Vanderbilt Basketball Isn't Basking in Exhibition Performance, Maybe That Indicates Mark Byington Has Something – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Huddled around Tyler Tanner and Sebastian Williams-Adams as they stand on the Memorial Gymnasium baseline conducting an interview are a number of Vanderbilt players. They’re standing there to razz Tanner and Williams-Adams, but their presence indicates that what Vanderbilt big man Bangot Dak said on Friday is coming to fruition. 
Dak declared that this Vanderbilt team–which only returns three players from its Round of 32 team a year ago–is coming together quickly and that their skillsets complement each other. It’s not as if Dak said anything groundbreaking, but he raised the expectations standard for this Vanderbilt team with his words. 
There’s been private indications that Vanderbilt may take a bit to gel and find its way with the second-youngest power-five team in the country. But, Dak’s words paired with Brown getting up in Tanner’s business while answering questions and Gabe Nesmith making faces while Williams-Adams did indicated that this group may be ahead of schedule in that regard. 
So did what Vanderbilt did a few minutes prior. 
As expected, Vanderbilt ran UAB off the floor in its 97-65 exhibition win and didn’t look the part of one of the country’s youngest teams or a group almost entirely made up of newcomers in the process. A team with those designations assigned to them could’ve struggled to pull away from UAB early or let it back in the game in the final minutes that its rotational guys were in the game. This Vanderbilt team didn’t, though. 
Instead, it kept its foot on the gas the whole way and didn’t show any indications that the sky-high expectations surrounding them are unrealistic. It outrebounded UAB 53-35. It had elite guardplay from Tanner, Ace Glass and Ant Brown. Vanderbilt big man Bangot Dak broke out and showed why Vanderbilt pushed so hard to get him in the transfer portal while he was one of the country’s most highly-coveted bigs. Its biggest on-paper deficiency didn’t look like all that concerning of one as it bounced back from starting the game 1-for-10 from 3-point range to shoot 38% on the night. 
Everything that’s expected of this group still appears to be within reach. Tanner already looks like the best player Byington has ever coached. This looks like the best frontcourt he’s had at Vanderbilt. It looks like his best defensive team, too. 
Yet, this group still believes that showing wasn’t enough. 
“We are younger, that comes with advantages and disadvantages,” Williams-Adams told Vandy on SI in the middle of the mob. “We just came out not ourselves and we kind of were all like ‘alright, so what are we doing?’ Like, that's not us. We've been killing each other in practice practice and we're going against each other all day. So I just think playing against another opponent, we kind of got a little out of character.” 
Vanderbilt’s Monday dismantling of UAB will raise a few eyebrows in regard to what it can become, but its messaging in the moments following it was a reminder to pump the brakes more than a vote of confidence in what this group can do. Perhaps that’s the most intriguing part of all of this. This group has embraced Byington's mentality. It acts like him already. That means something.
If Vanderbilt’s most veteran players talked their group up in the moments following their performance, it wouldn’t have done anything out of line. Tanner had just put on a Tanner-like show in his 22 minutes of work with 18 points, six steals and six rebounds, yet he wasn’t satisfied. Williams-Adams went for eight points while demonstrating that he’d improved on the perimeter, but he wasn’t either. 
Nobody that talked on the record following what Vanderbilt did Monday night did. Clearly Byington and his obsession with improvement has rubbed off on this group. As for what Byington said, that was the most predictable thing about how Vanderbilt messaged this thing. He said his team was nervous early on. He declared that they weren’t trusting each other and harped on its 17 turnovers, which he described as a “shame.” He talked more about newness and awkward lineups than anything. 
“We’re not close to [deciding the rotations],” Byington said. “But, this gives me hope.” 
Following Monday night, there’s a lot that should give Byington hope about this group that he’s assembled. Even if he’s not willing to pump his players up by saying it yet, they’ve looked the part through the first 80 minutes of basketball they’ve played together. All the caveats about the value of exhibition games apply here, but Byington and company can only use them to cover up so much. 
It’s right there to see with this group. It's impossible to ignore. 
They’re going to be good. Like, really good. They have a chance to win 27 games like Byington’s 2025-26 team did, or even more. They could challenge for the SEC regular season title and play until Sunday at Bridgestone Arena. They could be favored to get out of the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 
But, don’t tell them that. They don’t want to hear that right now. They’d rather hear about shooting 16-for-29 from the free throw line Monday, or too much sloppiness being a theme for this group. Even a mention of its out of rhythm offense early in the night would suffice. That’s all part of this group’s eventual rise, and they’re not glossing over it. 
Perhaps they’ll be talking differently in a few months. But, for now?
“We were just trying to see a bunch of stuff,” Tanner said. “Obviously, Coach wants to see different lineups and everything, but I thought we were focused, locked in. 
I think we had good energy, so I think it was good for 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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