Inside Vanderbilt Basketball's Celebration of Round of 64 Win Over McNeese – Sports Illustrated

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OKLAHOMA CITY—As the media entered Vanderbilt’s locker room in the back tunnel of PayCom Arena and two Vanderbilt players followed Mark Byington outside of the locker room to the press conference, they took a moment to embrace what they’d just done. 
There was Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner–fresh off of a 26-point performance that will be part of his Vanderbilt legacy forever–raising his right arm up to put it around Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton. The pair walked a few steps in the tunnel as if they were riding into the sunset together after Vanderbilt’s Round of 64 win over McNeese. 
If a photo were captured of the interaction, it could be on the walls of Vanderbilt’s Huber Center for years. It was two players that will go down as fixtures of this program’s reinvention sharing a moment that indicated that this program had to reflect on a win like this. 
This was Vanderbilt’s first win in the NCAA Tournament since the 2011-12 season and it knew it. Tanner and McGlockton weren’t thinking about that as much as they were embracing the reality that they get to spend at least one more game as teammates. 
Who knows what the future holds for Tanner–who will get a king’s ransom from Vanderbilt if he opts to stay, but is all over early NBA Draft boards–but it’s a guarantee that McGlockton–whose eligibility clock expires at the end of this season–is done for good at this level. 
“I don’t ever want to not be on his team anymore,” Tanner told Vandy on SI when he returned to the locker room. “That’s my guy. The past two years with him have been so special and so fun. I told him today ‘we can't lose 'cause I don't want this to be over’ and that's genuine.”
Instead of saying their profound goodbyes in the locker room at Memorial Gymnasium, Tanner and McGlockton boarded the bus together on Thursday and will embark on Nebraska prep for the next 48 hours or so. They’ll do media together. They’ll practice together on Friday. For a few more days, this will be normal for them. 
Vanderbilt’s group of seniors is well aware that this is their final stretch and chance at glory. McGlockton says that’s been on his mind. Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles–who was absent from its locker room postgame after showing Tanner his hand on the way off the floor has, too. 
The prognosis on Miles has yet to be delivered. The Vanderbilt guard was one of its last two players on the floor after the win. He and Tanner embraced as they walked off the floor and high-fived a number of Vanderbilt fans. The rest of Vanderbilt’s roster exited the floor in the moments following the handshake line, but Tanner and Miles were too crucial to this team moving on to be let off the floor without fulfilling media obligations. 
Tanner, notably, appeared on the national broadcast alongside Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington following the game. As Byington finished his interview and sideline reporter Andy Katz transitioned over to Tanner, Byington put his arm around Tanner. 
Back in the locker room, Vanderbilt big man Jayden Leverett was in the midst of Vanderbilt’s name on a cardboard sign while Tanner walked in. Leverett didn’t appear in Vanderbilt’s Thursday win, but immortalized it with the action. When he turned towards the team, Vanderbilt big man Jalen Washington grabbed his hand and initiated the freshman into the celebration as if he were granting his approval. 
The celebration was spirited, but Washington was one of a number of Vanderbilt players to make sure that it wasn’t too extravagant. 
“The biggest thing, we all got the same common goal and make it as far as we can, win the national championship,” Washington told Vandy on SI. 
”We just want to stay together and control what we can control. This is our first time  being in this environment and I'm just proud of how we stuck it out and stayed together in one.”
Vanderbilt’s locker room opened shortly thereafter and while it didn’t include much of a celebration, the effects of this moment and stage were clearly present. Along the back wall of the room were Vanderbilt walk-ons Coleson Messer and Miles Keeffe asking reporters about other NCAA Tournament outcomes, High Point taking down Wisconsin was perhaps the most notable to them.
The most surprising outcome to just about everyone in the room was Siena having a big lead on Duke before blowing it in the final seconds, that was particularly jarring to Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel–who was once a part of the North Carolina vs. Duke rivalry. 
Down the line, Vanderbilt big man Mason Nicholson–who will miss the entirety of the rest of the season–kept it light as he asked Devin McGlockton a question that wasn’t safe for print as McGlockton answered questions regarding Vanderbilt’s win over McNeese. 
The consensus in Vanderbilt’s locker room was that the biggest thing it demonstrated on Saturday was resilience as it grinded out a win after trailing by 11 early in Saturday’s game. Perhaps it was tense at times throughout the afternoon, but it was far from it as this group was together for what may be one of its final dances together. 
That indicates that it’s proud of what it’s done. 
“They were excited to play,” Byington said. “We just didn't have the normal bursts we did. What I really like is I don't think we had our best game, but the guys just figured out a way. They toughed it out.”
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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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