Wednesday, March 12

Roughly 2:30 pm CST-30 min after the conclusion of the first game

While tickets are not easy to come by, they are $20 for the Wednesday session, so let’s get out there and make Bridgestone arena seem like a home game for the ‘Dores. Coach Byington and these guys have given it all for us this season, now let’s show up loud and proud and do it for them on Broadway! Let the sports announcers talk about “Bridgestone Magic” for this special team of Commodores! We made our Black-n-Gold presence known loud and proud in Birmingham last December, and downtown Nashville is a lot closer! Plus, we’ll have much more fun celebrating our victory on Lower Broadway than ‘under the overpasses’ in Birmingham, right?

***Editor's note - 230pm on Wednesday is impossible to attend for a large number of readers - but if you can attend - get your butt in Bridgestone

Bridgestone Arena

SECN/ESPN App

AP: Both Unranked

Kenpom: Texas 46, Vanderbilt 45

NET: Texas 42, Vanderbilt 43

Bracketmatrix: Texas is outside the bubble, Vanderbilt 9

Vanderbilt -1.5

per DraftKings Sportsbook

Texas makes the trip up to Nashville this week for their inaugural SEC Basketball Tournament, which is hailed to be the most talent-loaded field in history. The Longhorns limp into the tournament, dropping 8 of their last 11 games, including the finale against rival Oklahoma. Texas and Vanderbilt matched up Feb 8th in Nashville, a game where the Commodores won 86-78. If the NCAA Tournament is possible at all for the Longhorns, a deep SEC Tournament run will be necessary.

After a three-game stretch playing their best basketball of the season, it all seemed to come crashing it down for the ‘Dores last week, losing to Arkansas at home and to Georgia on the road to end the regular season. For the second straight game, the Commodores could find no consistent rhythm and were the victim of big runs by their opponents. Luckily for Vandy fans, they are still considered a “lock” for the NCAA Tournament next week, and the two losses may actually help them with seeding (getting off the 8/9 line where you would have to play a #1 seed the 2nd round). The resume still speaks for itself with five ‘quad one’ wins and a 4-3 ‘quad 2’ record.

Texas is led by future NBA standout Tre Johnson, who is averaging 20 points per game on 44% shooting, including 40% from long distance. This is going to be a desperate Texas team who knows it has to win this tournament, or at least make the finals, for their name to be called on Selection Sunday. Where the Longhorns need to improve from their last matchup against Vanderbilt is strength inside where Jaylen Carey dominated the paint with his career-high eighteen points. Arkansas and Georgia have laid a blueprint for slowing down this Commodore offense. Look for Texas to slow Vandy down and take advantage of lack of rim protection and ability to stop the quick first-step.

After two disappointing performances, the Vanderbilt Commodores need to step up Wednesday and regain momentum before going into the NCAA Tournament next week. Vanderbilt will have to get back to playing the style of ball that got them in this position in the first place - tempo and shooting. This team is at its best when they can get multiple options to create and knock down open shots, which we have not witnessed in the last two games. After his big performance against Missouri, a game many thought would be the turning point in AJ Hoggard’s season, he seemed to have disappeared in the last two games. Jason Edwards had a big hometown performance Saturday against Georgia, hopefully demonstrating that his performance last Tuesday against Arkansas was indeed a fluke. Look for another big showing from Edwards (as he is the kind of player made for these tournaments) and from Hoggard who has lots of upper-level post-season experience. I believe Vanderbilt gets it together this game for a big win to catapult them into another showdown Thursday against Texas A&M

84-72 Commodores