Three Keys and a Prediction: Vanderbilt Basketball vs. Tennessee

NASHVILLE—There Ja’Kobi Gillespie was running off the floor in front of the small contingent left at Bridgestone Arena when it all sunk in.

In this place tomorrow, Vanderbilt and Tennessee will meet one final time this season with the season series on the line. Vanderbilt took one from Tennessee in Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, but the Volunteers have a chance for revenge on Saturday.

Here’s what Vanderbilt needs to do in order to find a way to win.

Hold Tennessee to a reasonable rebounding number

Tennessee will be more physical and has a better frontcourt than Vanderbilt does, it will likely outrebound it. That’s okay, though. This just can’t get out of hand. It hasn’t either time these teams have played, so maybe the rebounding numbers won’t hurt Vanderbilt as much as perception would indicate.

Last time, Tennessee outrebounded Vanderbilt by less than 10 and didn’t impose its will on the interior. That was almost surprising considering Tennessee is No. 1 in the country in offensive rebounding. This was the second-consecutive time that's happened.

Perhaps Vanderbilt can do it one more time.

Can Tyler Nickel get it going?

Nickel admits that he’s had some uncharacteristic poor performances down the stretch of the season, but appears to feel as if he’s turned a corner a bit individually as Vanderbilt has found itself as a whole. He says Tennessee was guarding him in a way that has made him feel as if he’s at the top of the scouting report, but that was alright by him.

In Vanderbilt’s five games prior to its win over Tennessee, Nickel had made just 9-for-42 of his shots from 3-point range. In the four games before, he’d gone just 6-for-33. Prior to Vanderbilt’s Saturday win, Nickel hadn’t shot over 50% from the field in a game since Feb. 14.

The indication, though, is that Vanderbilt hasn’t urged Nickel to change much of anything since his initial slump began.

“There's no change there, our entire team has confidence in him,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “He has confidence in himself.  Sometimes you’ve got to look at Steph Curry, he has some bad shooting nights and missing some shots and all that. I thought he was really productive in Tennessee. Even without making shots, he had five tough rebounds.  He did make a huge 3 and another one, his foot was on the line. It was almost another shot. Made two crucial free throws.  What I like about a guy like him is he knows what the SCC tournament's about, he also knows what the NCAA tournament's about, and he'll play big coming up.”

Can Vanderbilt keep peaking at the right time?

Vanderbilt still isn’t the favorite these days, but it’s got the first two days of this thing off and only has to win three games to end this thing as a champion. Byington says he doesn’t anticipate any sort of home-court advantage at Bridgestone Arena for his team this week.

He does appear to believe that it can win this whole thing, though.

“I thought defensively, if you looked at us against Tennessee, I thought that was the best version we've been with this group in a while,” Byington said. ”We have more weapons, we can share the ball, we can pass, we're more versatile, and this is a group that we anticipate is our best group. And I'm glad they're rolling at the right time.”

Prediction: Vanderbilt: 81, Tennessee: 78

It will be a thriller with Nate Ament on the floor, but Vanderbilt appeared to turn the corner on Saturday in Knoxville. Perhaps it can keep it up.