By SCOTT FELTS
The 23rd ranked Tennessee Volunteers finished out their 2025–26 regular season by hosting the 24th ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday at the Food City Center. Tennessee (21-10, 11–7) fell short in an 86-82 loss against Vanderbilt (24–7, 11–7), which never trailed and led by as many as 17 points.
The Vols started the game with three of their 11 turnovers in the first five minutes and, after a four-minute scoring drought, trailed 15-2 with 14 minutes to play in the first half. Tennessee got as close as six points in the first half before Vanderbilt extended the lead back to 10, 32-22, at the break. The Vols improved their shooting percentage by 12 points in the second half, but ultimately fell behind too far to make the comeback.
How did it all go wrong? Let’s go Beyond the Box Score and break it down.
Terrific Tanner: Vandy sophomore guard Tyler Tanner leads the Commodores with 19 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. Saturday was no different as Tanner contributed 25 points on 7 of 9 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, and four steals.
Amari Fills in for Ament: With freshman forward Nate Ament, the Vols’ top rebounder and second-leading scorer, still unable to play due to his leg injury, fellow freshman Amari Evans got the start and had a career high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting. Evans paced the Vols through a rough first half with 12 of the team’s 22 points.
Gillespie Struggles on Senior Day: Ja’Kobi Gillespie found a bad time to have his worst game as a Vol as he scored only 17 points (six from the foul line) on a brutal 5-for-22 showing from the field Including 1-for-11 from 3-point range. With Ament out and Gillespie struggling, the Vols just couldn’t generate enough offense to hang around and keep it close.
Tennessee Stingy No More: The Vols had held each of their previous 10 opponents under 75 points, allowing an average of only 67 points per game in that span. But on Saturday the Commodores shot 53% (27 of 51) and scored 86, which was the most UT had allowed since Florida dropped 91 on January 10th. Even Tennessee’s normally stingy 3-point percentage defense, which leads the SEC at 30.6%, struggled on Saturday, allowing Vandy to make 50% (5 of 10) of its 3s.
Help Me, Help You: Through 31 games Tennessee, has registered 13 or more assists on 27 occasions, 17 or more assists 18 times, 20-plus eight times, and 23-plus four times. The Vols had 15 assists on 31 made shots on Saturday.
Seed Check: Friday night, ESPN‘s Joe Lunardi projected the Vols as a 5 seed in Portland, Oregon to face 12 seed Liberty in the first round. The winner would advance to play either No. 4 seed Virginia or No. 13 seed California Baptist in the second round.
Up Next: The SEC Tournament in Nashville. The Vols have tied for fourth in the final standings, clinching a top four SEC finish for the fifth straight year and eighth time in the last nine. But with the loss, UT enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face the winner of the No. 12 vs. No. 13 game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Tip Ins: Tennessee’s record against AP Top 25 teams at home under Rick Barnes fell to 24-10. … The Vols are 15-3 in their last 18 games against Vandy, it was the first loss at home to the Commodores in the last nine games. … Saturday was the ninth time in series history Tennessee and Vanderbilt met with both teams ranked in the AP Top 25. … In the win earlier this season Tennessee held Vanderbilt without a made field goal for 9:13, forcing 11 straight misses. … Last season in Knoxville, UT came back from a 16 point deficit to Vandy to win by five, 81–76, in what was the fifth largest comeback in the program’s history. … Just three of Tennessee’s 31 games this season did not include a lead of 10 or more points for either team. Tennessee is 2-1 in those games.