Position-By-Position Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's Exhibition Win Over Virginia in LinkU Invitational

Vanderbilt basketball is finally back and in the win column, at least in exhibition form.

Mark Byington's team took down Virginia 75-68 on Sunday in the LinkU Invitational, an outdoor event in Charleston, South Carolina, in which it played at a converted tennis stadium in the first exhibition of the college basketball season.

Vanderbilt played every player on its roster in the game, outside of TO Barrett--who missed the game and was in street clothes on the bench, but is considered close to a return--and learned some about each. Here's position-by-position takeaways from Vanderbilt's exhibition win.

Tyler Tanner

Looks like Tyler Tanner's day is done in Charleston. If it is, he finished the day with:

10 points
4-for-9 shooting
2 assists
1 turnover pic.twitter.com/fHNE9qO4xh
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) September 27, 2026

Tanner and Virginia big man Thijs De Ridder had the least to prove out of anyone involved in Saturday’s exhibition, but the message clearly didn’t resonate. It wasn’t a full-on Tyler Tanner experience, but there wasn’t any reason to sell Tanner’s preseason All-American stock on Sunday.

After badly missing an analytically-disasterous long two, Tanner began to look like himself again while getting out on the break, finding others, getting downhill and getting after opposing ballhandlers–although Virginia lead guard Chance Mallory wasn’t on the floor to test Tanner like he was in Vanderbilt and Virginia’s exhibition a year ago.

Tanner only played the first half on Sunday, but finished with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting, two assists, a turnover and a steal. He was aided by some light cherrypicking, but he looked like the best player on the floor at times. He looks like the guy on Vanderbilt’s roster that would be most ready to play if the regular season started today.

It was a relatively quiet day for Tanner, but that’s good news.

Ace Glass

No news was good news for Glass on Sunday, as well.

Vanderbilt believed Glass was good enough to fill the gap that Duke Miles left at the two after the 2025-26 season, and it saw no reason to change its stance on Sunday. Glass looked like he supposedly has in practice since arriving at Vanderbilt and will likely be Vanderbilt’s second-leading scorer if he stays on the trajectory that he appears to be on.

If there was any doubt that Glass’ high-volume scoring would translate from Washington State to the SEC, it shouldn’t exist anymore after Glass was able to get to his spots and score it with some level of consistency on Sunday. Glass has it from all three levels and clearly has enough shiftiness to score it in bunches, although he was loose with the ball at times on Sunday.

Glass finished Sunday with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting, no assists and a turnover. That’s good enough for now. The question of how impactful he’ll be as a defender is one that will follow him, though. He’ll likely have ups and downs as a result of his tendency to take gambles on that end.

Chandler Bing

Vanderbilt has talked up the leap Bing can take all offseason, but Sunday demonstrated that it won’t come as a result of him taking on a high-volume offensive role and putting the ball on the floor. That’s okay.

It appears as if Bing’s leap will come in the form of him making winning plays more consistently, guarding the other team’s best player, taking and making more catch and shoot attempts from 3-point range and leading more. Bing looked more comfortable Sunday than he did a year ago and started at the three–which appears to align with Vanderbilt’s plans to open the season.

Bing wasn’t as good as he can be on the defensive end Sunday and dribbled into traffic at times offensively, but Vanderbilt appears to be confident in what they believe he is at this stage. It sounds like he will be fine.

Bangot Dak

It was decidedly an up-and-down day for Dak–who has been thrilling at times in the summer and fall, but demonstrated Sunday that he’s still settling into becoming a winning player on a team that has second-weekend aspirations.

Dak has it in him and appears to have the makeup to settle in, but he still appears to be settling into a role in Vanderbilt’s halfcourt offense. It’s silly to form a full evaluation on Dak based off of Sunday’s outing–which came in an outdoor setting against one of the best frontcourts in the country–but he’ll have a lot on his shoulders and will have to be up for the responsibility in 2026-27.

Where Dak excelled was in transition, where he brought the ball up the floor once–as to indicate that he'll be more than just a pick and roll big for this Vanderbilt team–and demonstrated how difficult it is to stop him in that setting.

Dak finished Sunday with seven points on 3-for-9 shooting, two blocks and a team-high eight rebounds–including three on the offensive end. His 1-for-5 mark from the free-throw line left plenty to be desired, but his 73.6% free throw percentage from a year ago gives him an excuse to use that as a mulligan.

Berke Buyuktuncel

Berke Buyuktuncel gives Vanderbilt its first basket on a make from 3-point range.

Whether he can do that with some level of consistency is a key for Vanderbilt in 2026-27. pic.twitter.com/Z3xqvRV5SS
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) September 27, 2026

Buyuktuncel made as much of a statement as anyone in the ugly first few minutes of action Sunday. With 18:48 left to go in the first half, Buyuktuncel stepped into a pick and pop situation and nailed a shot from 3-point range in his first shot attempt of the day.

Vanderbilt loves Buyuktuncel’s ability to use his body effectively and to take the burden off of Vanderbilt’s guards as a secondary facilitator. It’s been clear with him that it wants him to take a step up as a 3-point shooter, though. Evidently, he’s received the message.

Buyuktuncel also had a standout positive moment on the defensive end when he was switched onto Virginia big guard Sam Lewis, moved his feet as Lewis tried to lose him while going side-to-side and got a hand on Lewis layup. Buyuktuncel may be hunted in switches at times in 2026-27, but he demonstrated that he’s not a lame duck when he is.

He finished Sunday with six points on 2-for-3 shooting from the field, 1-for-2 shooting from 3-point range, six rebounds, a block and a steal.

Ant Brown

Mark Byington told @VandyOnSI this summer that Ant Brown will play as a freshman and appears to believe he'll make a real impact right away.

"He’s got a pizzazz to him.”

READ: https://t.co/wbyPTaCk2O pic.twitter.com/Y9mM5XMSyZ
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) September 25, 2026

Brown left some plays out there, but he looks the part at this stage and is clearly the Vanderbilt freshman that’s the most far along at this stage. Vanderbilt expects Brown to impact winning right away, on November 2 against Bellarmine, and it’s not all that difficult to see why.

There will be some moments in which Brown takes a bad shot, turns it over when he shouldn’t and looks like a freshman–and there were on Sunday–but he appears to have a nice feel for the game and is clearly confident that he can get a bucket in any circumstance–even outdoors with older power-five guards guarding him.

Brown went 2-for-9 from the field Saturday for nine points on Sunday. He demonstrated his growth on a possession in which he caught a tap-out offensive rebound from Vanderbilt freshman big man Jackson Sheffield and could’ve taken a contested 3-point shot from the left wing, but pump faked into a ballscreen and threw Sheffield open as a roller. Sheffield ended the possession at the free-throw line. He did have a freshman moment the following possession when he opted to force a pass and took a tough contested floater that didn’t fall. Brown is a willing passer and bounced back with a flashy pair of assists to Gabe Nesmith and Jackson Sheffield to seal the game, though.

Clearly Brown will be better off for Sunday, and will be able to tap into the dynamic elements of his game more and more as the game slows down for him.

Sebastian Williams-Adams

Williams-Adams is a microcosm of how Vanderbilt is different in 2026-27 than it was in 2025-26.

The better–as evidenced by Sunday–Williams-Adams gives it an element of physicality, size and a defensive piece that can slow down dynamic bigs like Virginia has. Virginia’s bigs took over at times against Vanderbilt a year ago, but they never did Sunday because of Vanderbilt’s improved defensive frontcourt. Williams-Adams should be an All-SEC preseason defensive team selection, but he probably won’t be because his efficiency metrics are far more telling than his counting stats.

Williams-Adams still appears to be finding his offensive role for this Vanderbilt team and may not be a dynamic offensive piece in November. He’s got the capability to take a step forward rapidly, though. Williams-Adams finished Sunday with four points on 2-for-3 shooting, four fouls and three rebounds. For now, he’s a borderline elite defender with the best motor on Vanderbilt’s roster.

Jayden Leverett

Leverett may have been the roster that exceeded expectations the most on Sunday. Scratch that, he absolutely was.

It would’ve been a successful day for Leverett if he demonstrated that he can play more than three-consecutive minutes and not lose his effectiveness. Leverett did that, but also asserted himself as a real offensive piece. Take some of Leverett’s best moments–which came against Virginia walk-on big man Carter Lang, a former scholarship player at Vanderbilt–with a grain of salt, but keep them in mind if he continues to flash the rest of exhibition season.

Leverett’s best moment came against 7-foot-1 Virginia big man Favor Ibe when he put Ibe in the post and babyhooked it over him for the most impressive bucket he’s scored in front of the public since joining Vanderbilt a little over a year ago. Leverett scored 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and was Vanderbilt’s second-leading scorer. He even got a shooter’s bounce on a top of the key 3-point make.

Sunday was Leverett’s day, and nothing was stopping him.

Jackson Sheffield

Vanderbilt won’t rely on Sheffield to score it much, but it’s going to be hard to keep him off the floor.

Sheffield is versatile, has a nice motor, is a good athlete, rebounds, is a good screener that created a basket with his hip on Sunday and is improving as a defender. He had a nice late-second half moment Saturday and threw down a dunk in transition, but he was 0-for-5 from the free throw line and doesn’t appear to be a threat to stretch the floor at this stage. But, Byington believes he’ll be an impactful player at some point. The question is how soon that will be the case.

Sheffield will have his moments in which he helps, but he’ll have to be more effective as a scorer.

Ethan Mgbako

Vanderbilt appears to like Mgbako and his poise, but he was outplayed by Nesmith on Sunday and it appears as if the game is a bit fast for him still.

Mgbako was held scoreless on Saturday, was 0-for-1 from the field and left plenty to be desired as Vanderbilt enters its last two scrimmages ahead of the fall.

Gabe Nesmith

Gabe Nesmith catches and shoots it in the corner in his first attempt of the day.

Looks like a tough shot maker. pic.twitter.com/I6XEXO1gyN
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) September 27, 2026

Nesmith didn’t get much of an opportunity to play alongside Tanner and Glass in the role that he’ll generally have, but man was he impressive in the role that he did have.

Watching Nesmith Sunday was watching one of the most dynamic off the bounce scorers in the country’s freshman class and indicated that he’ll be a tough shotmaker for Vanderbilt in 2026-27. Nesmith finished Sunday with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting and made a few highlight plays in the process.

Nesmith still needs to get stronger, though, and would benefit from some reps alongside Tanner and Glass in which he’s tasked with taking on a three-and-D role with some creation mixed in. Vanderbilt appears to be easing him in and gave the nod to Mgbako to check in before him.

Neither Nesmith or Mgbako are quite there yet, but one or both will have to be by league play.

Mavrick Hawkins

Vanderbilt likes Hawkins and his long-term upside, but the game still needs to slow down for him. It appears as if he’s somewhat of a longshot to be a rotational piece for this Vanderbilt team this season, but it’s not all that difficult to see what Vanderbilt likes long term.

For now, though, Hawkins had a relatively quiet day.

Chase Byington

BANG!

Baylor Allen

Allen checked in for a few seconds on Sunday. Vanderbilt needs to get him a look against UAB or Miami to see if he can match Chase Byington’s make from 3-point range.

Follow us onTwitter/X,Facebook,YouTube,Instagram,andTikTokfor the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google