Takeaways From Vanderbilt Basketball's Battle 4 Atlantis Championship Win Over Saint Mary's

Vanderbilt basketball was dancing, cheering and celebrating by the time the Battle 4 Atlantis was said and done as a result of its 96-71, championship-sealing win over Saint Mary's.

Here's four takeaways from the Commodores' win.

Vanderbilt was incredibly sharp

Mark Byington’s team had it going and demonstrated that it’s significantly better than it was a season ago on Friday afternoon. This Saint Mary’s team may not be exactly what its 2024-25 rendition was when Vanderbilt fell to it in Cleveland, but it’s enough to give this group a measuring stick in regard to how it’s improved since the Gaels eliminated it in the Round of 64 last season.

Everything that Byington learned he had to improve as a result of that game appeared to be on display as Vanderbilt rolled to a Friday-afternoon win. The Commodores were clearly deeper, bigger and more explosive than they were a season ago.

“It’s November, we’ve got a long way to go,” Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles said. “We’re trying to get to the end goal and March to be out there playing for a national championship, so that’s the main goal.”

If Friday is any indication, this group won’t be defined by the championship it won on Friday.

Jalen Washington puts together a stellar outing

Washington set a career high with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting on Friday as he demonstrated why this Vanderbilt staff identified him as a player that could help it.

The North Carolina transfer appeared to be more assertive than he’s been throughout the first seven games of the season and had the final statline to pay for it.

“I feel like my confidence was at an all-time high in this game,” Washington–while wearing the Battle 4 Atlantis champion hat–said via the postgame Zoom press conference. “My teammates and the coaching staff, they just instill so much confidence in me, no matter how I'm doing. If I'm doing well they want me to keep going, keep getting better, if I'm not doing as well as I want to, or as I may expect, they tell me to keep going, getting better. So it's constantly reinforcing just a positive attitude, a positive outlook and just looking forward.”

Vanderbilt’s offense is on another planet these days

The Commodores are fourth in the country in KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking, have hit 100 points four times and hit 96 on Saturday against a low-tempo Saint Mary’s team that wanted to make them play in the halfcourt.

“The one thing we talked about with Saint Mary’s, they play faster this year than they did last year when we played them,” Byington said, “But at the same time we thought we could dictate pace and when they slowed it down, we had to execute in the half court. The reason why we’re scoring is because we’re sharing the ball and making good decisions.”

Byington’s team led by as much as 25, led for 39:30, shot 52.2% from the field, 42.1% from 3-point range, recorded 18 assists to its seven turnovers, it overcame frontcourt foul trouble in a way it couldn’t have a season ago and had the look of a team that could’ve easily repeated a performance like that.

Not mentioning Duke Miles first may be burying the lede

By the time this was all done, Miles had the MVP trophy in his hands and was dancing with an on-site dancer from the resort with his teeth shining.

Miles deserved every bit of the shine on Friday as he went for 25 points and broke the Battle 4 Atlantis scoring record with his total of 73 points scored over the course of the week. There’s just something about Miles–who won the tournament last season as a member of Oklahoma–in this place.

“Maybe it’s the weather,” Miles joked postgame. “Honestly, I just think it's a confidence' thing.  Just believing in yourself and having guys believing in you. When you have everybody believing in you and cheering you on, it just makes the games just come to you and makes you do everything so freely.”