March is here. Madness has ensued.
After taking down 12-seed McNeese in the Round of 64, Vanderbilt found itself on a date with 4-seed Nebraska for a chance to reach its first Sweet Sixteen since 2007. Nebraska’s fans did not disappoint, but Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington and his players were expecting the immense pressure.
Mark Byington on Vanderbilt’s upcoming game against Nebraska:
“I think it’s neutral by name only. This is going to be a road game.”
Nebraska’s crowd for yesterday’s game against Troy: pic.twitter.com/xrJUUnszBW
— Tristan Rutman (@tristanrutman1) March 20, 2026
Pressure in the atmosphere is one thing; a Nebraska crowd is another. The ’Dores fell short of their own standards, as they weren’t able to overcome the environmental stressors and fell narrowly to the ’Huskers, 74-72.
In the first half, Nebraska shot 60% from the field and from beyond the arc, taking a 39-32 lead after 20 minutes of play. It seemed like this would persist throughout the entire game; however, Vanderbilt took advantage of its vaunted “regression to the mean” and clawed its way back to take the lead at the 8:22 mark in the second half. From that point on, the game was absolute cinema, as each team went back and forth knocking down shots.
Eventually, Nebraska took a two-point lead with 2.2 seconds remaining, leaving the ’Dores with one final chance to emerge victorious. With the ball in Tyler Tanner’s hands, Vanderbilt had a single shot to pull off the comeback. The star sophomore guard pulled up from just beyond, and…
This close…. 🤏#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/lEtY7T1WX1
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2026
“It hurts pretty bad being that close, especially [in such a] hard-fought game,” Tanner. “It was electric the whole time through. It hurts that the season is over.”
Nebraska was significantly more efficient in this one, shooting 55.8% from the field to Vanderbilt’s mere 41.4% from the field and 35.1% from beyond the arc. It’s a tall task to defeat a team that’s that much more productive, particularly when you’re fighting back from a first-half deficit.
Let’s take a look at some of the takeaways from the game and why Byington’s squad wasn’t quite able to mount a comeback in this one.
Caught in the storm
The game certainly lived up to its expectations of a road game for the Commodores. As soon as the Cornhuskers stepped foot on the court during pregame warmups, the Nebraska fanbase was as loud as ever. Conversely, the Black and Gold didn’t receive much of an ovation and were met by a cacaphony of boos.
This trend persisted for the entirety of the 40-minute game. During Friday’s press conference, Jalen Washington was asked what Vanderbilt would need to do to pull off the win.
“Staying together, staying connected, weathering the storm, and just knowing that it’s a long game,” Washington said. “We try to think about the game in four-minute increments, so we just try to stay together and win those little segments of the game.”
Unfortunately for the ’Dores, there was no such thing as “weathering the storm” in this one. Instead, they got caught in a sea of Big Red and couldn’t fulfill their role as the villains. While there were some glimmers of hope late in the second half, Vanderbilt couldn’t finish off its comeback effort.
Jordan and Pippen
Widely heralded as the greatest duo of all time, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen anchored the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships during the 1990s.
Tanner and Tyler Nickel may not be regarded quite as highly as this iconic duo, but they sure looked the part against Nebraska.
It was a one-man show in the first half, as Tanner finished with 15 of Vanderbilt’s 32 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field. He added three steals in the first 20 minutes of the game, too.
Nickel stepped into the spotlight after the break, pouring on four 3-pointers after going just 1-for-5 from beyond the arc before halftime. Tanner’s heroics continued to be on display in the second half, as he contributed another 12 points and played 19 of a possible 20 minutes despite appearing to injure his knee early on.
It’s likely that both Tanner and Nickel will be off the team next season — the former is a projected first-round NBA draft pick and the latter is out of NCAA eligibility. But what they’ve done for this program will not go unnoticed, and it was the farewell game of a lifetime against Nebraska.
Couldn’t finish the job
In the press conference leading up to the game, Duke Miles was asked what attracted him to Vanderbilt and why he committed to play under Byington.
“I saw the guys coming in, [with a] freshman like Chandler Bing, and [Washington], AK Okereke and the other guys,” Miles said. “Watching Tanner step up and Nickel — just shout out to the whole team. Just watching, I knew that we were going to make a deep run. The job is not done yet. We still have more to go.”
Unfortunately for Miles and his teammates, the road ends here. Maybe the job wasn’t done yet. Maybe they truly did still have more to go. But regardless of the aspirations of this team, the season has reached its finale.
The page now turns to how Byington will utilize the transfer portal to rebuild a roster that will likely lose a majority of its players. This won’t be an easy feat, but Byington has shown over the past two seasons that he can find guys to fit his system and play good basketball. The truth remains that this year’s team was special, though.
“This team is going to be remembered for a long time in Nashville and Vanderbilt for the things they’ve done. It’s an incredible team,” Byington said. “You can see why I’m so proud and why I love them so much. They care about each other. They care about winning. They care about the right things. They did not want it to end. They love each other. That’s not in every locker room. I’m really going to miss this group. I’m really, really going to miss this group.”
Byington will have to reconstruct the Commodores into another group that he can be proud of and that he can love. Until the NCAA transfer portal opens on April 7, 2026, he will be cherishing every moment he has left with this year’s squad.
