Inside Jaylen Carey's Return to Vanderbilt, Memorial Gymnasium

NASHVILLE—Jaylen Carey’s feel hit the ground inside the charge circle in the lane right in front of the home bench at Memorial Gymnasium, that action in a bubble was almost entirely insignificant. The aftermath of Carey’s return to his feet after a few seconds of a near pull up on the rim wiped away any idea that this was a pedestrian day for Carey or that Tennessee was trying to act as if it was.

When Carey landed, he was nearly invisible to three fourths of the Memorial Gymnasium crowd because of the swarm of orange shirts and striped pants that surrounded him. Tennessee center Felix Okpara was first to the crowd and set the trend as he rubbed Carey’s head. The entirety of Tennessee’s roster followed with a similar action.

“He was telling us all week how much he wanted it,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell “So, we were gonna have his back. I mean, kind of the same thing, we wanted to have his back.”

Feb 21, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Jaylen Carey (23) dunks the ball just prior to the start of the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Perhaps neither side had made much of a statement pertaining to the intensity or magnitude of Carey’s return to this place–outside of Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington taking the high road on Friday–but Carey’s previous actions set the scene well enough.

Carey–who played for Byington and company as a freshman at James Madison as an under-the-radar recruit and followed them to Vanderbilt–reached out to Tennessee in the spring, got on a Zoom call with its staff and committed to Vanderbilt’s biggest rival nearly instantaneously in the transfer portal. Once he made the commitment, Carey poked the bear consistently and often referred to Vanderbilt as “that school.” He changed his Twitter profile picture to the Joker.

He did everything that a good villain should do.

Every good villain is polarizing and notorious enough to make an impact on people. If Saturday indicated anything, it was that Carey has done that around these parts. From the second the Tennessee big man got off the bus on the path he used to walk between Vanderbilt’s practice facility and Memorial Gymnasium, he had cameras on him and appeared to have an extra layer of security surrounding him.

Carey’s arrival was almost jarring. It wasn’t as if anyone wasn’t expecting the former Vanderbilt forward to no-show or avoid wearing the striped pants that the rest of Tennessee’s roster was, but the Tennessee forward grasped Vanderbilt fanbase’s heart this time a year ago when Vanderbilt took down the Volunteers. As well as Carey knew how to gain the fanbase’s heart, though, he knew how to break it.

“That other school,” Carey said when referring to Vanderbilt in a summer media availability. “I don’t like that place, but that place. 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.”

Thus, Vanderbilt’s student section acted towards Carey as if was a jaded ex-lover.

Carey’s pregame routine in which he held himself up on the rim and was embraced by his teammates quickly also represented the first real crack that Vanderbilt’s fanbase had at the Tennessee forward. Early entrants to the student section had their shot at Carey in a nearly empty gym every time he came near the student section with around 60 minutes to go until tip-off. It wouldn’t be the last, or the most demonstrative heckling that the Vanderbilt fanbase would direct towards the Tennessee big man, though.

The negative response to Carey’s starting lineup introduction nearly shook the old gym. Perhaps the most blatant heckling of Carey came from a “F*** you, Carey” chant in the Vanderbilt student section that really hadn’t been provoked by any of the in-game action. Everything involving Carey seemingly involved some sort of intense emotion or hurt. Perhaps the most tangible reminder of that was a sign.

“Top 3 Traitors,” It read.

“1. Jaylen Carey”

“2. Judas”

“3. Jason Edwards”

There Carey was acting as if he was unbothered by the whole thing, though. He appeared to never engage verbally with those in the crowd. He just ran around in his all-black shoes and orange uniform as if this was another game.

It was a facade, though.

“He did ok,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said in regard to how Carey handled everything. “I don’t know what he expected really. He was fine.”

Carey won’t say it, but there was clearly a little something extra at play here. He always appeared to be trying to be Super Man. When he went up, it looked as if he was doing so with a desire to make it a SportsCenter play. When he screened early, he appeared to be hunting a body on the floor.

This wasn’t exactly Carey’s magnum opus like he hoped it’d be, though. The Tennessee forward was often caught forcing it, playing outside of Tennessee’s offense and didn’t live up to the standard that he seemingly set for himself. Carey went for just seven points on 2-for-7 shooting, seven rebounds while turning it over two times, picking up three fouls and no assists in 26 minutes.

Carey won, though. As a result, he was a part of a team that declared this was their house. That matters to him and likely makes some people on the other side angry.