{"id":192268,"date":"2026-03-15T08:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/192268\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:21:12","slug":"three-takeaways-from-vanderbilts-upset-over-florida-in-sec-tournament-semifinals-the-vanderbilt-hustler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/192268\/","title":{"rendered":"Three takeaways from Vanderbilt\u2019s upset over Florida in SEC Tournament semifinals \u2013 The Vanderbilt Hustler"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt Men\u2019s Basketball took down No. 5 Tennessee<\/a> in the quarterfinals<\/a> of the SEC Tournament, and on a turnaround of less than 19 hours, the Commodores took on the class of the conference: Florida.<\/p>\n

The Gators entered the contest as the defending SEC and National Champions, and having returned much of its roster from its glorious 2025 run, went 16-2 en route to this year\u2019s SEC Regular Season title. At the start of the day, Florida was ranked No. 4 nationally in both KenPom<\/a> and the AP Poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Known to be one of the deepest and best defensive teams in college hoops, the Gators, on paper, are a terrible matchup for Vanderbilt, as they can attack the paint and opponent\u2019s bench units \u2014 which have struggled for Commodore head coach Mark Byington. Due to this, Florida was a 7.5-point favorite<\/a> at tip-off. But the Commodores flipped the script and were in control for most of the game en route to a statement win.<\/p>\n

Now, Vanderbilt will have the chance to win its fourth conference tournament title in program history and greatly improve its seeding in the big dance. And, after such a contest with one of the best teams in the nation, the Commodores have many lessons to take with them to their next bout.<\/p>\n

Does size matter?<\/p>\n

A few years ago, \u201csmall-ball\u201d ran the basketball world. NBA superpowers like the Curry-Durant Warriors were winning championships, all while influencing teams in the college ranks like Jay Wright\u2019s Villanova squads, who won two rings themselves. In recent years, though, the multiple-big lineup has become an important contributor to titles, exemplified by the Gators last year.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt and Florida\u2019s matchup perfectly represents this stylistic difference. This is largely due to a difference in roster size, as the former, which has no rotation players over seven feet, pushed the pace and took far more jumpers. Meanwhile, the Gators played bully-ball on the interior.<\/p>\n

In this clash between big and small, the little guys won, despite Florida winning the rebound margin 38-23 and outscoring the Commodores in the paint, Vanderbilt proved that three is more than two, as their 10 triples to the Gators\u2019 five proved lethal in the final score.<\/p>\n

In addition, Vanderbilt was able to force Florida\u2019s bigs towards the perimeter and dare them to shoot. This resulted in non-marksmen clanking shots, but also the ability to force turnovers as Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles pried the ball away and created fast break opportunities. The \u2018Dores forced 14 turnovers and were able to score 24 points off of them \u2014 one of the biggest differences in the game\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt\u2019s triumph on Saturday showed that \u201cposition-less,\u201d perimeter-focused teams can still compete amongst the best in the nation.<\/p>\n

A deep run<\/p>\n

Versus Tennessee, Miles was a shining star, with a 30-ball on the box score that stood out as the team\u2019s winning factor. In the semifinal, though, the Commodores won the game as a team.<\/p>\n

Five Vanderbilt players scored in double digits, and six contributed to the team\u2019s 47.6% shooting from deep by hitting at least one long-ball. This showed on the box score as Vanderbilt dished out 21 dimes on the day.<\/p>\n

Defensively, the Commodores remained poised in their man-to-man set, being able to stick to their matchups through nearly the entire game. In doing so, they disrupted passing lanes, and Nickel, Tanner and Miles each had multiple steals.<\/p>\n

Superstars can be the difference in clutch moments, but being able to win as a collective and trust your team\u2019s depth takes maturity, and that wins in March.<\/p>\n

Bracketology<\/p>\n

The Commodores have been ranked in the AP Poll since Nov. 24, but this time of year, the only number people care about is the one next to your name on the March Madness bracket.<\/p>\n

Entering the week, Vanderbilt was projected to be a No. 5 seed, and ESPN\u2019s \u201cbracketologist,\u201d Joe Lunardi, had them ranked on the lower end of that as well \u2014 sending the \u2018Dores far away to San Diego to take on the scorching-hot High Point Panthers.<\/p>\n

After defeating the Volunteers, the Commodores supposedly earned themselves a better geographical assignment by being slated in the Philadelphia sub-bracket. Now that they have blown out a projected No.1-seed in Florida, Vanderbilt has climbed to be a No. 4 seed in the mock tournament.<\/p>\n

If the Commodores hoist the SEC trophy tomorrow, they could get even more of a seeding boost, perhaps moving up to a No. 3. As other teams projected in the same area as Vanderbilt, like Kansas and Texas Tech, have struggled in their respective conference tournaments, the possibility for the Black and Gold to overtake them is extremely high.<\/p>\n

Through its SEC Tournament run, Vanderbilt has not only cemented its place as one of the conference\u2019s premier teams but has forged itself a much easier path towards a place the program has never been before: the Final Four.<\/p>\n

The Commodores will play the winner of No. 3-seeded Arkansas and No. 15-seeded Ole Miss for the 2026 SEC Championship tomorrow at 12 p.m. CDT in Bridgestone Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt Men\u2019s Basketball took down No. 5 Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-192268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}