Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball Finds Out Date For Early Season Game – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt men’s basketball has its first official date set for one of its games for next season.
Per a Twitter/X post by the program’s social media account, Vanderbilt will host UCF in Memorial Gymnasium on Nov. 20. A specific time for the game has yet to be set.
The Commodores’ game against the Knights next season will be the back half to finish the home-and-home series between the two programs. Last season, Vanderbilt went to Orlando and beat UCF 105-93 on Nov. 8, 2025 in its second game of last season.
Last season’s win turned out to be a notable one as UCF pulled off notable wins against some of the best teams in the Big 12. The Knights beat ranked Kansas and Texas Tech teams at home and beat a ranked BYU team on the road. UCF earned a No. 10 seed and made it to the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament.
This upcoming season, Vanderbilt will look to sweep the home-and-home series over UCF. If UCF has another solid season in the BIg 12, it could turn out to be one of the bigger games in Vanderbilt’s nonconference slate.
In next season’s matchup, Vanderbilt will have a roster that is much different looking. The Commodores lost key guys such as guard Duke Miles, its premier wing player and sharpshooter Tyler Nickel and big guys Jalen Washington and Devin McGlockton.
But Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington did plenty of work through the transfer portal by addressing the needs of his roster. Vanderbilt added a true center with former Colorado Buffalo Bangot Dak and another big man with former Nebraska Cornhusker Berke Buyuktuncel. Additionally, Vanderbilt added Washington State shooting guard Ace Glass and Missouri guard T.O Barrett.
The biggest question that still looms over how Vanderbilt’s roster will look when it plays UCF in November is the decision of Tyler Tanner. Tanner was the clear star of Vanderbilt last season as he led the Commodores to the Round of 32 and an appearance in the SEC Championship Game. Tanner has until May 27 to decide whether he will stay in the NBA Draft or come back to Vanderbilt.
UCF is the first game of the 2026-2027 season that has been in stone on Vanderbilt’s schedule.
Vanderbilt is looking to continue to improve on last season’s result and stay on its upward trajectory Byington has the program on.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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