Tennessee basketball (19-7, 9-4 SEC) travels to Nashville to take on No. 19 Vanderbilt (21-5, 8-5) on Saturday. The Vols are looking for their fourth straight victory following the loss at Kentucky two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, Tennessee took down Oklahoma 89-66 at home for its largest victory in conference play this season. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt nearly came back from down 21 against Missouri but fell short, 81-80. The Commodores are the first ranked opponent that the Vols have faced since they took down Alabama on the road on Jan. 24.
How to watch Tennessee basketball
The Vols will tip off at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN. Dave O’Brien will be the play-by-play broadcaster, along with Cory Alexander as an analyst. They will be joined by legendary basketball voice Dick Vitale, who announced on social media that he will be on the call Saturday.
Radio listeners can hear Mike Keith and analyst Chris Lofton describe the action on their local Vol Network affiliate.
Jaylen Carey comes home
Saturday will be Vols big man Jaylen Carey’s first time back at Memorial Gymnasium since he transferred from Vanderbilt to Tennessee after last season. The junior’s 6.0 rebounds in 18.4 minutes this season are a big reason why the Vols are fourth in the country in rebounding at 43 rebounds per game.
The last time Tennessee played at Vanderbilt, Carey put up 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Commodores in a 76-75 upset victory. He’ll hope to have a similar impact Saturday, but this time for the Vols.
Vanderbilt’s near misses
Wednesday’s loss to Missouri was not a unique occurrence for Vanderbilt. It marks the second time in the last four games that the Commodores were down 21 points to an unranked opponent and nearly came back to win, falling short by a point. The first time was on Feb. 7 in a 92-91 loss to Oklahoma.
This means that if the Vols become comfortable in the second half, they leave themselves open to a comeback. It also shows, though, that this Vanderbilt team is susceptible to going down big to inferior teams when its 3-pointer isn’t falling. The Commodores were just 3-for-11 from deep in the first half against Missouri, but 7-for-14 in the second half.
Tanner trouble
Vanderbilt is led by sophomore guard Tyler Tanner, who is averaging 23.4 points in his last five games, including a career high of 37 against Oklahoma. More than just his scoring, though, Tanner leads the SEC in steals at 2.5 per game, contributing to the Commodores’ conference-best 8.7 steals per game.
The Vols, meanwhile, have struggled with turnovers this season, tied for the SEC’s worst mark at 12.4 given up per game. They have been better at ball security during this winning streak, though, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie had plenty of takeaways of his own on Wednesday night, grabbing a school record 8 steals in the win over Oklahoma.
