Exclusive: How AK Okereke's Composure Led To Dagger in Vanderbilt's Win Over Auburn – Sports Illustrated

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Confidence could’ve wavered easily for Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke as his defender Elyjah Freeman shifted his feet towards the lane and it appeared imminent that the ball would end up in his hands if Vanderbilt point guard Tyler Tanner wouldn’t be able to get all the way to the rim. 
Okereke had missed his first two open looks from beyond the arc on Tuesday night when Tanner rose up in the air and delivered a pass just under Okereke’s waist, but the Ivy League transfer turned Vanderbilt forward didn’t hesitate. Vanderbilt’s swiss-army knife of a forward methodically–but urgently–brought the ball into his shooting pocket and let it go. 
Perhaps someone daunted by circumstance and the environment Vanderbilt walked into at Auburn’s Neville Arena would’ve kept it moving, but Okereke was no such man. 
“I’d just passed up a three just a couple possessions before so I knew I had to be ready to shoot,” Okereke told Vandy on SI via text message on Vanderbilt’s bus ride back from Auburn. “When it came to me I just let it fly really.” 
The shot was advisable by every measure for the Vanderbilt forward as the shot clock ticked down to eight seconds by the time he caught it, but it didn’t detract from the stakes of the moment in which Okereke seemingly entered by putting his fingerprints on the ball in that moment. 
Vanderbilt led Auburn 72-66 with 1:50 remaining in the outing upon the catch, but Steven Pearl’s Auburn team had thrown punches at this Vanderbilt team for the entirety of the second half in hopes that Okereke and company would lose their footing. Had Okereke’s shot from 3-point range rimmed out or fallen long, Vanderbilt would be defending in transition up six with Auburn possessing all the momentum. 
In a similarly-meaningful sequence to Okereke’s defensive assignment against Auburn star Keyshawn Hall, one false step could change the outlook of this thing for Vanderbilt in that moment. Okereke didn’t consider that in his fearless approach, though. 
It paid off. 
“Okereke for 3,” Vanderbilt play-by-play announcer Kevin Ingram called while the ball was in flight, “Write it down!”
“Tell you what,” Vanderbilt color commentator Tim Thompson said, “You’ve just got to be ready to shoot the basketball. That was a huge shot.” 
“Another big-time 3, that time it was Okereke from the corner,” Ingram said. 
Okereke’s make side-rimmed through the net and served as the proverbial dagger in Vanderbilt’s 85-76 win over Auburn as the Commodores won at Neville Arena for the first time since 2016 and clinched the program’s second-consecutive 20-win season for the first time since 2012. Plenty of moments represented heroism in Vanderbilt’s eventual win over the Tigers, but Okereke’s was named the broadcast’s play of the game. 
Perhaps Vanderbilt would’ve found a way to win this thing in the case that Okereke didn’t throw one in there for his fifth, sixth and seventh points of the night–the odds were in its favor. It would’ve had to deal with the murky possibilities that come with Auburn believing it’s got a chance to get back in this thing on its home floor, though. 
That’s why when the Jungle went nearly silent, Vanderbilt walk-on Miles Keeffe threw his right arm up as to declare this was over, Vanderbilt assistant Jon Cremins’ jump with excitement extended out onto the floor, Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton brought out a bow-and-arrow celebration and Tanner looked back at Okereke as if to admire his work. 
The idea that Okereke’s shot will make waves that Tanner’s late-clock heroics on Tuesday night will, but it was a microcosm of sorts of what Vanderbilt going into the Jungle and winning said about it. It’s also an indicator of what could be special about this group moving forward. 
“It was timely shots,” Byington said of the key to winning this thing. “Whether it was things at the rim, timely free throws, Chandler Bing made both of his, Tyler Tanner iced both of them up. I thought we just kept our composure. You know they’re going to fight back full speed and I just thought we kept our composure.” 
This program needed that in the midst of a demoralizing Saturday loss to Oklahoma and demonstrated it throughout its two-and-a-half days of preparation prior to taking the floor against Auburn on Tuesday. Byington said that he knew all along that this team was ready to play and that it was out to prove something. 
Perhaps that has more to do with Vanderbilt’s vocal leadership than Okereke, but the Vanderbilt forward may be the best example of composure anywhere on Vanderbilt’s roster. His story–that includes walking on at Cornell–wouldn’t be possible without it. His day-to-day life–which includes co-running a finance business–wouldn’t be either. 
Okereke’s demeanor screams level-headed, so does his unique reaction to a make that will go down as one of Vanderbilt’s biggest of the season. It’s difficult not to equate the two. 
“The only thing I was thinking about,” Okereke said, “Was getting back on defense.”
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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