By SCOTT FELTS
The Tennessee Volunteers traveled to Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville on Saturday to take on the 19th ranked Vanderbilt Commodores in a pivotal matchup for SEC tournament seeding.
Tennessee (20-7,10-4) survived a 3-point onslaught by dominating the paint and came out with a tough 69-65 win over Vanderbilt (21-6, 8-6).
Let’s go Beyond the Box Score to see how the game played out.
Different Styles: The game began with both teams trading the lead back and forth in the first ten minutes. It was a battle of inside game vs outside as the Vols led points in the paint 14-2 and Vandy made 5 of 8 shots from 3. Over the last ten minutes of the first half, Vandy outscored the Vols 15-10 and took a 35-31 lead into the locker room despite not scoring a field goal in the last six minutes of the half. The second half saw both teams have periods of scoring futility as they battled back and forth down the stretch in a classic in-state rivalry game.
3-Point Discrepancies: With 13:40 left to play the Vols were 1-for-8 (12%) from 3 while Vandy was 6 of 15 (40%), including an equally ugly 1-for-7 since halftime. Over the rest of the game Tennessee made three of four 3s, raising its accuracy to 33% while Vandy made only 3-for-8 down the stretch (9-23 overall) to finish 39%. Coming into the game Tennessee was shooting 35% and Vandy 36% from 3.
Paint Points Add Up: It was Tennessee’s 40-18 points in the paint advantage that helped the Vols to victory. Tennessee out rebounded Vanderbilt 39-30 and outscored them 12-6 on second half points. Nate Ament led the way with nine rebounds while Jaylen Carey grabbed seven.
Premium Point Guard Battle: Vandy’s Tyler Tanner, who tested positive for the flu on Friday, led his team in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and a 4-for-5 effort on free throws. He did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 11. On Tennessee’s side, Ja’Kobi Gillespie was also the scoring leader: 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the field and a pair of free throws in the final minute to preserve the win. Gillespie scored nine points on 4-for-9 shooting in the first half.
Nate Not Himself: Ament came into the game having scored 16 or more in 11 straight games, and posted 22 or more points in seven of those. On Saturday however, Vandy played a physical game against Ament and took him out of the game. He scored 13 points but needed 13 shots to do it, making three. That included 1-for-7 shooting in the first half. However, Ament’s afternoon did include a huge jump shot coming out of a trap with just under a minute to go to give the Vols the lead for good.
Up Next: The Vols stay on the road Tuesday night against the Missouri Tigers (18-8, 8-5). The Tigers faced 20th ranked Arkansas later on Saturday. Coming into Saturday, the Florida Gators lead the conference with two losses. Behind them, Tennessee was one of three teams tied with four losses while there were five teams with five losses.
Tip Ins: The Vols were again without J.P. Estrella with a nagging foot injury. … The Vols’ 133 wins over Vandy are the most over any opponent. …Tennessee is 15-2 in its last 17 games against the Commodores. Both losses were one-point road losses in 2023 and 2025. … Playing for Vanderbilt last year, Carey averaged 16 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 2 APG in 24.5 minutes against Tennessee. He shot 10-12 from the field and 11-15 at the line. On Saturday against his former team, Carey played 26 minutes with seven points and seven boards. … The Vols have made a 3-pointer in 501 straight games dating back to November 2011.
Bonus Tip: With his 16-point, eight-assist, eight-steal line against Oklahoma earlier this week, Gillespie became the eighth player in the last 20 years with 16 points, eight assists and eight steals against a Division I team, and the only to achieve it against a power conference foe. His eight steals set a Tennessee record, plus tied the fifth best mark in SEC history and marked second most assists ever in an SEC league game.