ST. LOUIS - Yante Maten was a lightly used freshman during the 2014-15 season, which was the last time Georgia reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
The senior knows the odds are against the Bulldogs returning to the Big Dance this season, but he wasn't about to let them go down without at least one last push at the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Vanderbilt's Jeff Roberson (11) heads to the basket as Georgia's Yante Maten (1) defends during the first half in an NCAA college basketball game at the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Vanderbilt's Djery Baptiste, left, and Georgia's Mike Edwards, right, reach for a loose ball during the first half in an NCAA college basketball game at the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)Maten scored 25 points to lead 12th-seeded Georgia to a 78-62 win over Vanderbilt in the opening round Wednesday night. The 6-foot-8 forward did so on 9-of-12 shooting, showing why he was named The Associated Press SEC player of the year - and helping to set up a second-round matchup with No. 5 seed Missouri (20-11) today in the process.
"He was the AP player of the year in our league for a reason, because he's really good down on the block and on the outside," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "He pretty much scored any way you can score the basketball."
Maten has scored in double figures in all but one game this season for Georgia (17-14), which led throughout against the Commodores (12-20). The SEC's leading scorer started his latest scoring outburst with a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and he also added a pair of blocks in 29 minutes of action.
It was a far cry from his 8-of-18 shooting performance in an 81-66 loss to Vanderbilt on Feb. 7 in Nashville.
Teshaun Hightower added a career-high 13 points off the bench for the Bulldogs, and Rayshaun Hammonds had 10 in the win. It was Maten, however, who set the tone from the outset and helped Georgia open the game on a 10-0 run.
"At the end of the day, I only go as far as my team goes we're a collective unit," Maten said. "We're just trying to play our best basketball, and I was trying to make my reads and so was my team. We came out with the win because of it."
The Bulldogs went on to lead by 25 points in the first half before settling for a 43-22 halftime edge. They were never threatened after that in the second half while winning for only the second time in eight tournament games against Vanderbilt.
Riley LaChance scored 17 points to lead the 13th-seeded Commodores, who shot 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) in the first half. Jeff Roberson added 16 points in the loss, and Saben Lee also finished in double figures with 12. The Commodores made just six of their first 24 shots (25 percent) and never led.
The early exit put an end to what's been a difficult season a year after Vanderbilt reached the NCAA tournament in coach Bryce Drew's first campaign.
"We're obviously really excited about the future with the recruiting class we have coming in," Drew said. "I'm glad that our names are on the back of our jerseys, because next year our fans are going to have a whole group of different names they're going to be looking at and learning who they are."
Vanderbilt started the season 3-7 and will become the first Drew-coached team to miss the postseason in his seven seasons as a head coach, including five at Valparaiso. Drew has reached the NCAA tournament three times along with two trips each to the NIT and CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The Bulldogs had the look of an NCAA tourney team after starting the season 9-2, a stretch that ended with back-to-back wins over Georgia Tech and Temple. They struggled to a 7-12 record after that, however, and entered Wednesday 81st in the NCAA's Rating Percentage Index - meaning they likely need to win the SEC tourney to have any hope of reaching Fox's third NCAA tournament in nine seasons at Georgia.