It’s hard to know exactly how much to read into Vanderbilt’s 76-68 exhibition win over Virginia on Sunday, but there was plenty in Charleston to like if you’re sizing up this roster for the first time. The game came in the LinkU Invitational, an outdoor event played at a converted tennis stadium, and it was the first exhibition of the college basketball season. Even with all the caveats, Vanderbilt spent most of the day in control and won the half in which both teams played their starters.
The score itself won’t change much about how anyone views this team, and it doesn’t suddenly reveal some hidden truth about the season ahead. What it did do was back up a lot of what Byington and his staff have been saying about this group, both in broad terms and in the smaller details that show up when a team actually has to play. Vanderbilt outplayed a top 25 team in the country, and that’s not nothing.
The most interesting part may have been how familiar the rotation looked. Byington opened with Tyler Tanner, Ace Glass, Chandler Bing, Berke Buyuktuncel and Bangot Dak, which lines up with the starting group Vandy on SI had projected for opening night. When the first substitutions came, Ant Brown, Jayden Leverett and Sebastian Williams-Adams were the first bench players in, which also fits the idea of how Vanderbilt’s initial real-game rotation could look.
That doesn’t mean the staff is locked into anything, but it does suggest there haven’t been any major surprises to scramble the pecking order. The one obvious wrinkle is Missouri transfer TO Barrett, who seems to be getting closer to returning. The indication is that he’ll be in the rotation once he’s back on the floor.
The bigger takeaway was physical. This wasn’t about whether Dak, Buyuktuncel, Leverett or Williams-Adams piled up points.
It was about whether they could stand up to a Virginia frontcourt that’s among the best in the country, and Vanderbilt answered that part of the test. Virginia’s bigs still got theirs, but the Commodores didn’t get bullied.
They rebounded better than Virginia, blocked shots at a higher rate than they did in almost every game last season and never looked overmatched at the four and the five.
Byington seemed willing to trade some shooting to get that kind of frontcourt stability, and Sunday made it look like that bet may pay off.
The shooting numbers, though, are the one area that can’t be judged too harshly from this setting. Vanderbilt went 6-for-18 from 3-point range and 10-for-27 from the free throw line, but this wasn’t a normal shooting environment. One end of the court was in the sun and the other was in the shade, and that’s not exactly a setup built for clean perimeter looks or any meaningful long-term conclusions.
Still, there were a few individual moments worth circling. Brown showed growth on one possession when he grabbed a tap-out offensive rebound from freshman big man Jackson Sheffield, passed up a contested 3 from the left wing, pump faked into a ballscreen and found Sheffield rolling to the rim.
Sheffield finished the play at the line. Brown had a freshman moment on the next trip when he forced a pass and settled for a tough contested floater that missed, but he bounced back with a pair of flashy assists to Gabe Nesmith and Sheffield to help close the game.
That stretch may have been the most important individual sequence of the day for Vanderbilt’s long-term outlook. Byington said this summer that Brown is more than just a scorer, and Sunday backed that up.
Leverett also made the most of his chance. A successful day for him would have meant showing he could stay effective beyond a few minutes at a time, and he did that while also giving Vanderbilt real offense.
Some of his better work came against Virginia walk-on big man Carter Lang, a former scholarship player at Vanderbilt, so that comes with a little context. But his best moment came against 7-foot-1 Virginia big man Favor Ibe, when he backed him down in the post and finished with a babyhook for the most impressive bucket he has scored in public since joining Vanderbilt a little over a year ago.
Leverett finished with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting, was Vanderbilt’s second-leading scorer and even got a shooter’s bounce on a top-of-the-key 3.
Sunday belonged to Leverett, and nobody was stopping him.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Has A Chance To Change How Fans See This Team
Vanderbilt comes into this matchup at 3-1 with a chance to do more than just hang around with one of the SECs heavyweights. After a loss to Auburn, the Commodores now get a shot at Georgia, which has opened the year 4-0 and climbed to No. 2 in the national rankings after taking care of Arkansas and Oklahoma in its first two league games. For Vanderbilt, the setting is about more than the scoreboard - it is another opportunity to show that this start is not a fluke and that the program can be taken seriously in a conference where credibility is earned quickly.
Georgia, though, brings the kind of pressure that has made these games so difficult to turn into statement wins. Raylen Wilson has been central to the Bulldogs defense, leading the team in tackles, sacks and forced fumbles, and the betting markets still lean toward the SEC power that has already looked the part of a contender. For Vanderbilt, the intrigue is whether this is the kind of night that changes the conversation around the Commodores, even if the final answer is still waiting to be written. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Faces Its Biggest Composure Test Yet At Georgia
Clark Lea and a pair of his players spent the buildup to Vanderbilts trip to No. 2 Georgia talking less about the noise around the matchup and more about the work it will take to survive it. Junior Sherrill and Bryan Longwell joined their coach in acknowledging the obvious edge Georgia brings, from the history between the programs to the challenge of playing in Sanford Stadium, while Vanderbilt continues trying to define its offensive identity and keep its focus on preparation and execution.
For the Commodores, this is as much a composure test as it is a football game. They know the setting will be unforgiving and the margin for error slim, but the message from inside the program has been consistent: stay grounded, trust the plan and avoid getting pulled into the outside expectations that come with facing one of the sports premier teams. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Heads To Georgia With Little Margin For Error
Vanderbilt heads to Sanford Stadium on October 3 knowing the margin is already thin in a season that has left little room for a setback. The matchup with No. 2 Georgia is only the next stop on a brutal stretch, one that underscores how difficult the Commodores closing run will be with seven of their remaining eight games coming against ranked opponents.
Still, there is enough individual production on the roster to give Vanderbilt a reason to keep showing up with confidence. Junior Sherrill, Nick Rinaldi, CJ Heard and Sedrick Alexander have all supplied meaningful pieces of the puzzle, and their work has helped the Commodores stay competitive even as the schedule stiffens. What matters now is whether those efforts can travel into one of the toughest venues in the SEC and keep Vanderbilt from losing ground before the hardest part of the calendar truly opens up. [Read more 🡒]