"We're Gonna Play Them Again," Vanderbilt Players Aren't Backing Down From Tennessee Despite Loss

NASHVILLE—-Through the overwhelming disappointment that came with these two Vanderbilt seniors dropping their only chance at beating Tennessee in a home game, AK Okereke and Jalen Washington had a message to share..

It’s almost as if Okereke and Washington had rehearsed this in the quick walk through the back hallway from the Vanderbilt locker room to the media room. Whether they did or not, they were on the same page.

Maybe Vanderbilt dropped its home matchup to Tennessee, its in-state rival. Maybe it was far from its best in the process. That doesn’t mean it has to lose the season series to the Volunteers, though.

“The best thing about it is that we’re gonna play them soon,” Okereke said. “That’s all that’s on our mind, really. We’ll focus on the next game first and then we’ll play them again.”

Vanderbilt basketball — Feb 21, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores forward Ak Okereke (10) looks over the defense against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt had its chance at taking down Tennessee at Memorial Gymnasium, but that chance has all but evaporated. This Vanderbilt team can do a lot the rest of the way—and every indication is that it will—but it can’t say that it beat Tennessee at its place. That’s a heartbreaking reality for a program that cares deeply about this rivalry, but it’s not the end for it.

That doesn’t even mean that it will lose the season series to Barnes’ team. Vanderbilt heads to Thompson-Boling Arena on Mar. 7 and will do so with what happened Saturday in mind.

“We’re gonna play them again,” Vanderbilt big man Jalen Washington said. “It’s [about] just improving on what we did wrong, or didn’t do well, in this game and it’s just building on what works for us and keeping our heads up because we’ve still got six games to play and we still got goals we want to reach.”

This Vanderbilt team is on track to challenge the program’s wins record, earn a seed in the NCAA Tournament that is among the highest in program history and has real, attainable aspirations of getting out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This still has the potential to be the most successful season in Vanderbilt’s program history despite what happened on Saturday, and its players appear to know it.

In the context of the season this group has had, it only felt right that this team would find a way to win this one–particuarly since it was favored–but oftentimes fate falls flat in regard to logic and the grind of an SEC schedule.

Turns out reality doesn’t care much about history. It cares far more about Vanderbilt stars Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles, respectively, having the flu and coming back from a prolonged absence. It puts far more stock into Tanner missing the potential game-tying 3 at the end of the game, Okereke missing a fadeaway in the final minute and Tyler Nickel missing a momentum-swinging late-game 3, as well.

Vanderbilt players know the magnitude of this rivalry, but they also know that this doesn’t define their season. They know that the defining moments will come in March rather than on a February Saturday in which Tennessee guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie flexed the name on the front of his jersey, the Tennessee fans in the crowd sang Rocky Top and its players declared that Memorial Gymnasium is their house.

This program still hasn’t won this rivalry much in recent memory, though. It’s lost four of the last five to Tennessee, is 1-3 against the Vols since Mark Byington’s arrival and the program had lost 11 in a row to Tennessee prior to its 2022-23 win in which Tyrin Lawrence beat the Vols at the buzzer.

Perhaps early March could be the time for that to change.