Vanderbilt 76-75 Tennessee (January 18, 2025) Game Summary

On By Littum

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — — Jason Edwards scored 18 points as Vanderbilt held on no. 6 Tennessee 76-75 Saturday for the Commodores’ second straight win.

Fans stormed the field for the first sellout at Memorial Gym since 2019 after Commodores (15-3, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) won for just the second time in the last 14 games in this series.

Jaylen Carey added 14 for Vanderbilt. Tyler Nickel had 13 and AJ Hoggard 11.

Mark Byington, Vandy’s fourth different coach to meet up against Rick Barnes during his 10 years with the Vols, matched Jerry Stackhouse and Bryce Drew’s only wins. Only Kevin Stallings (2-1) left Vandy with a victory mark over Barnes’ Vols.

Tennessee (16-2, 3-2) has now lost two of its first three SEC road games. Chaz Lanier led Tennessee with 17 points, and Zakai Zeigler, Igor Milicic Jr. and Felix Okpara each had 17.

The Vols had a chance to force overtime. Lanier made his first free throw with 2.8 seconds left, but missed the second.

Takeaways

Tennessee: The Vols gave up more than 70 points for the second time this season and have lost both games. That’s with Vanderbilt going scoreless over the final 3:28.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores had no problems inside, even though they didn’t have the size Tennessee has. They outshot the Vols 29-25.

Key moment

When Tennessee pulled within 41-40 to start the second half on a 3 from Milicic, the Commodores responded with four straight 3s with Nickel’s fourth 3 of the game putting Vandy up 53-40 by 16: 39 left. They led by as many as 16.

Key State

The Vols scored the final nine points of the game. It wasn’t enough.

Next

Tennessee returns home to host Mississippi State No. 15 Tuesday evening.

Vanderbilt visits No. 4 at Alabama on Tuesday night.

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