No. 22 Vanderbilt has opened the season with two comfortable wins, but Mark Byington keeps circling back to the same thing: defense.
That side of the floor will get another test Tuesday night in Nashville, where the Commodores take on cross-state foe Memphis in the third of six straight home games to start the year.
So far, Vanderbilt has looked locked in. It opened by holding Bellarmine to 47 points, then followed that with a 74-51 win over Wake Forest. The Commodores allowed just 11 combined 3-pointers on 47 attempts from those two opponents, and Byington said the early results have come against different looks.
"I thought our defense the first two games has been really good, and against different styles," Byington said. "Bellarmine holds the ball and we were getting shot-clock violations.
(Wake's) guys were trying to go. So it's different styles, and you've got to win different ways."
Vanderbilt’s defensive numbers back that up. Bellarmine shot 37% from the field, Wake Forest 35%, and the Commodores have started 2-0 while winning by an average margin of nearly 35 points.
Tyler Tanner has been central to the fast start, leading Vanderbilt in four categories at 18.5 points, six rebounds, four assists and 2.5 steals per game.
Byington also pointed to rebounding and defense as the traits that could matter most once SEC play gets rolling and road games get tighter.
"You get to the end of the season on the road, and you've got to win in some tough environments and we might not have offense," the third-year Vanderbilt coach added. "But our rebounding and our defense right now are the things we're doing well."
Memphis comes in at 2-0 as well, and the Tigers have already shown they can lean on newcomer Jayden Reid when the game is hanging in the balance.
Reid scored a career-high 32 points in 35 minutes against VCU on Saturday night, then sealed the 89-88 win by making two free throws with just under six seconds left. Memphis spent much of that game trailing before pulling it out.
Reid, who played two seasons at South Florida and the 2025-26 season at Northwestern before arriving at Memphis, said his path to west Tennessee was shaped by faith.
"My story is unique for me," Reid said. "I'm really just thankful to God.
I pray every day for moments like this, to be in positions like this. ... Once I got in the portal, I prayed a lot.
I ended up at Memphis, and we're starting off 2-0. Big-time win, a lot of emotions, just super thankful and blessed."
Memphis has another reason to feel good about where it stands after beating No. 18 Iowa State and then surviving VCU, which had been picked to win the Atlantic 10 in the preseason.
Penny Hardaway said he trusted Reid in the biggest moment.
"I just knew he was making those," the ninth-year coach said. "He wanted that moment more than anyone."
Reid is averaging 29 points per game, while Rihards Vavers is at 16. Tylik Weeks and Luke Almodovar are each averaging 12.5 points per game.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Showed Fight Vs. Vanderbilt But One Stretch Changed Everything
Mississippi State had enough fight to make the afternoon feel more competitive than the scoreboard first suggested, but the damage was done early. Vanderbilt built a 16-0 halftime lead, then had to weather a much better second-half effort from the Bulldogs, who found some life on both sides of the ball after the break. AJ Swann finished 23 of 36 for 254 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense even supplied a spark with a forced fumble returned for a score.
Still, the game turned on a stretch Mississippi State could never fully erase, and the issues that surfaced in the first half were hard to ignore. The run defense had trouble holding up, and an interception helped put Vanderbilt in control before the Bulldogs settled in. Jeff Lebby came away acknowledging the need for better coaching, a reminder that for Mississippi State, the frustration was not just about one bad quarter but about getting more consistent results from a team that keeps showing flashes without enough payoff. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Is Giving Fans A Reason To Believe Early
Two wins to open the season have given Vanderbilt mens basketball an early lift, and the first week has looked the part of a team trying to back up its preseason buzz. The Commodores handled Bellarmine and Wake Forest to start 2-0, and the early results have already shown the kind of defense and depth that can travel well once the schedule tightens.
Freshman guard Ant Brown Jr. and transfer Berke Buyuktuncel have both given the lineup a useful spark, which matters for a team trying to build something sturdier than a hot start. The bigger question now is whether Vanderbilt can keep stacking those kinds of performances while carrying the expectations that come with being one of the SECs highest-regarded teams. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Just Delivered The SEC Road Breakthrough Fans Needed
Vanderbilt walked out of Starkville with a 25-23 win over Mississippi State, a result that carried a little extra weight because it ended a long drought in that building. For a program looking for a road breakthrough in the SEC, getting one in a tight, low-margin game made the trip feel like more than just another Saturday result.
Brock Taylor was central to it all, repeatedly delivering points when the Commodores needed them most and giving the offense a steadier path through a game that stayed tight into the final minutes. Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby also pointed to the late two-point conversion try that came up short, a sequence that left the Bulldogs chasing the finish and Vanderbilt celebrating a road win it had not found there in years. [Read more 🡒]