Duke Miles' Star is Rising For Vanderbilt Basketball in Atlantis

Lost in the frequent wide smile that shows off all of Duke Miles’ pearly whites is the mentality that caused him to lose a few teeth last season while working to will Oklahoma to a win last season. The Vanderbilt guard continues to demonstrate that he’s among its most outgoing players off the floor, but is a shrewd, ruthless offensive alpha on it.

Miles was hidden at times in the Jeremiah Fears-centric offense that Oklahoma coach Porter Moser opted for last season, but has tapped back into the form that he took on two seasons ago as High Point’s go-get a bucket guy. The now-Vanderbilt guard always knew his scoring ability was in there, but was selfless enough to avoid looking for his own stardom last season.

A year later, it appears as if his own star is rising and his time has come as Vanderbilt pushes for a Battle 4 Atlantis title in the Bahamas.

Miles has scored in double figures in every game this season and went for a season-high 28 points on just 12 field goal attempts in Vanderbilt’s 83-78 win over Western Kentucky. Through all the talk that Vanderbilt needs to win by committee this season, Miles has quietly put together three 20-plus point performances on his way to demonstrating that he may be the Jason Edwards replacement that this Vanderbilt team didn’t know it had.

“I kind of have fun with this offense,” Miles said via the postgame Zoom call after Vanderbilt’s win over Western Kentucky. “Honestly what kind of drew me to Vanderbilt was the offense and the playing style, but without coach and my teammates, I would not be able to get them shots, you know, be able to be open or make those reads.”

Duke Miles — Miles went for 28 points on Wednesday afternoon against Western Kentucky. | Battle 4 Atlantis

The idea that Miles is a better piece for this Vanderbilt team than Edwards was last season appears to be taboo publicly, but there appears to be private belief within the Vanderbilt staff that would indicate their belief that Miles can live up to the large payday he received this offseason.

Through six games, the Vanderbilt guard is averaging 15.4 points to Edwards’ 15.6 this time last season, is regarded as a better defender, is averaging 5.6 assists to Edwards’ 2.6 at this stage last season and is shooting 52.0% in comparison to Edwards 46.4% from the field through last season’s first six games. Perhaps Miles doesn’t carry around the presence of stardom in the way Edwards did, but his numbers and overall impact appears to be serving this Vanderbilt team in a way that it hasn’t had in the past.

Edwards went on to average 17.0 points per game–which could eclipse Miles’ final number once this thing is all said and done due to the increased scoring depth that Vanderbilt has in head coach Mark Byington’s second season at the helm–but the idea that Miles can change the dynamic of this roster in a similar way doesn’t appear to be foreign.

Vanderbilt’s worst performance of the season came in Wednesday’s matchup with Western Kentucky saw its pieces outside of Miles shoot 43.9% from the field and 14-for-26 from the free throw line. The Vanderbilt guard took control of the game with his off the bounce scoring ability and got to the line 12 times–where he made all 12 attempts–though. When it was all said and done, Byington got up from his postgame press conference and joked that he hoped the four turnovers Miles had on Wednesday were out of his system.

The joke appears to be meaningless on the surface, but indicates that Byington believes Miles has more in his game than he demonstrated on Wednesday afternoon.

“I like dynamic guards that can score and make plays for others,” Byington said Wednesday. “He’s an extremely important piece. I think he was the last one that we got and we knew how important he was for the team. He's going to even get more and more comfortable with us, with the team along the way, but he made some huge plays for us today.”

Byington says he remembers Miles making a “big” shot from 3-point range in Oklahoma’s blowout win over Vanderbilt last season and that he “doesn’t forget things like that.” Now, Byington is on the other side of Miles’ capability from beyond the arc and has seen the Vanderbilt guard shoot 40.7% from 3-point range this season while being his team’s best all around player.

The difference in Miles’ and Edwards’ responsibilities has come in the form of reliance. Miles doesn’t have to carry the load every night as a result of Vanderbilt’s roster while Edwards did. That doesn’t have to diminish his production, though.

“It’s a tremendous boost,” Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton said of the boost Miles provides. “From shooting the ball, finishing at the rim, defensively, he’s been a big help in all facets of the game. He’s a big addition this year and expect great things from him moving forward.”