Strange doesn’t even begin to describe this game. For 36 minutes, it felt like Oklahoma’s. The feeling that the Sooners had come into Memorial and dominated Vanderbilt was true.
While that might still be the case, the final score doesn’t reflect it at all.
The Commodores lost 92-91.
Vanderbilt was down by 19 with 3:37 left on the clock. By that point, Memorial felt bare. Fans had started making their way out of the building at the last media timeout.
There just didn’t seem like anyway that the home team was going to come back. But they almost did.
AK Okereke hit a 3-pointer, which was the start of a late push. Vanderbilt kept going.
“If we kept fighting, we’d have a chance,” Tyler Tanner said. “We ended up getting close… If we played the correct way from the start, it wouldn’t have been the same story.”
Even after chipping away, mistakes still caught the Commodores late. They turned it over when they were down by three with 24.5 seconds left, and again when they had the ball down by four with 11 seconds left.
Those costly turnovers weren’t going to help mount a possible comeback.
Vanderbilt had to play the fouling game by the end. Oklahoma led by three with 5.4 seconds left. Mike James fouled Xzayvier Brown, and the Sooner made both.
Tanner took it down the floor and drilled a 3-pointer as time expired, closing the gap to one. But there wasn’t time for anything more. That’s how this one was going to end.
For 36 minutes, Vanderbilt played badly. That’s the only way to really put it.
The final score of this game does not reflect the contents of this game. Now, there are so many what-ifs.
What if Devin McGlockton wasn’t called for a flagrant one? What if Mike James didn’t foul on a made 3-pointer? What if the hook and hold were called?
What if Tanner, who came into the game as an 86% free throw shooter, didn’t miss four total?
There are a lot of things that could have changed the outcome of this one-point loss, but at the end of the day, Vanderbilt didn’t show up for the first 36 minutes of this game.
It can’t expect things to unfold perfectly for the final few moments.
The Commodores have to take this one on the chin and move on. Things are only going to continue to get tougher. Road games are always going to be difficult. And, of course, Tennessee is still left on the schedule twice.
This will be one Vanderbilt wish it had back.
“We didn’t play well, we didn’t prep well, and we weren’t ready to play,” Mark Byington said. “We can’t ever do this again.”
This win gave Oklahoma its first Quad 1 win all season. It is the kind of game that could move this team down a seed in the NCAA Tournament.
There is a lot of season left, but this one is going to sting for a while, rightfully so.
© 2005-2026 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. 247Sports is a registered service mark of CBT Sports, LLC. Scout is a registered service mark of CBS 247 Inc. Fans Only is a registered service mark of CSTV Online, Inc.
The content on this site is for entertainment purposes only and 247Sports makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the information given or the outcome of any game or event.
There is no gambling offered on this site. This site contains commercial content and 247Sports may be compensated for the links provided on this site.
