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Vanderbilt basketball never led Friday night in Coral Gables as it fell 109-96 in its final exhibition game and now it's left to watch the tape and evaluate where that went wrong.
Miami led for all but 1:05 on Friday night and looked the part of a top 10 team while Vanderbilt learned it has some things to work through.
Vanderbilt's Friday-night exhibition wasn't televised, but Vandy on SI talked to a number of sources that were in the gym and consulted Friday's box score to get a relativley complete evaluation of Vanderbilt's performance.
Here's a few takeaways from that showing.
Vanderbilt clearly has work to do coming out of a performance like that, but that’s what Byington wanted here. He is probably the happiest person in Vanderbilt’s program about his team losing Friday night.
Now, Byington has found out exactly where this Vanderbilt team–which was largely unscathed through two exhibitions–needs to improve and can hit it head on in the lead up to its Nov. 2 opener against Bellarmine.
Byington is often more insightful after a Vanderbilt loss than a Vanderbilt win because he often hyperfixates on the details needed in order to channel improvement. As a result, he likely already has a clear vision of what needs to change between now and early November and has to be happy about learning that now rather than after a preventable early-season loss.
It’s uniquely Byington to think that way, but he doesn’t appear upset in any way.
Bing has wrongfully taken too much flak for supposedly being a useless offensive piece after two disappointing offensive performances in Vanderbilt’s exhibition slate, but he proved that he can do what Vanderbilt believes he can.
He went for 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting on Friday and got to the foul line seven times–making six of those attempts.
Bing isn’t useless on offense. The indication from inside Vanderbilt’s program is that he’s actually improved significantly and should be a useful complementary player alongside a few high-volume guards. Bing won’t do this every night, but this was a statement that indicated he should be considered a threat offensively.
Miami shot it 58.0% from the field, 48.0% from 3-point range and got to the foul line 23 times on Friday night. That’s not going to work for Vanderbilt, which has prided itself on having the talent to be Byington’s best defensive team.
Byington and company didn’t put in coverages based off of a scouting report as extensive as normal, sources told Vandy on SI, but in any case this group needs to figure some things out on that end. Byington believes he has the personnel to have a standout defensive team, but he now gets to press some buttons with that group after it indicated it’s not a finished product on that end yet.
Vanderbilt likely won’t push out as much as it did Friday on the defensive end often, but it got some looks to learn from. Byington also indicated something to the public when he declared that Berke Buyuktuncel is his “best defensive guy” in the postgame presser and that not having him as a result of foul trouble in the first half was killer.
Those around the Vanderbilt program have expressed private belief in Miami for months and they appear to be singing the same tune following their matchup with Jai Lucas’ team.
Some within the program have said all along that they believe Miami is a potential top 10 team and that it has some elements to it that are as dynamic as Vanderbilt will see all year. They try to preface their comments with a statement that indicates they aren’t only making them because of Friday’s result, and it appears as if they’re being genuine.
TO Barrett is warming up in Miami ahead of tonight’s exhibition game, has been out for a few weeks, but has returned to practice.
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TO Barrett and Gabe Nesmith both warmed up for Friday's exhibition, although neither were active. The indication is that both are trending towards seeing the floor in Vanderbilt's opener against Bellarmine, though.
It remians to be seen if that will happen, but Friday was a positive indicator.
Tanner was 3-for-10 from the field and Brown was 1-for-7, but they will be fine.
Brown was a young guy facing a group of veterans and had his freshman moments, but the indication is that he didn’t show cracks that would indicate that what he did Monday against UAB–in a double double–was entirely out of character. Brown still had six assists Friday night, although he’s still working to learn to make the right play every time.
Byington said Miami did a nice job on Tanner, but that Vanderbilt would’ve done more things to free him up had it been a real game. Vanderbilt didn’t have much of its offensive stuff in Friday’s gameplan, though.
It sounds like it looked like it was going to be a long night for Vanderbilt’s frontcourt after the first few minutes of the game, but it eventually found itself.
Had this been another Byington-led team, that wouldn’t have been the case. This group appears to be deeper and better as a whole at the four and the five, though. As a result, it could hold up with Somto Cyril and company around the basket.
Vanderbilt ended the game with more rebounds than Miami, which is surprising considering that Miami only missed 29 shots.
It wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t anything to write home about.
Vanderbilt shot 36.4% from 3-point range–although its only makes came from Ace Glass, Tyler Tanner, Berke Buyuktuncel and Bangot Dak while everyone else went a combined 0-for-7–and 72.7% from the foul line.
Shooting still remains a concern with this group and it will have to prove that it’s got enough shotmaking profiles once the regular season begins. It’s got time to fix that, though, as it does everything else after Friday night.
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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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