The Morning After: Vanderbilt Stuns Tennessee At The Buzzer

Tyrin Lawrence's corner three caps off a hot shooting night from the Commodores. Tennessee drops behind Texas A&M in SEC standings after the loss.

Tennessee's defense was due for some regression. Opponents against the Vols had not just been shooting poorly but shooting poorly on open shots. Vanderbilt was never going to be an easy out, considering the games these two teams have recently played. Eventually, someone was going to make those open shots, and it happened to come in a game that Tennessee could not feel okay about losing. 

The game's final sequence went like this: Vanderbilt, down two, had to foul four times in a row just to get Tennessee to the line for a one-and-one. After nearly turning it over on the final inbounds, Santiago Vescovi went to the line with eight seconds to shoot Tennessee's first free throw attempt of the half. The Vols only shot three free throws the entire game, with the third being a miss from Vescovi. Jerry Stackhouse got a timeout with four seconds left and set up a play where Ezra Manjon got the ball on a handoff, collapsed the defense on his drive, and kicked the ball to the opposite corner to a wide-open Tyrin Lawrence.

TYRIN LAWRENCE!!!!

DORES WIN!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/JLG5f4Y4iv

— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) February 9, 2023

While the game was neck and neck the entire way, it's tough to say Tennessee deserved to win it. Vanderbilt hit ten threes, and it felt like they were the more aggressive offensive team. Manjon and Jordan Wright especially were excellent when Zakai Zeigler went to the bench with three fouls. The Commodores finished the night with 1.140 points per possession on just 57 possessions. They do like to play slow, so it's not like Tennessee got beat playing at their pace by a team that likes to play fast.

While this is certainly a loss that will sting, there were some positives to take away. The Vols got some great production out of their bench, as Tyreke Key and Tobe Awaka had 14 and eight points, respectively. The Vols also out-rebounded Vanderbilt by eight. The two problems from the first game were that they couldn't contain Liam Robbins (13 points tonight), and Tennessee didn't force turnovers (9 for Vanderbilt tonight).

If Tennessee wants to get to a final four for the first time under Rick Barnes, they will have to figure out how to win games where their opponent shoots well. They can't bank on teams missing open shots forever because, eventually, regression will come. The Vols will have a chance to bounce back home against Mizzou on Saturday.

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