Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's 88-69 Win Over SMU

NASHVILLE---Vanderbilt basketball took down SMU 88-69 on Wednesday in a battle of undefeateds. The Commodores proved something tonight.

Here's what we learned from their performance.

A performance that demonstrates Vanderbilt’s staying power

Vanderbilt shot 6-for-24 from 3-point range, looked “a little bit lethargic” according to Byington

and didn’t have Duke Miles’ best, yet it found a way to take down SMU by 19 points.

The Commodores scored 54 points in the paint–which was the high in Mark Byington’s Vanderbilt tenure–and had only 16 unassisted baskets. It fought off a tricky zone defense. It was 30-of-39 from 2-point range, which was the highest by a high-major this season. They won by 19 points with a performance that could be graded as a B.

“Here’s what’s going on with these guys,” Byington said, “That’s one of the things that we’re doing really well right now, we’re unselfish and we make plays for teammates. We’re happy for each other and we’re part of a team.”

Tyler Tanner puts on a show

Tanner is the complete package and proved to be that on Wednesday night.

The Vanderbilt point guard went for a career-high 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting, six assists, five as well as two steals. It was a demonstration of Tanner’s complete skillset. It was also his best game as a Vanderbilt player, he agrees.

“Probably so,” Tanner said when asked whether it was his best game at Vanderbilt. “They put some pressure on us with this game.  We knew it was a game we needed to win. And all of us took that personally, each in every matchup. We came out to win.”

Tanner was at the head of that effort.

Vanderbilt’s turnover issues are eradicated, it seems

Byington noted multiple times in the last week that Vanderbilt’s Atlantis trip included too many turnovers for his liking, it appears as if that messaging hit home for his team.

Vanderbilt recorded 20 assists to five turnovers and scored 1.354 points per possession on Wednesday. It appears as if that’s more like what this group will do in all reality.

“That was a big point of emphasis coming in the game,” Byington said. “We talked about ball security and ball toughness, and they had a game this year where they forced 32 turnovers, and that's what they do.  Their guards are really active. So that's been a huge point of emphasis, and I'm playing guys that should be able to do that. But the assists show that we’re sharing the ball and making shots and then we want to get a shot at every possession, so our points total will go up because we're shooting a good percentage.”

A much better crowd

Byington had made a case that his program deserved better than the crowds it was getting for its early-season buy games at Memorial Gymnasium. Now that power-five opponents are coming into the gym, Vanderbilt’s fans have answered the call.

The fanbase was engaged, loud and appeared to make an impact on Wednesday night’s game. It wasn’t peak Memorial Gymnasium, but it was good enough to feel like itself again.

“You can just feel the energy in there, the excitement in there and my thing with the crowd is they're a part of this,” Byington said. “Our guys, they love playing for Vanderbilt and alumni and the fans, the students, they want to share this journey with them. And so when people come out, like that tonight, they were a huge part of us.”