Foul or defend? No. 14 Missouri chose the latter, and Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel made Missouri pay on Saturday, drilling a 3-pointer with four seconds left to force overtime and set up another dramatic Commodores win at Memorial Gym.
SEC Coach of the Year? In most years, first-year Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington and Missouri’s Dennis Gates — both of whom have engineered two of the sport’s biggest turnarounds — would have been 1-2 in some order. And Byington’s 97-93 overtime win might have been the difference. But most years don’t have a coach winning possibly the best conference in men’s basketball history outright with a week left in the regular season, as Auburn’s Bruce Pearl just did.
Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament? That’s a lock. A true lock. A “lose the final two regular-season games and get blown out in your SEC Tournament opener, and you still won’t sniff the bubble again” lock. That’s the result of the best week for Vanderbilt men’s basketball in many, many years: The Commodores will earn a bid for the first time since 2016-17, Bryce Drew’s debut season.
A dramatic Drew decline ensued, followed by the frustrating Jerry Stackhouse era. Byington has come in, essentially assembled an all new team and kept winning at a high rate as he did at previous stops James Madison and Georgia Southern.
NICKELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL‼️
OT ⚓️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vcFldh1pPm
— Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball (@VandyMBB) March 2, 2025
Vanderbilt is 20-9, 8-8 in the SEC and perhaps capable of a No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament after the Commodores went 9-23 last season in Stackhouse’s last shot. Wednesday’s win at Texas A&M was the program’s biggest in years. Saturday’s made this a week to remember.
Vandy does it with rotating heroics, and it was Michigan State transfer point guard AJ Hoggard who sliced up the Tigers (21-8, 10-6) with 21 points, six assists and power drive after power drive in winning time that created excellent shots. Chris Manon had 23 points, primary bucket-getter Jason Edwards 17 and Nickel 12, including the tying dagger at the end of regulation on a pass from Hoggard.
Missouri remains firmly in the hunt for a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, coming off an 8-24 showing in Gates’ second season. Caleb Grill had 28 points on Saturday, and Mark Mitchell had 20. The Tigers led for more than 32 minutes.
But they were stung by the same “Memorial Magic” that got Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss earlier this season and by the decision to defend rather than foul. Of course, Vanderbilt was just 8-for-26 from 3-point range in the game, while collecting 18 offensive rebounds.
(Photo of Chris Mañon: Carly Mackler / Getty Images)
