The Vanderbilt Commodores will invade the Food City Center on Saturday afternoon hoping to pull off a season sweep of Tennessee.
They’re also the first unranked team the Volunteers will have hosted in 2025.
Vanderbilt pulled out a 76-75 triumph over Tennessee inside Memorial Gym on Jan. 18, which was sealed by a missed Chaz Lanier free throw and resulted in a court storming by the Commodores faithful. The surprise outcome gave Vanderbilt first-year coach Mark Byington a positive start in the in-state rivalry, with Rick Barnes and the Vols having won 13 of the previous 14 series meetings.
“They’ve improved, and I’d like to think that we’ve improved, too,” Barnes said Friday in a news conference. “They did a good job in their ball-screen offense, and I would like to see us shoot the ball better. At some point in time, we’re going to have to make shots.
“Even with that, we’ve proven we can hang in there.”
The No. 5 Vols are 20-5 overall and 7-5 in Southeastern Conference play heading into the contest, which tips shortly after 1 on the SEC Network. The Commodores are 17-7 overall and 5-6 within the league, which according to ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi would have 14 representatives in the NCAA tournament if the 68-team field started today.
Tennessee will enter Saturday seeking atonement on two fronts: the one-point defeat in Nashville and the 75-64 loss at Kentucky on Tuesday night. Zakai Zeigler’s layup with 4:50 remaining put the Vols up 60-58 inside Rupp Arena, but the Wildcats closed on a 17-4 run.
“We gave up too many points when we played in Nashville, and that’s not us,” Vols senior guard Jordan Gainey said Friday. “We need to lock back down and get back to our identity on defense.”
Kentucky shot 50% from the floor (26-of-52) and from 3-point range (12-of-24) against the Vols, who still lead the nation in field-goal defense (36.7%) but have slipped to third in 3-point goal defense (27.5%) and fourth in scoring defense (59.5 points allowed per game).
Barnes on Friday was still taking just as much issue with offensive struggles in Lexington.
“For guys who are at this level for the first time, there is a learning curve in learning that it’s difficult to finish,” he said. “We had chances in that game and situations where we could have driven the ball, and we settled for 3s when there was a lane wide open. We’ve got guys who want to win, but if they’re not seeing the game as it’s unfolding like that, it’s part of that learning curve.”
Slumping Dubar
Fifth-year senior guard Darlinstone Dubar scored 12 points in 17 minutes during Tennessee’s 74-70 triumph at Texas on Jan. 11, but that did not serve as a springboard for more of the same from the Hofstra transfer.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been scoreless in two of the past three games and is just 2-of-16 from 3-point range in his last seven contests.
“The biggest message to him is that he doesn’t need to make a 3-point shot to stay in the game,” Barnes said. “He’s got so many other things that he can do. He can shoot the ball at a high percentage, but if you’re going into a game thinking that’s the only way you’re going to impact a game, we can’t be thinking, ‘OK, is he going to try another one?’
“We just want him to play within the flow of the team and what we’re trying to do.”
Odds and ends
Tennessee has won seven straight home games against the Commodores by an average of 13.4 points. … The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Friday that Lanier and Zeigler are among the 30 members of its Naismith Trophy midseason team. … Zeigler needs only six assists to move into the SEC’s career top five in that category. … Tennessee’s eight Quad I wins are tied with Alabama and Kentucky for second most in the country, with Auburn’s 13 leading the way.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.