Mark Byington didn’t need to remember every detail of the games. He remembered the problem they created.
With Duke Miles out because of injury at times, Vanderbilt kept finding itself asking Tyler Tanner to do too much. Tanner handled it the way Byington says he does everything else - without complaint - but the workload was obvious. The coach knew it couldn’t keep happening.
“I was wearing him out,” Byington admitted after Vanderbilt’s Monday-night exhibition win over UAB. “He could throw it to somebody and go back and get it and have to do everything else.
He was getting worn out. So having somebody where he can go on and off the ball and make plays is important to him and his longevity.”
That’s why Monday offered a glimpse of something Vanderbilt may lean on more this season. When Tanner shared the floor with freshman Ant Brown, Brown handled the point duties while Tanner slid into a more off-ball role. On the possession after the inbound, Brown brought it up himself, and Tanner was already stationed on the 3-point line, ready to work into the action.
It was a different look for a player who is expected to spend most of 2026-27 on the ball as a preseason All-American point guard. But it also gave Tanner a few possessions where he could simply react instead of manage everything.
Tanner won’t live there, and nobody is pretending otherwise. Still, the chance to move off the ball here and there gives him a breather and, in his view, could make him even harder to guard.
“I think it’ll help me a lot,” Tanner told Vandy on SI. “It just allows me to play the same game I always play.”
Tanner also said the idea isn’t about turning him into a bigger scorer by force. It’s more about helping him deal with the kinds of coverages defenses will throw at him now that he sits at the top of every scouting report.
Byington sees it the same way. He said Tanner can play both spots well, and the coach clearly likes the idea of easing the burden on his star guard whenever Vanderbilt can do it.
That burden was heavy last season, when Tanner averaged 19.5 points, 5.1 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 48.5% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range. Those numbers helped land him on multiple preseason All-American lists this year, and he also finished as the SEC Preseason Player of The Year runner up.
The NBA noticed, too. Tanner was good enough to declare for the draft and had a real shot to stay in it after going to the NBA Combine and playing in both scrimmages. He said he was intent on doing whatever he could to remain in the draft, but ultimately he was viewed as a fringe first-round pick and chose to return to Vanderbilt.
He came back after hearing from NBA executives that they wanted more from him defensively in ballscreens and wanted him to get stronger. Tanner has said more than once that he’s open to anything that helps him improve, and that attitude has made this experiment an easy one to try.
He also likes the personnel around him better for it now.
“They take a lot of pressure off of me,” Tanner said. “Last year, we had Duke Miles but a lot of times [Byington] would want me to play the one most of the time.
I think [Brown] and Ace [Glass] will be able to play that one spot and we also have bigs that can bring it up. Whatever defenses and coverages they’re throwing at me, I think it’ll help me by just taking a little bit of that load off.”
Tanner still figures to be Vanderbilt’s primary engine. But for the first time in a while, he may not have to run every possession like it’s his alone.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Heads To Kentucky With Injury Questions It Cant Ignore
Vanderbilt heads into its fifth SEC game with the injury report already shaping the conversation around Saturdays trip to No. 12 Kentucky. The Commodores have been dealing with a growing list of absences, including season-ending injuries to Gunner Givens and Aaron Bryant, and the availability chart around the roster has become a weekly subplot as the conference grind wears on.
Brian Allen Jr. is also on the injured list, leaving another hole for a team that can ill afford to be thin in a matchup like this. Beyond the confirmed losses, Vanderbilt is still sorting through several players whose status is less certain, with a few names hovering in the questionable, probable and doubtful range as kickoff gets closer. [Read more 🡒]
Why Clark Lea Finally Reimagined Davin Chandlers Role
Davin Chandlers path has taken a meaningful turn in Vanderbilts secondary, where Clark Lea has formally shifted him from safety to cornerback and started using him as a nickel corner. It is the kind of move that says as much about a players adaptability as it does about a coachs willingness to rethink a roster, and Chandlers recent work has given the staff reason to keep leaning into it.
Lea has pointed to Chandlers strong play and the way he has handled the transition, with the junior carving out a useful role in recent games and adding needed depth behind a starter at cornerback. For Vanderbilt, the bigger question now is how far that versatility can carry him as the Commodores keep sorting out their defensive backfield. [Read more 🡒]
Jared Curtis Is Carrying A Big Vanderbilt Question Into This Weekend
Jared Curtis is only a freshman, but Vanderbilt is already watching him grow into more than just a highly touted quarterback prospect. The five-star has started to settle into a leadership role in the huddle even with limited college experience, and head coach Clark Lea has seen veteran players respond to the way Curtis carries himself around the program. For a team still searching for steadier results overall, that kind of progress matters as much as anything happening on Saturdays.
What makes the next stretch interesting is how much the Commodores are willing to shape around him. Curtis brings a different skill set, and Vanderbilts staff has been adjusting the offense with that in mind as the post-Diego Pavia era takes hold. If Curtis keeps building trust while the system continues to evolve, the Commodores may have a young quarterback whose development can start to change the feel of the season. [Read more 🡒]