In A Battle of Undefeated's, Vanderbilt Was More Complete and Flat out Better; Column
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NASHVILLE—-Almost as if he was looking to add a dimension to the show, Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles ran right from his seat on the Vanderbilt bench and met Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel as he rose up for a dunk.
As Nickel finished it, Miles soared through the air in support, it was a move that most regulars in this gym have never seen. It’s also one that no player besides Miles could pull off.
When it was all said and done, Miles was sitting there smiling on the bench as he recalled the moment. ESPN’s crew of announcers speculated that Miles would receive some reprimanding for the move—and maybe he will—but the idea that Miles felt he could do such a thing was emblematic of what’s gotten this Vanderbilt team to the 9-0 spot it sits in after Wednesday night’s 88-69 win over SMU.
“Here’s what’s going on with these guys,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said, “That’s one of the things that we’re doing really well right now, we’re unselfish and we make plays for teammates. We’re happy for each other and we’re part of a team.”
Byington built this thing on finding players that believed they could do more than they’d done at their previous stops and giving them the platform as well as the freedom to do so. Miles is a prime example. The Vanderbilt guard was pigenholed into a secondary role at Oklahoma, but is now a go-to guy for this Vanderbilt team. By the end of the night, Vanderbilt’s better crowd was embracing Miles with a “Dukeeee” chant as he walked off the floor.
The former Oklahoma guard is the rule, not the exception for Vanderbilt these days and is an example of what’s made it successful to this point. Wednesday included Miles going just 4-for-11 from the field and finishing with 10 points, but there he was down the stretch embracing a teammate that had just put on a show.
“He’s hilarious, he’s always joking,” Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner said of Miles. “Every time I see him he’s got a smile on his face. That type of guy, that’s what coach wanted to recruit.”
The vision Byington had as he considered what this roster needed to look like in order for it to take the step it desired was on display on Wednesday night as this group came out “a little bit lethargic,” but still took it to a previously undefeated SMU team. Byington’s team went just 6-for-24 from 3-point range and got to the line just 12 times, yet its struggles didn’t appear to be noticeable at any point.
Perhaps that’s a result of Byington’s intentness on betting on winning players, perhaps it’s not. It still says something about this group, though.
Vanderbilt won a shootout-esque first half on Wednesday and when the game slowed down in the second half, it still found a way to outscore SMU 40-31 without Miles’ or Frankie Collins’ best. Andy Enfield’s team had more frontcourt size than any team Vanderbilt has seen to this point and didn’t play entirely poorly, yet it never seemed to have much of a chance to leave Memorial Gymnasium with a win.
“It was like being in the dentist’s chair getting your teeth pulled,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said postgame. “Every time we made a good possession or two, it just seemed like we couldn’t get any traction and it was just like sitting there being miserable for about 15 minutes.”
Enfield cites Vanderbilt’s ability to consistently reach in without fouling as well as the way it shared the ball and operate with aggressiveness defensively. Perhaps its most important feat was its 20 assists and its five turnovers, though.
It’s a stat that demonstrates the staying power of this Vanderbilt team. They scored 54 points in the paint, which is the most in the Byington era. They had only 16 unassisted baskets. It fought off a tricky zone defense. They won by 19 points with a performance that could be graded as a B.
“We're not gonna quit,” Vanderbilt big man Jalen Washington said.” We go out there and we shoot 6-for-24 we’re not gonna be like ‘let's just keep shooting threes.’ We're gonna go out there and compete and five other ways to win.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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