It sounded a bit cliche at the time, but it's been effective.

As his team geared up for its opener against Maryland Eastern Shore, Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington designated his entire roster as point guard . The first-year coach declared that he wanted his players--tall and short-- to think and act like point guards.

So far that declaration looks more genius than cliche.

As a result, Vanderbilt has found the recipe to overcoming its deficiencies.

Mark Byington's team has overcome shooting just 31.9% from 3-point range and the lack of an interior presence by merely creating opportunities for itself.

Through 12 games Vanderbilt hasn't necessarily needed to outshoot its opponents or overwhelm them. It's found a way to build in a margin for error--and to win--without doing those things. For the mostpart it's been as simple as taking more shots.

Vanderbilt has done that in seven of its 12 games coming into Saturday afternoon and had taken an average of 11 more shots than its opponents in those games despite often being out-rebounded.

That's a result of its offensive turnover percentage of 12.6, which was the best in America heading into Saturday. Vanderbilt's 8.9 turnovers per game were also tied for the country's best mark. The Commodores likely lost those spots after a 17-turnover performance against Austin Peay, but that shouldn't change the narrative.

What it did in terms of ball security leading up to Saturday has been incredibly impressive, particularly with a group full of transfers. It's also impressed with the way it's disrupted.

Vanderbilt has complemented its ball security with a defensive turnover percentage of 22.8, which was 15th in the country as of Saturday according to KenPom.

It's not that Vanderbilt is just turning its opponents over, either. It's scoring off of their turnovers at a rapid rate. Byington's team has outscored its all of its opponents in points off of turnovers in 11 of its 12 games while generating an average of 23.6 points off of turnovers per game.

Vanderbilt point guard Tyler Tanner is a microcosm of its excellence in the turnover department. In that regard, the freshman guard has looked like a veteran.

Through 12 games, Tanner has 28 assists, 29 steals and has yet to commit a turnover. That's unheard of. Like, really unheard of. Especially for a freshman.

Vanderbilt's veteran guards haven't been too shabby, either.

Veteran guard came into Wednesday averaging 4.2 assists per game to 1.9 turnovers while his counterpart Grant Huffman entered the day posting 2.8 assists and 1.1 turnovers a night.

Vanderbilt's point guards are playing like veterans and all of its players are playing like point guards, whether Saturday reflected that or not.