Saturday, February 15

12:00pm CST

Thompson Bowling Arena at Food City Center Presented by Pilot/Flying J

SECN/ESPN App

102.5 FM Locally

SiriusXM 382 for Vandy Broadcast

AP: Tennessee #5, Vanderbilt Unranked

Kenpom: Tennessee 5, Vanderbilt 46

NET: Tennessee 5, Vanderbilt 42

Bracketmatrix: Tennessee 1 (I disagree, but whatever), Vanderbilt 10

PENDING RELEASE

For the second time this season, the Commodores will match up against the evil empire out east. Many of us remember the first matchup as a game that the Commodores controlled the entire second half, being up by double digits for a majority it. After a Tennessee last minute comeback, and with seconds to go in the game, Vanderbilt was up by 2 when Nashville’s own Chaz Lanier went to the free throw line with 2 shots and a chance to tie the game. He hit the first shot, but bricked the 2nd, ensuring victory for the ‘Dores. Students and fans stormed the court in Memorial Gym, showing the rest of the country that Memorial Magic is back and better than ever. Since that game, Tennessee has played inconsistently, at times resembling a national title contender, and others showing an inability to produce efficient offense. The voLs (shoutout Tyler Birmingham) are coming off a loss at Kentucky on Tuesday night, which gave Kentucky a regular season sweep of Tennessee.

Vanderbilt will be playing in their 2nd of 3 straight games against top 15 competition when they travel to Knoxville on Saturday. Coming off a hard-fought 12-point defeat to #1 Auburn on Tuesday, Vandy is hoping to bolster their NCAA Tournament with a huge road win against Tennessee. After a very slow start on Tuesday (spotting the number 1 team in the country 15 points right out of the gate, Vanderbilt showed resilient effort and fight, being down only 2 at halftime, and even taking the lead for about 3 minutes in the 2nd half. However, the highly ranked visitors pulled away late as the dominant outside shooting, coupled with Auburn’s inside presence, was too much for the Commodores to contain for 40 minutes. A non-embarrassing loss to a team as highly rated as Auburn has helped Vanderbilt in the Kempom Rankings as their SOS will keep improving every week.

Tennessee has been playing its best offensive basketball of the SEC season thus far these last few games, Kentucky aside (they really didn’t play badly, it was just that Kentucky went nuclear from behind the arc). I would expect to see Rick Barnes try to force the ball inside early, seeing how the ‘pick-and-roll lob’ was so successful for the Vols on their trip to Memorial last month. Also, if you watch the film from Vandy’s game on Tuesday, it was when Broome was able to get a consistent rhythm going that Auburn was able to pull away from the Commodores. This Tennessee team (like most) seems to be far better at shooting on their home court than on the road (even though they shot 48% from behind the arc on their trip here), so if that shooting percentage improves, the Vols will cruise to a home win. Tennessee’s offense will run through 2 main players, Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier, and look for them to try and slow the pace down through this game.

If Vanderbilt wants to join Kentucky in sweeping the orange clad team out east, then starting down 15-0 can’t be in the cards. Shots will have to fall early and the Commodores have to keep momentum and the crowd under control. After what UT fans saw in Nashville a few weeks ago, they will be out for blood. This is likely to be a very physical game, and foul control will be crucial for the ‘Dores. Vanderbilt needs availability of Manon and Carey from beginning to end.

I still believe Jason Edwards needs to be out there 30 minutes a game, even if he plays defense with 1 shoe off! His versatility on offense and incredible shot creation is far too important against a defense like Tennessee. Vandy will have to keep this from turning into a Rick Barnes rock fight and more in the Mark Byington way of running. Vanderbilt can run with anyone in the country, but the half-court offense is more of an issue, missing traditional big man on the team to occupy space down low. I also believe we can’t continue running lineups of Huffman, Tanner, Nickel, Manon, and Glock. At this point of the season, barring foul trouble, some combo of 2/3 of AJ, Jason, and Jaylen (our best 3 players) should be on the floor at all time. I don’t even mind Jaylen and Glock being in at the same time. If Vanderbilt can keep the pace going throughout this game with any long scoring droughts (we have seen plenty on the road this year), I believe the Commodores have the creative defense and shot-making ability to sweep the Vols. The Dores just HAVE to make the shots and stay out of foul trouble.

Side note: We may actually get to see Alex Hemmingway dress out Saturday

72-65 Tennessee