RECAP: A Summary of Vanderbilt's Victory Over Tennessee in the SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE – This afternoon in Bridgestone Arena, it was the Duke Miles show. The graduate senior put on a show against the Commodores' cross-state rivals. After averaging 15 points this season, Miles put up a performance to remember with a season-high 30 points, along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

After Tennessee and Vanderbilt split the regular-season series, it was only fitting that the two teams faced off in an SEC Tournament rubber match. This afternoon inside Bridgestone Arena, the Vols and Commodores faced off one last time in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

Both teams are already locked into the NCAA tournament, but were still playing for better seeding and bragging rights. With Duke Miles leading the way, Vanderbilt was able to get the victory over the Vols 75-68. Tyler Tanner added a solid 19 points and 6 rebounds to the Vanderbilt tally.

Head Coach Mark Byington praised his team's intensity postgame.

“Yeah, I mean, that was round three. Tennessee and Vanderbilt have had some terrific games this year. It's two teams that are evenly matched,” Byington said. “I just love our will to be able to pull out these last two. It's hard to beat a team in back-to-back games.”

“Where we were...I just thought our guys played super aggressive. I love it that they were just attacking the entire time,” the Commodores’ second-year Head Coach added. “Just their mentality. It was fun to coach 'em. Heck of a game. We're fortunate to be able to move on. We know as you keep going on, it gets tougher and tougher. We'll wake up tomorrow, there's going to be four SEC teams here. We're one of them.”

This was a complete performance for the first time for Vanderbilt in what feels like a long time. The Commodores played well last Saturday against the Volunteers as well, but this time, Tennessee had its star, Nate Ament, back, and Vanderbilt arguably played even better. The Commodores are playing their best basketball at the right time.

Vanderbilt’s focus now has to shift with the quick turnaround that comes with playing in a conference tournament, as it will take on the Florida Gators tomorrow afternoon. The Gators are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament and are currently ranked fourth in the nation.

Vanderbilt and Florida played back on Jan. 17 in a barn-burner 98-94 victory for the Gators in Memorial Gym. A lot has changed for both teams since that game, which saw both Rueben Chinyelu and Tyler Tanner score 20 points to lead their respective teams.

The SEC Tournament semifinal between Vanderbilt and Florida will tip off at 12 CT. The game will be played inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and live on ESPN.