Gazing at some box scores on a Sunday afternoon.

Vanderbilt-Dartmouth should be competitive in an academic contest of some kind. But basketball? No.

For Vanderbilt, the good news is the Commodores didn’t lose to Dartmouth, one of the worst teams in the Ivy League. However, it wasn’t the same effort that they showed in a courageous loss to Memphis. They seemed to play to Dartmouth’s level. That’s not good enough.

What was good enough was their defense as Dartmouth shot only 37.7 percent overall and 22 percent on threes. Vandy’s own shooting wasn’t great again but it was good to see Tyrin Lawrence get 22 points. He got the foul line, too, making six of seven.

— For Middle Tennessee, a big problem remained unchanged in a 75-54 loss at Murray State. The Blue Raiders only made 20 of 52 shots overall and a meager 5 of 24 from three. No amount of defense can solve that problem. Plus, there were 18 turnovers.

The Raiders’ shooting problems are exemplified by guard Tre Green, who hit his first three of the season. He had missed his first 17.

Coach Nick McDevitt is relying more on freshman big man Chris Loofe, who played 24 minutes and had four points and seven rebounds. Starter Jaren Coleman-Jones played 17 minutes and had seven points and ONE rebound.

— Besides the final score in Lipscomb’s 78-75 upset of Florida State, the most surprising statistic was points in the paint where the Bisons had a 34-20 advantage over the towering Seminoles.

The Bisons’ offense spread things out and opened up a lot of opportunities on drives and cuts to the basket. Textbook type of offense coach Lennie Acuff likes.

Another thing to note was the play of freshman guard Cody Head, who matched the Seminoles in athletic ability and had 11 points.