Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball welcomed Lipscomb to Memorial Gymnasium to kick off its 2025-26 season. The Commodores dominated all evening, taking down the Bisons 105-61 to begin the season 1-0. Duke Miles, Tyler Nickel, AK Okereke, Tyler Tanner and Devin McGlockton earned the start for Vanderbilt in this cross-town matchup.
Vanderbilt shot 55% from deep and 56% from the field, marking an extremely efficient night for head coach Mark Byington’s squad. Nickel led the team in scoring with 20, but Vanderbilt had five different scorers hit double digits.
“This is a great step one,” Byington said postgame. “We were excited to play [and] I was excited to coach. We wanted to see what we could do in a game that mattered. We got off to a great start and our defensive intensity changed the game and we kept applying pressure. [I’m] really proud of how unselfish we played.”
First half
The Commodores quickly drew first blood after Lipscomb won the tip. Tanner picked up an incredible block on the defensive end before Nickel hit a 3-pointer to go up 3-0. Multiple empty possessions for Lipscomb gave way to more scoring from Vanderbilt, as Miles hit an easy bucket around the rim and Nickel connected from beyond the arc once again to bring the Commodores’ lead to 8-0. Lipscomb’s Ross Candelino finally got the Bisons on the board with a corner 3-pointer, but Vanderbilt’s Tyler Harris got one back on the opposite end with a 3-pointer of his own to bring the score to 15-3 as the first media timeout arrived at 14:45.
Harris had a big dunk out of the break before Candelino and Tanner exchanged deep balls at the 11:57 mark to give Vanderbilt the 22-8 lead. The Commodores were shooting over 50% from the field and over 60% from deep as the second media timeout stopped the clock. Lipscomb’s Cole Middleton knocked in two free throws out of the break before McGlockton found an easy bucket around the rim to extend Vanderbilt’s lead to 24-10 with 10:46 to go in the half.
Vanderbilt’s Frankie Collins then registered back-to-back steals as he intercepted two of the Bisons’ passes to bring them back the other way. McGlockton and Nickel were able to finish around the rim, pushing Vanderbilt’s lead up to 31-12. Lipscomb’s Kennedy Okpara put in a bucket for the Bisons, but Tanner made a 3-pointer on the other end of the court. The sophomore followed it up with another steal and slam to end a fantastic set of plays with 7:03 remaining in the half.
The Commodores stayed hot from beyond the arc, knocking in three more — from Okereke, Harris and Nickel — to go up 54-22 as the final media timeout of half arrived at the 2:02 mark. Lipscomb’s Titas Sargiunas made a second chance layup in the paint before Candelino followed it with a jumper of his own. It wasn’t nearly enough to mount a comeback, though, as Vanderbilt closed out the half with a layup by Collins to take the 56-26 lead as the buzzer sounded.
The Commodores finished the first 20 minutes of the game shooting 53% from the field and 47% from deep. Harris led all the scoring with 15 points with Nickel close behind him with 14.
Second half
Lipscomb got things started in the second period with a missed 3-pointer from Esmeraldo. Miles quickly connected from deep while McGlockton and Tanner hit back-to-back buckets around the rim. Okereke then splashed one from beyond the arc to give Vanderbilt the 40-point lead at 68-28 with 17:00 to go in the game. Collins made a layup following a steal by Miles to take the game into the first media timeout of the half at 15:52.
Nickel and Candelino exchanged 3-pointers out of the break to bring the score to 73-31. Candelino then hit a layup, but that momentum was halted as Memorial Gym erupted as Collins threw an alley-oop for Vanderbilt big man Jalen Washington who slammed it down. Sargiunas made a layup on the other end, but Vanderbilt had its foot firmly on the gas. It had outscored Lipscomb 35-16 in the second half as the 9:00 minute mark arrived.
Miles once again hit from deep to give Vanderbilt the 84-42 lead, but Sargiunas responded on the other end with one of his own. Nickel hit another corner 3-pointer as the next media timeout came with 7:18 to go as the Commodores retained their 40-point lead.
Lipscomb’s Charlie Williams proceeded to knock in two free throws before Okereke hit on a step-back jumper out of the timeout. Byington then opted to start slowly putting in some of the backups, including freshmen Chandler Bing, Jayden Leverett and Jaylon Dean-Vines, as the final media timeout arrived at the 4:06 mark.
Dean-Vines put in an easy layup for Vanderbilt to hit the triple digit mark, as it led 100-54 with 3:16 to go. Miles Keefe and Dean-Vines hit back-to-back buckets to finish the game, as Vanderbilt took down Lipscomb 105-61.
The Commodores will be back in action against UCF on Nov. 8 with tipoff set for 3:00 p.m. CST.
