Vanderbilt Basketball’s Defense Shines Despite Offensive Struggles

The Commodores stepped up defensively when they needed to.

Dec 17, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Tigers guard Sincere Parker (23) drives against Vanderbilt Commodores guard Tyler Nickel (5) during the second half at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt walked into FedEx Forum looking to renew an in-state series with the Memphis Tigers, but probably did not quite have the game it necessarily expected. Vanderbilt won the game 77-70 in overtime, but it was a noticeably sloppy game from Vanderbilt offensively.

Vanderbilt struggled to shoot from the floor with just 27 percent shooting from the floor in the first half. The Commodores put up just 28 points by halftime, its worst first half performance of the season by 12 points. On top of that, Vanderbilt turned the ball early and often as it finished the night with 20 turnovers.

But when Vanderbilt’s offense struggled, it was its defense that helped pick up the slack. The Commodores put on a show defensively, especially in the first half. They were able to force Memphis into 10 turnovers in the first half alone and turned it into 10 points, which made a huge difference in a 7-point halftime lead.

"What I'm proud of is we made a lot of mistakes, but we found a way," Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said.

Vanderbilt guard Duke Miles was a major player on defense, coming up with three steals through the first 20 minutes and had three more the rest of the game. 

Vanderbilt did a nice job defensively to start the second half. The Commodores came away with two early turnovers from Memphis that helped build an 11-point lead in the early stages of the half. Little did they know, they would need those points. Memphis punched back off Vanderbilt’s and erased the Commodores’ double digit lead and even took the lead a couple different times in the later stages of the second half.

But again, Vanderbilt’s defense stood tall when it needed to, making the stops that played major roles in the victory. Vanderbilt forced Memphis to shoot 4-for-10 in overtime while the Tigers missed all their three-pointer attempts as well. 

The biggest sequence in the game occurred with two minutes remaining in overtime. Vanderbilt held a 68-66 lead and it stepped up defensively as forward AK Okereke grabbed a defensive rebound and passed it off to Miles, who hit two free throws to make a multiple-possession game. 

The next possession, Vanderbilt’s defense pressured and sped up the Memphis offense as Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner stole a pass from Memphis’ Hasan Abdul Hakim for the Commodores’ 20th takeaway of the game. The end result of the possession was Tanner passing it off to Miles, who hit two more clutch free throws and helped Vanderbilt gain full control over Memphis.

"To be able to get off the mat. A lot of teams would be down and dejected because you're on the road and in overtime and they got some momentum. We came right back out and Duke [Miles] was terrific in overtime. He really made some good plays," Byington said.

In total, Vanderbilt forced 20 Memphis turnovers while holding the Tigers to 35 percent shooting overall and 20 percent shooting from three-point range. Vanderbilt also won the battle on the glass 49-40. In short, Vanderbilt’s defense won the game and made winning plays on a night it had to down the stretch. The maturity of Vanderbilt showed on the defensive end against a less-experienced Memphis team. 

This defensive performance should not come as a total surprise to anybody. Statistically, Vanderbilt is one of the more underrated defenses in college basketball so far. Vanderbilt entered the game as the 29th best defense in college basketball, according to KenPom stats. It is also 38th-best in opponent field goal percentage and 28th in opponent offensive rebound percentage, meaning it allows the 28th least amount of offensive boards to its opponents.

For all the talk about how efficient Vanderbilt has been the vast majority of the season on offense, the Commodores proved Wednesday night that they can win with defense as well, which they will likely need come SEC play.