he doesn’t make shots. At one point I was like, ‘All right, John, it's time to go score.’ And then he had 21 in the second half. Crazy.”
Jenkins has been supplying lots of points all season. He's reached double figures in all 25 games and has 15 games with at least 20 points, including his career-high, 32-point performance in a victory over Kentucky on Saturday.
He leads the SEC with 19.8 points per game and is second in free-throw shooting (89 percent), and is seventh in 3-point shooting (42.1 percent) but he leads the SEC with 3.1 3-pointers per game.
Jenkins, a sophomore who averaged 11 points a game in his first season, was made clutch shots against the Bulldogs, sinking a 3-pointer to tie the game at 55 and scoring again to give the Commodores a 57-55 lead with 2:50 left.
"We knew at some point he was going to come in and get hot," Georgia's Dustin Ware said. "He's a great shooter. You're never going to shut him down completely."
On a roll
- Virginia Tech's Jeff Allen has had a double-double in each of his past six games and is two blocks from becoming the first player in ACC history to have 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 steals and 150 blocks in a career. He has 1,579 points, 1,026 rebounds, 217 steals and 148 blocked shots.
- Duke's Nolan Smith is trying to become the first player in ACC history to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season. He's averaging 21.4 points and 5.4 assists per game, and had 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the Blue Devils' 56-41 victory over Virginia on Wednesday night.
- Senior Zach Graham scored a career-high 30 points in Mississippi's 90-59 victory over Auburn on Wednesday night. He had 14 points in the first half and finished 7 of 11 from the 3-point line.
Hot shot
Wake Forest's Gary Clark is shooting 58.2 percent from 3-point range (46 of 79) this season and has made at least one 3-pointer in each of his past nine games. The school record is 51 percent, set by Ricky Peral in 1996.
Have not
South Carolina has lost four consecutive games and six of its past seven, dropping to 13-11 and 4-7 in the SEC. The Gamecocks haven’t shot higher than 41.8 percent from the floor during their streak and were dismal in the first half in a loss to Georgia on Saturday, shooting 4-for-28 (14.3 percent).
News and notes
Kentucky fans repeatedly called the cell phone of Mississippi State's Renardo Sidney before the teams played on Tuesday, perhaps repaying Bulldogs fans who called Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins before a game last year. Sidney didn't answer his phone, according to the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. … Kenny Hall (Redan) averages two points per game for Tennessee; he's played in 18 games, starting one this year. … Maryland's Jordan Williams is closing in on the ACC record for double-doubles by a sophomore. He has 20, just two behind the mark set by N.C. State's Ronnie Shavlik in 1953-54. … Boston College's Reggie Jackson has scored 31 and 27 points in his past two games, shooting 22 of 36 from the floor (61.1 percent), including 8 of 16 from behind the arc.
Cross-country hops
Providence's Marshon Brooks (Tucker) leads the Big East in scoring at 24.2 points per game, heading into Thursday night's game against DePaul. Brooks is second in Division I, behind BYU's Jimmer Fredette (27.3). Brooks averages 25.3 against Big East opponents and scored 43 in a loss to Georgetown on Feb. 5. … Several projections have 11 of the Big East's 16 teams making the NCAA tournament, which would mean that both St. John's (16-9) and Marquette (15-11), which is 6-7 in the conference after losing three of four, would make it. No conference has ever sent more than eight teams to the tournament. … George Mason, which reached the Final Four in 2006, is back; the Patriots (22-5) have won 12 straight games and have an RPI of 21. … Jonathan Inman (Tri-Cities) averages 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds for Alabama A&M. … In case you missed it, Cleveland State's Norris Cole had 41 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists in a victory over Youngstown State on Saturday, joining former Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin as the only players who've had at least 40 points and 20 rebounds in a game over the past 15 years. Griffin had 40 points and 23 rebounds in 2009. … Augusta State men's coach Dip Metress earned his 300th victory when the Jaguars defeated Montevallo on Saturday. He is 301-143 at Belmont Abbey and Augusta State, the latter currently at 23-3 this season and 11th in this week's Division II poll. … Georgia Southwestern (17-6) is ranked 22nd in Division II.
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