Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball took a trip east to Knoxville this weekend and, for more than half of the game, looked poised to hand No. 5 Tennessee its second home loss of the year. For all of Vanderbilt’s road woes going into the game — namely a 1-4 record away from home — the team looked completely at home in hostile, Volunteer territory in the first half.
“It was a heck of a game,” Byington said. “We had our opportunities there in the second half [to] make the play, make the stop, make the shot, make the free throw, and we didn’t. And they did.”
Vanderbilt had it going during extended parts of this game and shot the ball brilliantly, but a combination of foul trouble and size deficits doomed it: Tennessee shot 80% at the rim and rode a 50-point second half to an 81-76 victory.
Let’s talk about it.
Halves on the road
The Commodores shot an impressive 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the opening frame and saw their lead balloon to 16 points on multiple occasions. Jaylen Carey poured in 10 points, 6 rebounds (3 offensive) and 3 assists in the first frame but struggled in the second half. He ended with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. He played an excellent game for Vanderbilt but the rebounding deficiency in the second half (just 1 board) clearly made a difference in this game’s result.
“These teams are gonna come back and make adjustments. They’re going to come with fury,” Byington said. “At the same time, I think a lot of times I think it gets overexaggerated, the halftime score and things like that. We’ve got to be winning by one at the end.”
That all changed in the second half as Tennessee outscored Vanderbilt by 18 and outrebounded it by 10, erasing the 13-point lead that the ‘Dores built up going into halftime. The Volunteer faithful, kept at bay for the first half, were difference-makers in the second frame as the Commodores looked rattled and turned the ball over four times (as opposed to two in the first).
The ‘Dores got a good one
Vanderbilt played well for the majority of this game and, as poorly as Vanderbilt played in the second half, it was a one-possession game in the final minute against a top-5 team on the road. Just as encouraging as the close loss was, though, is Byington’s mentality and willingness to be honest with the media after a five-year stretch of Vanderbilt’s last head coach, Jerry Stackhouse, dodging questions — and accountability — whenever he could.
“We’re a good basketball team. You’ve got to be really, really good to beat a team like Tennessee in this building and we’re not there yet,” Byington said.
Byington is a class act and has coached this team to its absolute best performances at effectively every juncture of this season — except for Oklahoma.
How much more complementary of Byington can one get? I’m not sure there’s a limit; he’s been that good. The first-year head coach out of James Madison has already beaten Tennessee once through just 25 career games at Vanderbilt and almost did it again today in enemy territory. Stackhouse only beat his rivals to the east just once in 162 games with the Black and Gold. Bryce Drew, Stackhouse’s predecessor, went 1-5 against the Volunteers in 99 games at the helm of Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball.
“I think they’re right there,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “They’re an NCAA Tournament team.
As rumors swirl about Indiana and Virginia’s interest in Byington — one of the hottest coaches in college basketball right now — fans should take a moment to appreciate how good he has been. Stackhouse and Drew had nice moments here and there and were often brilliant on the recruiting trail, but neither sustained success like has.
The ‘Dores got a really, really good one in him.
Three is so much more than two
It’s crazy what a difference 3-point shooting can make. Vanderbilt has, for what it’s worth, hung around in (and even won a few) games despite lackluster 3-point shooting numbers, but it often felt like the Commodores were just scraping by with no consistent offense.
This game was nothing like that. Byington’s group produced arguably their best shooting performance of the year, going 12-for-27 from downtown. Even when Vanderbilt seemingly couldn’t find anything on offense and Tennessee went on a run and cut the lead to single digits, Tyler Nickel hit two dynamic triples to keep his team afloat. As Tennessee pulled away at the end, Jason Edwards came alive and hit a pair of hard-fought 3-pointers to give his team a chance.
Vanderbilt is a completely different team — one capable of playing against anyone in the country — when it knocks down shots from deep the way it did this game.
Just as the 3-pointer gives, though, it can take away. Vanderbilt’s second-half meltdown came largely as a result of Zakai Ziegler and Tennessee’s second-half shooting from deep. His red-hot shooting gave way to better looks from inside the paint and Byington’s defense had no answers for it.
This game was certainly encouraging for Vanderbilt — Nickel, Jason Edwards and the rest of its shooters proved they are truly capable of playing up to their potential from downtown. It might not have led to the win that the team hoped for, but the signs were encouraging nonetheless.
Glass crashed
I’ve given Devin McGlockton and Carey a ton of credit all season for their work in filling in for the injured Kijani Wright — Vanderbilt’s only true “five” — who is suffering from a season-long non-basketball injury. They’ve often held their own against bigger and better players, but Saturday’s first half wasn’t just them holding their own: They controlled the glass.
The Commodores controlled the boards in the first 20 minutes, outrebounding Tennessee 21-10 while nabbing 5 offensive rebounds on top.
The second half saw a significant dip — Tennessee outrebounded Vanderbilt by 10 in the game’s final frame. Still, Vanderbilt’s ability to crash the offensive glass (7 offensive rebounds) is a testament to the team’s high-motor and ball-tracking abilities. Even when the Commodores are undersized at all five positions on the floor, they’ll have a chance in the rebounding fight thanks to their abilities on the offensive glass. The only thing left for them to work on, of course, is the foul issues.
“We need him on the court,” Byington said of Carey. “When somebody has positive emotion or energy, I want to keep that.”
Both players fouled out in the final minutes of the game and Vanderbilt really missed their size and aggressiveness down low as Ziegler and Lanier iced the game from inside.
Vanderbilt will look to end its five-game road losing streak when it plays No. 15 Kentucky in Rupp Arena at 6:00 p.m. CST on Feb. 19.
