Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's 84-76 Win Over Auburn – Sports Illustrated

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Not a whole lot of college basketball teams can say they’ve done what Vanderbilt basketball did on Tuesday night. Neither can a lot of the teams of this program’s past. 
Vanderbilt took down Auburn 84-76 on Tuesday night to secure its first win at Neville Arena since 2015-2016 and with it secured its second-consecutive 20-win season for the first time since 2012. 
Here’s a few takeaways from Vanderbilt’s Tuesday win. 
Vanderbilt just stole one
Vanderbilt had every reason to be counted out of this thing. The matchup wasn’t good. It didn't have Frankie Collins or Duke Miles. It was playing on the road. It ran into foul trouble. It was coming off of a demoralizing loss. 
Would you look at that, though?
Vanderbilt just went into Neville Arena and won shorthanded, though. That says something about it. Perhaps this wouldn’t have been a Vanderbilt win had this been a longer game, but it did. 
That’s a culture win. That’s the type of win that demonstrates how much character this group has and how it shows up late in games.
AK Okereke hit the dagger
Tyler Tanner drove it to the right side of the lane and kicked it to the corner to an unusually open AK Okereke. Okereke had missed his previous two attempts from 3-point range despite having some space to let them rip. 
This one was different, though. 
Okereke knocked it down in the corner to make it 75-66 with less than two minutes to play on Tuesday. That was perhaps the play of the night for Vanderbilt. 
Vanderbilt embraced the position it was in
Mark Byington said that if this Vanderbilt team is who it thinks it is, it had to find a way to respond to a demoralizing Saturday loss to Oklahoma. 
Byington says he felt that this group was ready to flush that performance throughout Vanderbilt’s short-lived Auburn prep, and he was right. The Commodores came out and blitzed Steven Pearl’s Auburn team on Tuesday night. 
It trailed for just 20 seconds, too. 
How about that for a response? 
Tyler Tanner was the difference
In a moment in which Vanderbilt’s destiny was a near certainty on this mid-second half possession, freshman guard Chandler Bing pitched it to Tyler Tanner with less than three seconds on the shot clock and all the momentum tipping towards Auburn. Declaring Vanderbilt’s possession dead wouldn’t consider its identity, though. 
It wouldn’t consider the magic that Tanner often performs in these sorts of scenarios, either. 
The Vanderbilt point guard did it Saturday as his Herculean effort got Vanderbilt in the game late after a lackluster first 36 minutes or so against Oklahoma. Why couldn’t he do it again here? The answer still doesn’t appear to be clear. 
Tanner caught Bing’s pass, ripped past Auburn guard Kevin Overton and shot down the lane before throwing up a floater that would be considered rushed and low percentage for just about anyone else. This is Tyler Tanner, though. Of course it went in. 
Of course his second one did, too. 
Evaluating Jalen Washington’s performance 
Washington had a performance that marked his highest scoring output since arriving at Vanderbilt, and Mark Byington’s team needed it. 
The Auburn coaching staff clearly didn’t believe that the North Carolina transfer could make shots consistently from 3-point range and clearly reflected that in their scouting report. Washington made Auburn pay by knocking down two shots from 3-point range while left open. Washington also found a way to score it around the bucket a few times. 
Washington finished Tuesday’s game with 22 points, five rebounds and shot 7-for-8 from the field. Byington said that Washington had an extra pep in his step on Tuesday. That step paid off. 
Devin McGlockton is playing the best basketball he’s played since last season
McGlockton has scored in double figures in four of the last six and appears to be playing his best basketball it at the right time after Vanderbilt’s improved personnel had forced him to take on less of an offensive role than he had taken previously. 
Vanderbilt needs McGlockton these days as a result of the scoring punch that it lost when Frankie Collins and Duke Miles went down, and he’s delivering. He did on Tuesday, in particular. 
McGlockton was the best player on the floor in the first half of Tuesday’s game and went for 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting by the time this was all over. The Vanderbilt big man was also its toughest player on the glass and finished the night with a team-high seven boards. 
That was a big part of an eventual big win for this Vanderbilt team.
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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