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NASHVILLE—Did Vanderbilt basketball just turn the corner?
Vanderbilt just took down Tennessee 86-82 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday and secured the four seed in the SEC Tournament while playing its best game since it took down Kentucky at Memorial Gymnasium in late January.
For once, Vanderbilt basketball was the aggressor in the place in which it’s often not been in games. It was nearly as physical as Tennessee was–as evidenced by the 40-to-31 final rebounding score. In a lot of ways it was just flat out better than the Volunteers were.
“We all felt that we were a better team even in the first one, when we lost because we played in our words, like a C to C- minus game for us,” Nickel told Vandy on SI. “Coming into this game, we knew that we were gonna show a better version of ourselves. Knowing how powerful a sweep would be for them and for us going forward, we weren’t going to let that happen. We came in here and it was very straightforward, focused on what we needed to happen.”
As Vanderbilt has taken a leap 2025-26–Byington’s second year at the helm–it’s done so with a roster including just three returning scholarship players in Tyler Tanner, Devin McGlockton and Nickel. All three of which have taken on significant roles on a team that possesses an eight-man transfer class headlined by North Carolina big man Jalen Washington, Washington transfer Tyler Harris, star guard Duke Miles and Cornell wing AK Okereke.
“The priority this recruiting season was to gain some more length, size,” Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told Vandy on SI over the summer. “We knew going into last year we were maybe the smallest team in the SEC regarding length, size so we wanted to upgrade that, which we did.”
That class has given the Commodores a chance to be a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than they’ve ever been. Here’s where their rèsumè stands these days as the regular season comes to a close.
Quad wins and losses:
Quad 1A: 3-3
Wins: Auburn, Saint Mary’s, Tennessee
Losses: Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky
Quad 1: 8-6
Wins: Kentucky, Alabama, UCF, Wake Forest, Saint Mary’s, VCU, Auburn, Tennessee
Losses: Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri
Quad 2: 7-1
Wins: LSU, Memphis, South Carolina, SMU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
Loss: Oklahoma
Quad 3: 2–0
Lipscomb, Western Kentucky
Quad 4: 5-0
Eastern Kentucky, Texas Southern, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas, New Haven
Other valuable metrics:
NET: 16th
Torvik: 15th
KenPom: 13th
Strength of record: 15th
KPI: 14th
Wins above bubble: 15th
BPI: 15th
NCSOS: 138th
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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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