Memorial Magic is alive and well. After a painfully long stretch of stagnant Vanderbilt offense, a bad foul, and a Chaz Lanier missed free throw, the Vanderbilt Commodores beat the #6 Tennessee Volunteers 76-75. Jason Edwards led the Commodores with 18 points, Chaz Lanier led the Volunteers with 17.
Overview
The 16-1 Tennessee Volunteers traveled down I-40 to the friendly confines of Memorial Gym to take on the 14-3 Vanderbilt Commodores coming off a last second victory over South Carolina. The Volunteers suffered their first conference loss of the season by 30 points at the hands of the Florida Gators. Since that loss, Rick Barnes and the men clad in orange have seemed to turn things around with 2 straight victories. One on the road against Texas 74-70 and one at home against Georgia, 74-56.
Going into the game, according to Joe Lundardi’s Bracketology, Tennessee was a projected #1 seed and Vanderbilt was the last team in the field of 68. The Commodores came into the game as a significant underdog according to Vegas, but not as large of an underdog as some fans expected – just 7.5 points. This game presented an incredible opportunity for the Commodores to secure a key resume building victory while also beating their hated in-state rival.
1st Half
Vanderbilt started the game strong, a Jason Edwards 3 opened things up, then an AJ Hoggard jumper, then a Tyler Nickel 3 coming off of a Chris Manon steal. Vanderbilt held an 8-3 lead early before a Jordan Gainey bucket cut the lead to 8-6 with 16:41 left in the first half.
Tennessee proceeded to seemingly take control after that, Igor Milicic Jr knocked down a 3, as did Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler. Tennessee had a 19-11 lead with 12:02 remaining. Key points from AJ Hoggard, Jason Edwards, and Devin McGlockton helped the Commodores climb back throughout the remainder of the first half. Eventually Vanderbilt retook the lead 30-28 on a Jaylen Carey layup with 5:23 left on the clock. The half ended on a HUGE 4 point play from Tyler Nickel, giving Vanderbilt momentum and a 41-35 lead headed into halftime.
2nd Half
Tennessee came out of the gates hot, cutting the Vanderbilt lead to 1 point within the first 2 minutes of the second half. A Tyler Nickel three, followed immediately by a Jason Edwards three quickly stifled the Tennessee run. Vanderbilt went on to hit 5 of their first 6 3-point attempts in the second half, the final one from AJ Hoggard to extend Vanderbilt’s lead to 12, 60-48 with 14:20 left.
Vanderbilt maintained a double-digit cushion for the next 10 minutes of game action. Aggressive defense, efficient offense, and a solid post presence from Jaylen Carey inside helped the Commodores stave off the talented Volunteers. As all Vanderbilt fans were telling themselves, “a run is coming”, and that is exactly what happened.
Vanderbilt’s offense went into complete “kill clock” mode with under 5 minutes remaining. The offense that was moving the ball around, taking good shots, finding the open guy, all of a sudden was playing iso ball, turning the ball over, and launching bad shots as the shot clock expired. Tennessee quickly cut a 10 point Vanderbilt lead with 2:51 remaining to just a 4 point lead with 1:29 left. Vanderbilt was unsuccessful on their offensive possession leading 76-72, Tennessee proceeded to draw a foul on Jason Edwards and Zakai Zeigler knocked down 2 free throws, 76-74.
AJ Hoggard missed a wide open 3 point jumper on Vanderbilt’s following possession, Milicic grabbed the rebound for Tennessee, and Chris Manon came through with a game saving block on a Chaz Lanier driving layup attempt. Grant Huffman saved the ball to Freshman Tyler Tanner, who was fouled with 4 seconds left.
At the line, 1 and 1, Tanner missed the first free throw. Tennessee grabbed the rebound and Tanner inexplicably fouled Chaz Lanier with his body with 2 seconds left, stopping the clock and sending Lanier 90 feet the other direction to the free throw line.
Free throw number 1 – SWISH
Cuts the Vanderbilt lead to one, 76-75
Free throw number 2 – MISS
Ball bounces around and Mark Byington secures his first signature victory. Vanderbilt beats #6 Tennessee 76-75 and the fans storm the court.
Jaylen Carey is TDR’s MVPG (Most Valuable Point Guard) of the game
