No. 24 Vanderbilt looks for revenge against No. 23 Tennessee when the Commodores visit Knoxville on Saturday in the teams’ regular-season finale.
The in-state rivals are playing for a shot at the No. 4 seed and a double-bye in next week’s SEC tournament.
The Vols (21-9, 11-6 SEC) won 69-65 at Vanderbilt on Feb. 21. The Commodores (23-7, 10-7) led by a point until Nate Ament hit a contested jumper with 54 seconds remaining to give Tennessee the lead for good.
That marked the Vols’ eighth win in nine games before they fell by four at Missouri and by two in Knoxville to Alabama. Tennessee snapped its skid with a 78-59 win at South Carolina on Tuesday behind 22 points from reserve J.P. Estrella and 20 from Felix Okpara.
The 6-foot-11 Estrella (9.8 points, 5.1 rebounds per game) missed the Vanderbilt and Oklahoma games (both wins) with a foot injury before playing six minutes against Missouri and 22 against Alabama.
Tennessee beat South Carolina without the 6-foot-10 Ament, who leads the team in rebounding (6.4) and ranks second in scoring (17.4), because of a sprained ankle. It’s unclear whether he will play Saturday.
“If it were up to Nate, he would have played (Tuesday),” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the South Carolina game. “I’ve told you guys all year, he’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever been around.”
Vanderbilt’s health has improved, though coach Mark Byington announced this week that Frankie Collins (7.8 points) is no longer with the team. He had been out with a knee injury since a Dec. 17 win at Memphis.
The Commodores got second-leading scorer Duke Miles (16.0) back for the first game with the Vols after Miles had missed the previous six games due to a knee procedure. Vanderbilt is 2-2 since his return, and Miles had post-return bests in points (16) and minutes (36) in an 89-86 overtime win at Ole Miss.
Miles’ ballhandling skills take some of the pressure off Tyler Tanner (19.0 points per game), who battled the flu in February. Tanner was spectacular (44 minutes, 34 points, seven assists, five steals) in Tuesday’s win. The Commodores’ biggest second-half lead was one point before Tanner took over and scored 10 of the team’s 13 points in overtime.
“It took everything,” Miles told Vandy on SI afterward. “Our bigs got in foul trouble, we missed some chippy ones, couldn’t get the ball to bounce our way. But it didn’t matter because good shooting night, bad shooting night, you can tell this is a team that competes and keeps fighting.”
The Commodores struggle against big, physical teams like the Vols — the country’s top offensive rebounding team, per KenPom. Tennessee held Vanderbilt to 43.3% on 2-pointers and held a 39-30 rebounding advantage in the first matchup.
Jalen Washington was a bright spot for Vanderbilt with eight points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots in 26 minutes. But he’s also fouled out in four league games this season.
Washington has trouble with physical play, and he will get a dose of that with former teammate Jaylen Carey, who got seven points and seven rebounds against Vanderbilt two weeks ago.
The Vols’ Ja’Kobi Gillespie (18.0 points per game) and Vandy’s Tyler Nickel (13.9) are also keys. Gillespie had 17 points in the first matchup, while Nickel had a season-low three and has been held below his average in each of the past five contests.
