NASHVILLE - Overall, there is nothing special about the Vanderbilt men's basketball team this season. The opposite - that the Commodores are anything but special - is actually far more true, since they entered Tuesday's visit from bitter rival Tennessee standing just 6-9 overall for the season and 1-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
The 'Dores have lost on the road at Belmont, Virginia, Arizona State, Florida and South Carolina, to name but five. They've lost at home to Southern Cal, Kansas State and Middle Tennessee. They're shooting barely over 40 percent from the floor for the season, and they're committing two more turnovers a game than they force.
Yet put them inside their magical Memorial Gym on a night when they're playing string music in the Music City and they can still beguile their supporters and befuddle their opponents.
Just ask the Volunteers what Tuesday's first half was like.
Fresh off an 11-point victory over Kentucky last Saturday, the Big Orange began this game looking like the team that outscored UK's Big Blue by 19 points in the second half. UT was more powerful inside, quicker to the ball, more athletic, less dependent on the 3-ball.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes argues a call during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Vanderbilt on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)But by the end of the half the Vols were also down by 10, at least partly because that 3-ball had fallen eight times for Vandy in the first 20 minutes, which gave them a 21-point cushion from behind the arc over the Vols, who canned only one of their triple tries before intermission.
Yet that's also why the Vols and not the Commodores are in the Top 25 these days. Tennessee doesn't need the 3-ball to win. Instead, it has a bunch of power players led by sophomore forward Grant Williams and ably supported by junior Admiral Schofield who don't back down from anyone and usually find a way to power their way to victory by the end of the game.
Side note: Shouldn't a guy named Admiral Schofield play for a school whose nickname is the Commodores and whose slogan is "Anchor Down"?
But Schofield is a Vol, as is Williams, who just might be the best power player under 6-foot-8 - he's generously listed at 6-7 - in all of college basketball.
Or as former Middle Tennessee State coach Jimmy Earle said while watching Williams explode for a career-high 37 points, "He's got the touch. He reads the rim. He's quick with the ball. He's tough."
That toughness staked the Vols to a 74-70 lead with 6:18 to go, even as Vandy landed in the double-bonus on the foul line, which almost always has proven fatal for Commodores foes.
But not this time.
Over those final 378 seconds inside once-magical Memorial, the Vols briefly stretched the lead to 10 (83-73) before settling on a 92-84 victory. It moves them to 2-2 in the SEC and 11-4 overall heading into Saturday's visit from Texas A&M and proves once more that the Big Orange is most closer to being the second-best squad in this 14-team league than the 13th best squad the media predicted it to be at season's dawn.
In fact, over the last two second halves against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, Tennessee has outscored its opponents 105-68.
As for Vanderbilt, it welcomes Kentucky on Saturday afternoon and it would be folly to believe another 3-point barrage by the 'Dores wouldn't give them a shot at another huge upset to match their earlier home victory over Alabama.
Beyond that, a much-needed talent infusion will soon be on the way to Vandy. Prep All-Americans Darius Garland (Brentwood Academy) and Simi Shittu (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) will automatically make VU a winning team this time next year.
But until then, the best college basketball team in the state remains the No. 24 Vols, who scored their most points ever inside Memorial Gym.
And on nights like Tuesday, the state's best college player would seem all but certain to be the rim-reading Williams.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.