Tyler Nickel scored a career-high 30 points for No. 15 Vanderbilt (10-0) in an 83-72 victory over Central Arkansas in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday evening.

Nickel hit eight 3-pointers and was 10-of-18 shooting from the floor.

Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner had 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, while Jalen Washington scored 12.

Camren Hunter (18 points), Ty Robinson (14) and Javion Guy-King (13) paced the Bears (4-7).

The Commodores (10-0) are off to their best start since 2007-08. They’ve topped the 80-point mark in every game.

However, Vanderbilt was rusty Saturday, coming off a 10-day layoff for final exams. It shot just 42.5% from the floor and 28.8% from three after entering with season averages of 52.7% and 38.8%.

The Bears, heavy underdogs, cut the lead to 75-62 on Cole McCormick’s 3-pointer with 4:04 left.

The lead stayed at 12, but Nickel hit his eighth three of the night from the right corner with 2:13 left off a Washington assist.

The Bears then cut the lead to 79-69 — the closest they got in the second half — but Nickel canned a pair of free throws with 58 seconds left.

The Commodores took control early, never trailing and taking their first double-figure lead just 5:29 into the game.

An 8-0 run early in the first half ended with Tanner’s fastbreak dunk with 17:54 left in the game to make the lead 55-34.

Nickel scored all of Vanderbilt’s points as it built a 14-6 lead in the game’s first 5:00, the last points coming on Nickel’s fourth 3-pointer in that span.

Nickel had 19 points by the half, and the Commodores had a 47-31 advantage with a 14-4 edge in fastbreak points.

–Field Level Media