Vanderbilt basketball will finish out its regular season with a road game at Tennessee.
The No. 22 Commodores (23-7, 10-7 SEC) head to Knoxville to the play the No. 25 Vols (21-9, 11-6) at Food City Center on March 7 (1 p.m. CT, ESPN).
The Commodores lost to Tennessee 69-65 at Memorial Gymnasium on Feb. 21.
Vanderbilt is coming off an 89-86 overtime win at Ole Miss on March 3. The Vols defeated South Carolina on March 3. A win by Tennessee will give the Vols a doubly bye for the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
Here is our score prediction for the matchup:
What went wrong in the first game
Vanderbilt didn’t play terribly in the first game. Despite Tennessee’s proficiency at getting to the free-throw line, the Commodores were called for 18 fouls to the Vols’ 17. Tennessee made just four 3-pointers and shot 43.1% from the field overall.
The two big things were that Vanderbilt was unable to force turnovers, getting just nine from the Vols, and late-game execution.
The Commodores led, 65-64, with 1:18 left but didn’t score the rest of the game as Tennessee finished on a 5-0 run. Vanderbilt missed its last four shots of the game.
Can Vanderbilt hang in there in rebounding and free throws?
Tennessee’s biggest strengths as a team are in offensive rebounding and getting to the free-throw line. Those are two areas the Commodores struggle.
Vanderbilt avoided too much foul trouble during the first matchup, but the Commodores got out-rebounded, 39-30. Tennessee had 14 offensive rebounds to Vanderbilt’s eight.
Tennessee without Nate Ament
Tennessee was without star freshman Nate Ament against South Carolina. Ament suffered what was termed a high-ankle sprain during a loss to Alabama on Feb. 28. Ament’s absence hurt the Vols in the Alabama game, though they were still able to overwhelm the Gamecocks.
Ament’s status for the Vanderbilt game has not yet been disclosed.
Vanderbilt vs Tennessee injury updates
Mike James has missed the last two games with an illness.
Vanderbilt vs Tennessee prediction
Tennessee 72, Vanderbilt 69
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
