Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's 86-82 Win Over Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, TN—That's the type of day that Vanderbilt basketball will remember for a long time.

It hadn't won in this place in a long time, but there it was celebrating as it ran to the tunnel at Thompson-Boling Arena after a 86-82 win over the Volunteers.

Here's a few takeaways regarding the magnitude of that win.

That’s Vanderbilt’s best win of the year

Byington’s team was the better team on the floor for nearly all of Saturday’s game, it led the whole way and it didn’t show any signs of only getting this done because of Ament’s absence. This was about Vanderbilt–as was the last game it played against Tennessee, which it believes it put together a below-average performance in–and it had no doubt about that.

“We knew that if we played even close to our potential that we were going to win this game,” Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke told Vandy on SI. I think this is probably our best road win of the season and we were really looking for that key road win. Obviously good teams, they not only win on the road, but they beat good teams on the road.”

Vanderbilt did that on Saturday and did it in this place for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Tennessee has owned this series for a long time, but it doesn’t appear as if its grip is all that firm anymore.

That indicates that Vanderbilt has a chance to make a run here

Not only did that give Vanderbilt a double bye in the SEC Tournament and all but cement it as a five seed in the NCAA Tournament, but it indicates that Vanderbilt can do something when it gets there.

It indicates that Vanderbilt didn’t necessarily peak early.

“This was a huge win,” Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner said. “We knew we needed it and that it was going to be a fight from start to finish. We want to peak at the right time and it's not January or December, February, it’s in March and hopefully April. This is a huge win for us just being the stay together and fight through adversity.”

Vanderbilt’s defense was the difference

Invalidate this on the basis of Nate Ament–who averages 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game–being absent from the lineup due to injury all you want, but that was also plenty about Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt held Tennessee to 82 points on 44.3% shooting from the field and 25.0% shooting from 3-point range. The Volunteers turned it over 11 times, which resulted in 11 Vanderbilt points. Tennessee guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie went for 17 points on 22 shots while turning it over five times.

Vanderbilt was better offensively than it’s been, but it seemingly always had some breathing room on Tennessee because of the way it was able to defend. Say what you will about Tennessee’s offense and the extenuating circumstances, but Vanderbilt guarded at a high level on Saturday.

That made the score what it was.

Tyler Tanner was the best player on the floor

Tanner went for 25 points and only missed two shots over the course of Saturday’s game.

Yes, really.

There wasn’t any question as to who the star of the show was on Saturday. It was Tanner. Vanderbilt had other good performances elsewhere on the roster, but Tanner ran this thing and allowed Vanderbilt to pick up perhaps its biggest win since his arrival last season.

“That kid is special, it doesn’t surprise me at all,” Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke told Vandy on SI. “He’s amazing every single day, whether it’s games, practice or an off day.”

How about that start for Vanderbilt?

Before Tennessee could blink, it was down 15-2. Vanderbilt had already turned over Ja’Kobi Gillespie three times, scored a few in transition and hadn’t lended much credence to the idea that Tennessee was going to shut it down.

Vanderbilt has lacked a truly complete game since it beat Kentucky at Memorial Gymnasium, but the early stretch in Knoxville was perhaps the closest thing it’s had to it since the Nashville ice storm.

Duke Miles had it going. Vanderbilt wasn’t missing open runs around the rim. It shut down Tennessee. It had far more energy.

That’s been missing for too long. It wasn’t Saturday, though.