Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's Round of 64 Win Over McNeese – Sports Illustrated

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OKLAHOMA CITY—For the first time since 2011-2012, Vanderbilt basketball has done it.
The Commodores just pulled off an NCAA Tournament win for the first time since the Kevin Stallings era and did it by double digits as it knocked off No. 12 seed McNeese.
Here's a few takeaways from that outing.
Vanderbilt just made history
Only seven other teams in program history have done what Vanderbilt did on Thursday. Two of those teams played a basketball game this century. Three played before 1995. None of Vanderbilt’s three previous teams that went dancing were able to accomplish what Vanderbilt had by the time it walked off the floor victorious at PayCom Center. 
Add that to the body of work that this group already had, and there’s not many within this program’s history that can match it. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibilities that this group could tie–or break–the program wins record in the coming weeks–a win on Saturday against Nebraska would do so. 
For now, though, Vanderbilt basketball just had its best NCAA Tournament moment since most of its players were in elementary school. Now this group will have plaques up on the wall with their pictures on them and can recycle these highlights for years. This was that type of win. This was that type of moment. 
The difference was easy to see there
Tanner’s body of work had everything to make that indication heading into Thursday afternoon except what he didn’t have until he ran off the floor side by side with Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles after a win. Tanner was an honorable mention for All-American honors. He was an All-SEC first-teamer. 
All he had to do was prove it on the country’s biggest stage. And boy, did he do that. 
Tanner went for 26 points–with 17 of them coming in the second half–seven rebounds and five assists. The Vanderbilt guard was relatively efficient on the way to doing it as he made 7 of his 16 field goal attempts and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line. It was the type of performance that gets a team out of a building and alive when it doesn’t have its best. 
The Vanderbilt guard did that on Thursday and added to his legacy while doing so.
Vanderbilt took a second to get adjusted to everything that McNeese is
It’s not as if McNeese is a normal upset pick in that it’s going to get out and win the game because it’s unconscious from 3-point range, or even that it runs particularly good offense. It’s still a threat, though. 
McNeese is No. 299 in the country in efficiency from 3-point range, No. 196 in effective field goal percentage and No. 232 in non-steal turnover percentage on offense. What makes it dangerous though, is that it’s got a number of power-five athletes on the floor at all times and can often imprint the game with the style that it wants to play. 
Vanderbilt knew beforehand, but really got a taste for how active McNeese is on the defensive end and the challenges it presents as a result of its intent on being pesky defensively. McNeese is No. 1 in the country in defensive turnover percentage, No. 32 in offensive turnover percentage and is top 100 in free throws earned per field goal attempt. 
Those numbers made an imprint on this thing early as Vanderbilt turned it over eight times in the first half on the way to trailing by as much as 11–with just less than 14 minutes to go in the first half. McNeese blitzed Vanderbilt, although its first-half shooting never quite felt sustainable. 
It was, but Vanderbilt still couldn’t pull away from McNeese. That group grinded it out and made Vanderbilt come down to its level.
Vanderbilt played McNeese’s game and still found a way to win
The pace and style of the game on Thursday indicated McNeese was getting its way, as did the early portion of the game, but Vanderbilt wasn’t rattled. 
As a result, it’s surviving and advancing. 
“They tried to make us uncomfortable with their pressure,” Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel told Vandy on SI. “They just tried to turn us over and get us out of character. At the beginning of the game, they did it pretty well, but once we kind of found our stride everybody got comfortable and we got confident. Once we get confident, it's tough to beat us.”
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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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