Vanderbilt basketball has been one of the hottest teams in the country so far in March, as the Commodores knocked off Florida in the SEC Tournament on their way to the title game. Now, Mark Byington's club is into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed, and it kept its run going with a 78-68 win over No. 12 seed McNeese on Thursday.
Vanderbilt fell into a double-digit hole early thanks to what Byington called “SEC Tournament hangover,” but his Commodores quickly recovered and led for most of the second half.
In the second round, Vandy will take on No. 4 seed Nebraska, which easily handled 13th-seeded Troy 76-47 on Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Cornhuskers had a massive crowd for their first-ever NCAA Tournament win, and Byington is expecting a similar contingent to make it for the Round of 32 tilt.
“It's going to be a road game for us,” Byington said after knocking off McNeese.
That should come as no surprise, as Nebraska has one of the biggest fanbases in the country, so it's expected that its fanbase would be supporting one of the best basketball seasons in school history. Now that the Cornhuskers have the monkey off their back and have won a March Madness game, they will be playing free with their first Sweet 16 appearance on the line.
That could be troubling for a Vanderbilt team that is just 8-4 on the road this season, not a bad mark but not quite on par with their 27-8 overall record. Of course, it won't be a true road game for the Commodores, but Nebraska should still have a majority of the crowd support in Oklahoma City.
While the fans will be on Nebraska's side, Vanderbilt will feel like it has the best player on the floor in star point guard Tyler Tanner. Tanner controlled Thursday's game throughout, scoring 26 points and adding seven rebounds and five assists in the process. Another performance like that could be enough to push Vanderbilt into the Sweet 16.
