No. 19 Vanderbilt hosts in-state rival Tennessee on Saturday in Nashville for one of the most significant recent matchups in the 104-year history of the series.
Vanderbilt (21-5, 8-5 Southeastern Conference) enters the game looking up at the Vols (19-7, 9-4), in a three-way tie for second place. If the season ended now, Tennessee would have one of the four coveted double byes — and the Commodores would not — in the SEC tournament that takes place March 11-15, two miles from Vanderbilt’s campus.
Vanderbilt stood 15th in Thursday’s NCAA NET rankings — four spots ahead of the Vols — to make this a Quad 1 game for both teams. The Commodores are 7-4 in such games while the Vols are just 4-7.
Vanderbilt must recover from Wednesday’s emotionally and physically draining 81-80 loss at Missouri.
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt’s only active point guard since Duke Miles hit the sidelines with a knee issue following an 88-56 win Jan. 24 at Mississippi State, played through the flu to compete for 38 minutes, score 27 points, dish out five assists, collect three steals and nearly deliver a miracle at the end.
Vanderbilt trailed by 21 with 8:43 left. Tanner, who contributed all over the floor in a late run, leaped for a steal with less than two seconds left, landed and launched a shot two steps behind the midcourt line that went halfway in before bouncing out.
“You could tell (Tanner) was sick in the first half; he wasn’t as aggressive,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “Then, he shook it off. I think he got caught in the competitiveness of the game. Then, he looked at the score and realized what we needed to do, and he almost brought us back.”
Miles (16.6 points, 2.8 steals per game) could return at any time, but he was listed as “out” on the SEC’s availability report before the Missouri game.
The 175-pound Tanner, who averages 35.5 minutes in SEC games, has taken a physical beating from defenders lately. When Tanner picked up his fourth foul with more than 10 minutes left in last Saturday’s win over Texas A&M, Tyler Nickel (14.7 points per game, 1.3 assists per game) and AK Okereke (9.3 ppg, 1.7 apg) uncharacteristically shared primary ball-handling duties for about a six-minute stretch.
Tennessee long has had a reputation for physical play under coach Rick Barnes. The Vols clobbered Oklahoma on the boards, 36-19, in Wednesday’s 89-66 home win.
Size has given Vanderbilt fits and that makes Tennessee’s 6-foot-10 freshman star Nate Ament, who leads the Vols in scoring (18.2 ppg), a concerning matchup. During Tennessee’s 7-1 run over the last month, Ament has averaged 24.3 points.
The Vols also rely on a single point guard in Ja’Kobi Gillespie (18.1 ppg), who has played at least 34 minutes in each of the last five games.
Tennessee ranks as the country’s top offensive rebounding team, grabbing 45.2% of its own misses per KenPom.com. The Vols are led by Jaylen Carey, who ranks sixth in the country at grabbing offensive boards (18.1%).
Carey played his first year at James Madison for Byington before following him to Vanderbilt last year. The junior minced no words after leaving Vanderbilt, something the Commodore crowd will likely remember on Saturday.
“I don’t like (Vanderbilt),” Carey said last summer in one of several parting shots directed at his former team. “… Like I said, it was a great experience (playing against Tennessee). I love this place and can’t wait to do big things in the Big Orange.”
The teams will meet in Knoxville on March 7, the regular-season finale for each.
