Vanderbilt men’s basketball opened the 2026-27 season in convincing fashion, rolling past Bellarmine 93-47 in Nashville.
The Commodores didn’t burst out of the gate and immediately bury the game. Bellarmine was right there early, with the teams tied at 14 midway through the first half, and Vanderbilt was even getting beaten on the glass in the opening stretch. But once the Commodores settled in, the game flipped fast.
Vanderbilt ripped off a 21-2 run to seize control, turning that 14-14 tie into a 35-16 lead by leaning on its size in the paint. From there, the gap kept widening.
The Commodores carried a 44-17 advantage into halftime and kept the pressure on after the break. At one point, Vanderbilt’s run reached 50-7 in the middle stages of the first half.
Tyler Tanner set the tone for Vanderbilt’s best players. The point guard finished with 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, along with six assists and four steals.
Berke Buyuktuncel was just as important in the early separation. The big man was a force inside, finishing with 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor while adding two rebounds. His work in the paint helped spark the run that pushed Vanderbilt away from Bellarmine before the rest of the roster got fully involved.
The numbers backed up the eye test. Vanderbilt shot 60% from the field, made seven of 19 from three-point range and went 25-for-31 at the free throw line.
Defense was a major part of the story, too. After the first 10 minutes, Vanderbilt shut down Bellarmine’s offense and turned the game into a one-way stretch. The Commodores also won the rebound battle 38-20 after trailing early, with Williams-Adams leading the way with nine boards.
Vanderbilt will try to move to 2-0 later this week when it hosts Wake Forest at Memorial Gymnasium at 5 p.m. CT. It’s the second game of the home-and-home series after Vanderbilt won in Winston-Salem a season ago.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Opens Ranked Season With An Early Roster Concern
Vanderbilt tips off its 2026-27 season at home against Bellarmine with a little less backcourt depth than it expected. The Commodores enter the year ranked No. 24 in the preseason AP Top 25, a sign of the buzz around a program trying to build on last seasons performance and make an early statement in front of its home crowd.
Freshman guard Gabe Nesmith will not be available for the opener because of an injury, and the timetable for his return is still unclear. For a team trying to get its season moving in the right direction right away, the absence adds an early layer of uncertainty to a roster that was supposed to start the year with momentum. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Heads Into Mississippi State With New Questions At Key Spots
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Hampton broke a bone in his lower leg during the Kentucky game, while Broxton tore his ACL in practice and is headed for surgery. There is at least some better news on the defensive side, with EDGE Brian Allen Jr. expected to return after an ankle injury and linebackers Jamison Curtis and Jaylin Lackey back at practice, but Daniel Vollmer Jr. is likely unavailable because of a hernia, adding more uncertainty to a unit already trying to absorb the losses. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilts Final Stretch Just Got More Pressure Before Alabama
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At 3-5, Vanderbilt does not have much margin left, and every remaining game now carries real weight in the bowl chase. The stretch only gets more demanding after Starkville, with Alabama waiting later in the month at FirstBank Stadium in a game that will arrive with plenty of attention and even more pressure on the Commodores final push. [Read more 🡒]