“Are you not entertained!?”
I’m not sure any quote can sum up the weekend in Memorial Gym like the classic line from Russell Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius in one of my favorite movies, Gladiator.
And what an entertaining weekend it was, as both basketball teams delivered a pair of thrillers, winning by the narrowest of margins against their hated rivals to the east – Tennessee. The games certainly gave the fans their money’s worth, each literally coming down to the final second.
Shout out to the fans who attended one of the games. And if you attended both games, like myself and my family, you have my deepest respect. It wasn’t for the faint of heart and if you’re like me, you probably had to up your blood pressure medication. While in the end it worked out great for Commodore Nation, both games put the fans through excruciating tension in the closing minutes.
On Saturday, the Commodores were actually in control of the game for much of the second half, leading by as much as 16 points. A pair of AJ Hoggard free throws put Vandy up 76-66 with 3:48 in the game. And then the Commodores decided to make things interesting by not scoring another point. In a frantic closing minute, Vandy held on for dear life for a 76-75 win. Chris Manon’s block of Tennessee star Chaz Lanier on the potential game-tying layup with 5 seconds left is a play that will live in Vandy lore for years to come.
On Sunday the Vanderbilt women stifled the high-scoring Lady Vols for most of the game, taking a 54-45 lead into the fourth quarter. Then the Commodores went ice-cold and allowed Tennessee to go on a 19-5 run. Things looked bleak with the Lady Vols holding a 64-59 lead with 2:17 left. Vandy fought back and took the lead 69-68 on a pair of Khamil Pierre free throws with 31 seconds left. But a defensive breakdown led to a Tennessee layup and a 70-69 deficit for the Commodores with 4 seconds left.
We’ve seen this story before, right? A great effort from Vandy, but Tennessee steals victory from the jaws of defeat at the end. Except this time, they didn’t. In the closing seconds, Pierre missed on a driving layup, but freshman Mikayla Blakes swooped in out of nowhere to put the miss back in the basket with 0.8 seconds left. Like Manon the day before, another play that will be talked about for years to come.
While not an apples-to-apples comparison, this weekend might be for Vandy basketball what the Alabama game was for the football team. Both came into the weekend with a lot of questions. The women had lost three straight games. The men lost back-to-back SEC games before squeaking by South Carolina – one of the worst teams in the league – at home 66-63.
The Tennessee men came into the game at #6 in the country with just one loss. For five weeks, they were the #1 team in the country. The Lady Vols came into the game as the #15 team in the country.
Vandy basketball has upset highly ranked teams at home before, so this isn’t quite commensurate with football beating a #1 team for the first time ever. Unlike that miraculous game in football, neither of these would be considered the biggest in program history. Still, each of these victories are the signature wins for both coaches – Ralph in her fourth season at Vandy and Byington just his 18th game coaching at Vandy. And like the football victory over Bama, these can be season-defining wins that catapult each team into bigger things than we initially thought possible.
I’ve gone on record stating I don’t believe the men quite have an NCAA tournament team. While I still believe that, after Saturday I certainly can’t completely dismiss it either. Five more victories would get Vandy to 20 wins, and an 8-10 conference record. Playing in what many have argued to be the strongest basketball conference we’ve ever seen, I’m thinking that might do it. A difficult task to be sure, but not impossible. Either way, it sure is a wonderfully refreshing change to be talking about meaningful basketball late January into February.
The amazing thing about the men’s team is how the sum of the team consistently performs better than its parts. This isn’t a loaded roster with All-SEC talent. Fans even debate who the best player on the team is… Edwards? Hoggard? What isn’t debated is they just play hard night in and night out and they won’t quit. Even in losses where it appeared the Commodores were on the verge of getting blown out, they have a knack for clawing back and at least making a game of it late. That’s a testament to their character and to Byington’s coaching. With the mess he inherited, and with a team that was picked last in the conference, if Byington does manage to coach his team to the tournament I’m not sure how he could be denied SEC coach of the year.
The women’s team, on the other hand, does have star power. Vandy has had some great players in its storied women’s basketball history, but I’m not sure they’ve ever had a duo like Khamil Pierre and Mikayla Blakes. Pierre is currently second in the SEC in scoring at 22.3 points per game and second in the league in rebounding at 10.2 boards per game. Blakes, a true freshman, is fourth in the SEC at 20.2 points per game.
The legend of Blakes has just begun with her heroics against Tennessee. I can confidently say, if she stays at Vandy for four seasons she will go down as the best player the program has ever had. The High School All-American has lived up to the hype, and then some.
