Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse Named Co-SEC Coach Of The Year & Liam Robbins Named Defensive Player Of The Year

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Top: Jerry Stackhouse. Bottom: Liam Robbins. Photos: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

Vanderbilt men’s basketball finished their stellar regular season with Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse claiming the title of Co-SEC Coach of the Year and student-athlete Liam Robbins securing SEC Defensive Player of the Year, All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Defensive Team.

Stackhouse is Vandy’s first men’s basketball SEC Coach of the Year since 2010, and Robbins is the program’s first-ever SEC Defensive Player of the Year winner as well as the first Commodore to earn a spot on the All-SEC Defensive Team since Luke Kornet in 2017. This marks the 20th season of the Defensive Player of the Year honor, which was first issued in 2004.

The awards are voted on by the conference’s head coaches. Stackhouse tied with No. 18 Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams for Coach of the Year. This is the 11th time in program history a Vandy coach has earned the award with Stackhouse joining the likes of Roy Skinner, Wayne Dobbs, C.M. Newton, Eddie Fogler and Kevin Stallings.

The Dores were selected 12th in the SEC Preseason Poll and tied for the fourth-best record in conference play at 11-7. Vandy’s 18 regular season wins are the most for the program since winning 19 in 2015-2016.

Stackhouse led the Commodores to three wins over ranked opponents—No. 6 Tennessee, No. 15 Arkansas and No. 23 Kentucky—and a total of nine wins over Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams in the NCAA’s NET rankings.

Robbins was a dominant force throughout the season, leading the Dores in points (15), rebounds (6.8) and blocks (3.2) per game. The seven-foot graduate student currently ranks third in Division 1 with 3.15 blocks per game and fifth with 82 total blocks. He scored in double figures in 20 of 26 games played this season including a career-high 32 points in a road win at Florida.

Steven Boero
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