Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's 98-67 Win Over Wake Forest

Vanderbilt basketball added another tremendous win to its rèsumè on Sunday as it took down Wake Forest 98-67 and led by as much as 34 on the way to doing so.

The Commodores are now one win away from finishing off an undefeated conference slate. Here's a few takeaways on what it took to pull it off and what it means.

Vanderbilt has had a tremendous season, and that may have been its most impressive showing yet

Byington’s team hasn’t lost and has only had one game in which it’s won by less than double digits, yet that may have been the best it’s looked through its first 12 games. It may be the best this team will look all season, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Vanderbilt shot 59.3% from the field, 50% from 3-point range, recorded 23 assists to 12 turnovers and led by as much as 34 in an eventual blowout win over a Wake Forest team that is a contender for the most talented that Demon Deacons coach Steve Forbes has had since taking the job in 2020. Even if an onlooker considers Forbes’ 2024-25 team to be more talented, Vanderbilt’s Sunday win falls in quad one and will be a boost to its rèsumè because of its margin of victory.

Sunday had a Tyler Tanner dunk that could be printed on a poster, a career day from Tyler Nickel in which the TV commentators said he was so hot that he was “not even thinking right now, he’s just catching and redirecting the ball to the basket,” a non-chalant block by Devin McGlockton that pinned the ball between the rim and the glass as well as a made 3 from Mike James–who has often had to take a backseat in favor of Vanderbilt’s other guards.

Thought it couldn’t get better for this team than it was in a blowout win over SMU or an MTE championship against Saint Mary’s? Think again.

This was a new high.

It starts with Vanderbilt’s offense

Vanderbilt had it rolling offensively on Sunday as if it wanted to prove that it deserves to be in the top 10 of KenPom’s efficiency metric.

It wasn’t only that Vanderbilt scored 98 points, it demonstrated its staying power as it got an open shot seemingly every time down the floor, got in transition nearly every time down the floor, got scoring contributions from nine different players and never had a noticeable scoring drought.

Vanderbilt’s defense was noteworthy in its own positive way on Sunday, but it would’ve had a chance even if it gave up a score most times down the floor.

How about Tyler Nickel?

Nickel was unconscious on Sunday.

“He’s not even thinking right now, he’s just catching and redirecting the ball to the basket,” an announcer said in the second half of Sunday’s game.

The Vanderbilt wing went for 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field, 8-for-10 shooting from 3-point range–which netted him a career-high in makes–and didn’t record a turnover. It was a nearly-perfect outing for the Vanderbilt standout, who has significantly improved since he stepped on the floor for Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament game against Saint Mary’s.

Nickel now has two 25-plus point performances in Vanderbilt’s last three outings.

Tyler Harris may be back to form

The outlier 3-point percentage had preceded Tyler Harris all offseason as he went in and out of Vanderbilt’s Huber Center each day for practice and individual workouts. If there’s a trait of Harris’ that was easily identifiable outside of his wiry, NBA-like frame, it was his nearly 50% 3-point shooting at Washington.

A trait like that doesn’t go away–it’s like riding a bike–but it seemed to leave Harris’ repertoire for a while. Perhaps it was confidence. Perhaps it was rhythm. Maybe it was the residual of a preseason ankle injury that kept Harris out of Vanderbilt’s final preseason exhibition. Whatever the case, something was preventing Harris from stepping up to the line with his unorthodox release and throwing it in like he did a year ago.

Harris ended the day with 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting and a few dunks that indicated his confidence is coming back.

Vanderbilt will need Mike James if it doesn’t have Frankie Collins for a significant amount of time

Even with foul trouble, James played 13 minutes on Sunday as Collins stayed home and missed the game.

Byington appeared to be looking to get James worked into the rotation on Sunday, seemingly in anticipation of missing Collins for an extended period of time.

“We’re gonna miss Frankie,” Byington said on the postgame radio. “Hopefully it’s not too long.”

James was a rotational piece at Louisville two seasons ago, but missed last season as a member of NC State’s program due to a MRSA infection. The Vanderbilt wing will have to step up moving forward like he did on Sunday.

Vanderbilt’s defense, ability to slow down Juke Harris made it a blowout

Harris–who is among the ACC’s breakout players–was inevitably going to get his, as Byington said postgame, but he didn’t have to take over the game.

On Sunday, Vanderbilt wing AK Okereke answered the call in regard to guarding Harris and held him to 4-for-15 shooting from the field. Harris scored 19 points, but never had all that much impact on the game and was never too much for Vanderbilt to handle.

Vanderbilt’s defense as a whole allowed it to get this thing out of hand as it forced Wake Forest into 35.2% shooting from the field, 19.0% shooting from 3-point range and 17 turnovers. That ultimately changed the margin of this thing significantly.