Vanderbilt Stuns No. 6 Tennessee

The Vanderbilt Commodores took down the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers 66-65 on Wednesday night. The “Memorial Magic” was back in Nashville as Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence knocked down a buzzer-beating three-pointer to seal the victory. With the win, Vanderbilt snapped its 11-game losing streak against Tennessee.

This win improved the Commodores record to 12-12 on the season as Tennessee fell to 19-5.

DORE. DUB. pic.twitter.com/uz7K6dxuR5

— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) February 9, 2023

Competitive First Half

It was a back-and-forth first 20 minutes between the in-state rivals.

Tennessee’s Julian Phillips opened the scoring with a mid-range jump shot, but Lawrence answered with a jumper of his own to tie the game early.

After a Tobe Awaka second-chance bucket with 11:38 to play in the half, Tennessee led by five. With the score 18-13, the Vols had what ended up being the largest lead for either side all game.

With under a minute left in the first, Vandy’s Liam Robbins dunked over two Tennessee defenders to pull back within two. This brought the crowd to its feet and injected some life into the old Memorial Gymnasium.

https://twitter.com/VandyMBB/status/1623482188598743040

At the end of one, Tennessee led 34-32.

Improbable Ending

The second half was a repeat of the first.

After five minutes of play in the half, Awaka made another jumper to extend the lead back to five for the Vols.

With under 30 seconds to play in the game, Tennessee led 65-63. Robbins missed a shot for Vanderbilt and it was rebounded by Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler. Phillips had an opportunity for an open dunk after Zeigler’s rebound but decided to hold onto the ball and wait for a Commodore foul.

Vanderbilt had just two team fouls so they had to take five-straight to send the Vols to the line. Santiago Vescovi missed the front end of a one-and-one and Lawrence secured the rebound. Vanderbilt’s head coach, Jerry Stackhouse, called a timeout with 4.8 seconds left to draw up a play to win it.

Off the inbound, Ezra Manjon drove to the left side of the lane and kicked the ball out to Lawrence who was wide open in the right corner. Lawrence coolly knocked down the game-winner and the celebration was on in Nashville.

TYRIN LAWRENCE!!!!

DORES WIN!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/JLG5f4Y4iv

— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) February 9, 2023

Key Players

Vanderbilt’s Lawrence led all scorers with 19 points on 8-12 shooting, including the game-winning three-pointer. Robbins also played well for the Commodores, racking up 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Jordan Wright added 12 off the bench in the winning effort.

For Tennessee, Vescovi and Tyreke Key led the team with 14 points each.

Vanderbilt Heads to Gainesville

The Commodores will hit the road this weekend to take on the Florida Gators. Tipoff is set for 3:30 pm on Saturday in the O’Connell Center.