How Vanderbilt basketball planned to ruin Tennessee's senior day – The Tennessean

Coleson Messer, a Vanderbilt basketball walk-on, texted the team’s group chat the morning of March 7.
“Let’s ruin their senior night,” Tyler Tanner remembers Messer texting.
For the final game of the regular season, the 22nd-ranked Commodores headed to Food City Center in Knoxville, a place they hadn’t won since 2017. No. 25 Tennessee honored its seniors before the game, including star guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
Vanderbilt ultimately made good on its promise, taking home an 86-82 win March 7.
The Commodores (24-7, 11-7 SEC) shut down Gillespie, too. Though he scored 17 points, he went 5-for-22 overall and 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
Vanderbilt trusted freshman Chandler Bing to guard Gillespie. Bing recorded nine points, including a big dunk and a big 3-pointer.
“I thought (Bing’s) defense was really good,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “He guarded Gillespie for most of the night. We took him late in the spring last year, and just thought he had a chance to be good down the road. And even we didn’t know he could be this type of impact player his freshman year. That’s an 18-year-old out there playing well in this type of situation and game, and so the future is bright for him.”
Tennessee (21-10, 11-7) held its senior day celebration before the game, something it usually has saved for afterward. But Vanderbilt doesn’t credit that to its win.
“I don’t think that (senior day) had anything to do with it,” Tanner said. “I think we came out aggressive and had a lot of energy, and that’s how they responded.”
Vanderbilt watched plenty of film from its previous game against Tennessee, a 69-65 loss at Memorial Gymnasium on Feb. 21. Although the Vols were playing without freshman Nate Ament in this game, Tennessee played the first game without JP Estrella, who recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in this game. Compared to the first matchup, Vanderbilt did a much better job shutting down Gillespie and forcing turnovers.
Three players did almost all of the Vols’ scoring: Amari Evans (24 points), Gillespie and Estrella. Felix Okpara was fourth on the team with eight points, and nobody else recorded more than five. Vanderbilt had a more balanced attack, getting at least seven points from five players.
“Every time we’ve kind of been down a little bit, we learned from it, and then we kind of stepped forward after that,” Byington said. “And so we did not play well against Kentucky a week ago, and we learned from it. And so if we keep doing that, obviously our learning curve is still going up.”
The men’s basketball rivalry has been in a stalemate the past few years: The teams split their two matchups in three of the past four seasons. But in a big overall statement for the athletic department, all of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball have won their matchups in Knoxville in the past calendar year. Both football and women’s basketball capped off program records for regular-season wins with victories to end their regular seasons in Knoxville.
A place that even two years ago was largely a house of horrors for Vanderbilt has now turned into a series of statement victories.
“I know there’s pride at Vanderbilt,” Byington said. “I think football won up here and girls basketball won up here.It’s a terrific school, terrific program. And so sometimes I feel like we’re chasing them, but we’re going to come compete.”
Vanderbilt secured the No. 4 seed and the double-bye in the SEC Tournament and will play at Bridgestone Arena on March 13 (2:30 p.m. CT., ESPN)
Vanderbilt could have a rematch with the Vols in the quarterfinals. No. 5 seed Tennessee plays March 12 against the winner of No. 12 Auburn and No. 13 Mississippi State.
At Bridgestone Arena
All times Central
Tennessean columnist Gentry Estes contributed to this report.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.

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