No. 19 Vanderbilt followed its worst loss of the season with an impressive victory on the road against Auburn.
When the Commodores (20-4, 7-4 SEC) host Texas A&M (17-7, 7-4) on Saturday in Nashville, they will get a better gauge on how they’ve recovered from last weekend’s 92-91 defeat at the hands of last-place Oklahoma.
The 84-76 win at Auburn — Vanderbilt’s first win there in 10 years — was an encouraging start.
“These guys are prideful and they care about winning,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “They care about Vanderbilt. It’s not like a back-against-your-wall thing, but you’ve got to show something after the way we played (against Oklahoma) if you’re really who we think we are.”
Vanderbilt was the first SEC team to reach 20 wins and matched its win total from the 2024-25 season. The Commodores withstood a late, furious rally by the Tigers that cut the advantage to 70-66 with 2:42 left.
Tyler Tanner, who had 25 points at Auburn to lead Vanderbilt, will attempt to reach 20 or more points for the fourth straight game on Saturday. Against Auburn, the Commodores got a clutch effort from Jalen Washington, who scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
“What a response to come back from not playing well and show the type team we are,” Byington said. “Our guys just had their minds made up that they’re not leaving without a win.”
Tanner has been on an impressive streak. Against Oklahoma, he scored a career-high 37 points, including 15 in the final two minutes. He also had nine assists and five steals against the Sooners.
He became the first Vanderbilt player since Scotty Pippen Jr., now a member of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, to score 35 or more points in a game.
Texas A&M enters Saturday’s game following a one-point loss at home to Missouri. The Aggies had a potential game-winning shot by Rashaun Agee blocked at the buzzer.
In the 86-85 loss, Texas A&M got 20 points from Zach Clemence, 17 from Rylan Griffen and 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks from Agee.
“We couldn’t combat their size,” Aggies coach Bucky McMillan said. “I don’t know if I’ve coached a game where we’ve literally tried as many things on defense as we did to stop them and still couldn’t.”
The Aggies played well enough to win. They committed only nine turnovers, shot 64.7% (11-of-17) from long range in the first half and led 57-50 with 16:18 remaining. But Texas A&M failed to execute down the stretch.
“When you have a one-point loss, you go back and look at the last possession or the last 45 seconds,” McMillan said. “You can always look at the totality of the game and see what we could have done to not allow one point or to score one more point.
“Anyway, no one is going to feel sorry for us in the league. It is what this league is. Close games. Good teams.”
