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OXFORD, MS—There he was, a man possessed letting out a yell in the direction of the Vanderbilt bench after his latest work of art as if to demonstrate his cognizance of its beauty. The visual sounds dramatic, but Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner had a flair for that on Tuesday night in Oxford.
With no regard for the buzzer or any potential repercussions, Tyler Tanner broke away from Ole Miss guard Ilias Kamardine and went up off one foot before hanging on the rim for a second, swinging off of it and landing before being swarmed by his Vanderbilt teammates.
Tanner slapped hands and bumped chests with AK Okereke, did the same with Duke Miles and bumped Devin McGlockton before taking a pause from the group embrace. Tanner faded out to his right and waved goodbye to the small contingent of Ole Miss fans still on hand. He had an audible reaction to the moment to back up his gesture, too.
“Bye bye,” Tanner said to the crowd.
Tyler Tanner:
“Bye bye.” pic.twitter.com/Zp9k68sckW
The act was uncharacteristic of the generally warmhearted and gentle Vanderbilt guard, but if anyone in the building at The Pavillion in Oxford was warranted in their effusive nature it was Tanner.
If Tanner was anything less than excellent on Tuesday night and if he delivered anything but a signature performance, who knows where this all would've been heading. The likely answer is a Wednesday-night game in the SEC Tournament and a potential drop in NCAA Tournament seed line for this Vanderbilt team.
Tanner wasn’t having any of that, though.
Instead, the Vanderbilt guard played the role of hero on Tuesday night as he went for 34 points on 11-for-19 shooting while throwing seven assists and recording five steals. It wasn’t as if Tanner was forcing the issue all that often, but he didn’t have to in order to be the best player on the floor in Oxford on Tuesday night.
The moment in which Tanner swung on the rim and celebrated was emblematic of what he’d just done, but he wouldn’t have had the luxury of gliding through the air had he not pulled an assortment of heroics throughout the afternoon.
The moment in though, wasn’t his most dramatic. Vanderbilt needed Tanner to don his superhero cape as it sat up two on Ole Miss in overtime and as he pounded it towards the middle of the lane, changed directions and bumped Ole Miss guard Patton Pinkins. Spoiler alert to this superhero movie; Tanner did.
“He was absolutely terrific,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said of Tanner postgame. “He's starting to put a lot of them together, so he's having an unbelievable year and a special year, and he's such a good person. You love when good things happen for good people, and there's nobody better than him.”
Byington says that he’d have to think back on Tanner’s best performances as a Vanderbilt player, but that this one has its own place in Tanner’s special season. The Vanderbilt point guard is averaging 18.5 points per game on 48.4% shooting from the field and has eclipsed the 30-point mark twice this season.
Tuesday didn’t appear to be that type of day for Tanner initially as a result of his two missed free throws early, but he clicked it into gear for a dominant performance in 44 minutes of work. Perhaps that minute count is jarring, but it shouldn’t be considering Tanner’s body of work.
“My body's ready for it,” Tanner told Vandy on SI a few weeks ago in regard to the idea of playing heavy minutes. “Endurance wise, I can play 40 minutes or 50 minutes. Whatever they need me to do, I can do just because I think I'm in the best shape of my life right now with playing all these minutes and in the SEC and everything. Duke being hurt is not a good thing but, I like having more responsibility and being able to really get my team to a win. That pressure kind of helps me to perform to a higher level and hold myself more accountable.”
Tanner needed to be as sharp and accountable as anyone on Vanderbilt’s roster on Tuesday night in Oxford, and he was.
As a result, this Vanderbilt team stole one on the road on the back of its star. This Vanderbilt team has a player that can get you out of a building. That’s a luxury that not everyone has.
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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, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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