Let's Face it. Tyler Tanner is One Of America's Best Point Guards; Column
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NASHVILLE—As if he was privy to the buzz that surrounded him, Tyler Tanner walked out onto the coaches’ sideline at Memorial Gymnasium just under 90 minutes before Saturday’s tip off with a pair of black headphones draped over his ears in an effort to block out the noise.
The literal noise wasn’t more than a few basketball’s bouncing and some chatter among Vanderbilt players at that point, but the figurative noise Tanner was tasked with blocking out was loud and clear as Tanner approached Vanderbilt big man Devin McGlockton for a handshake.
Perhaps day-to-day life hasn’t changed all that much for Tanner since he stepped on this floor as a Vanderbilt player for the first time last November, but the magnitude of his brand has been altered significantly. Tanner still goes through his stretching routine on the side of the floor prior to each game and works to get loose, but the stakes of his warmups are significantly higher these days.
Through 16 games, Tanner has become a dark-horse All-American candidate, an SEC Player of the Year candidate and a name to bring up in any conversation centered around America’s best point guards. It’s too early to have an idea of where things stand yet, but Tanner could also play himself into the NBA Draft.
"He's one of the better guards in this league,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Wednesday. “If they end up winning the league championship, he'll probably be the league MVP. And he deserves it."
If Oats established anything in the days leading up to Vanderbilt’s matchup with Alabama, it’s that he doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind in regard to just about anything. Oats didn’t make his comment without a horse in the race, either. Alabama has two SEC Player of the Year candidates on its own roster in Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway, yet Tanner has made enough of an impact on Oats to allow him to objectively see a path in which Tanner finds a way to the SEC Player of the Year Award if things play out a certain way.
The Vanderbilt guard is averaging 17.1 points, a team-high 5.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game while shooting 52.8% from the field as well as 36.1% from 3-point range. Tanner’s statistical outburst has made him
“This is a role I’ve dreamed of, a role that I’ve wanted for the past couple years,” Tanner told Vandy on SI. “I’m just trying to make the most of it and play to the best of my ability.”
Tanner said he was “always confident” in himself, but his path to stardom has been rapid enough to be unpredictable to a casual observer. The Vanderbilt guard was used primarily as a catch-and-shoot piece offensively as a freshman in 2024-25 and ended the season averaging 5.6 points per game. Byington called Tanner the “future” of the program at the time and appeared to see something like his rose coming down the line.
Byington’s evaluation has paid off as he gets to stand on the sideline each Vanderbilt home game and watch Tanner flying around, running the show as one of the nation’s best point guards. Tanner’s partner in crime thinks the “one of” part of that statement isn’t strong enough.
“I just feel like he’s the best point guard in the country right now,” Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles told Vandy on SI. “Coach put a lot of confidence in him. It just shows. When you put in that work, you know, it's going to show.”
Tanner doesn’t have the winning pedigree or the name value of Purdue point guard Braden Smith, Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears or Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz, but he’s quietly emerged in the same conversation as those stars. If he’s not in a tier with them, he’s at the top of the next tier.
The Vanderbilt guard’s scoring numbers line up with the best true point guards in the country. His assist numbers are creeping up toward Stirtz’. His flashy play style has star written all over it. So does his consistency--which has led him to double figures in every game this season and five games in which he's scored 20 points or more.
Saturday demonstrated Tanner’s emergence in a different way on Saturday.
The Vanderbilt guard didn’t have his best, but was a catalyst in Vanderbilt’s five leading scorers all going for double figures. Tanner went for 20 himself and put a few late free throws in as Vanderbilt sealed the game.
“Tyler Tanner’s really turning into one of the great closers in college basketball,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said postgame.
Byington said Wednesday that there was a stretch in Wednesday’s game that he only wanted the ball in Tanner’s hands because of his confidence that the sophomore guard would make a play for someone in some way. That’s the type of treatment an elite guard gets. That’s the type of rope Tyler Tanner gets these days.
The future has arrived for Vanderbilt basketball.
_(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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