NASHVILLE - It can be hard to tell by just looking at the box score given that Vanderbilt point guard Tyler Tanner had a double-double in a win over Wake Forest, but it was perhaps among the worst games Tanner will play this season.
It was not an awful game from Tanner, but it was a night where it took him a while before he got going. By the end of the night, Tanner finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. However, he started the game 1-for-7 from the floor.
Yet, Vanderbilt beat a power conference team by 23 points.
How did it happen? It was partially because Tanner took over the game in the final minutes, but the main reason is due to the support cast that showed up for Vanderbilt. Tanner's running mate, shooting guard Ace Glass stepped up with 16 points that included four made three-pointers. Freshman shooting guard Ant Brown Jr. had his first big moment in Memorial Gymnasium with 14 points on four made threes.
And to top it off, Vanderbilt wing Chandler Bing had 13 points on 6-for-8 from the floor. That's three Commodores that finished in double digits outside of Tanner.
For what feels like the first time in many games, Tanner was not the story. It was everyone around him that proved Vanderbilt can win even when Tanner has an off night where he does not get going for the first 30 minutes of a game.
"You got to win in different ways and everybody on our team did some positive things and helped us win. Ant Brown had a spurt there, same thing with Ace Glass. I thought Chandler Bing was probably the most solid guy for us on offense and defense tonight," Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. "It does show our depth, it shows different guys. And these guys will get better."
Going into the season, the depth the variety of options Vanderbilt had on its roster was maybe the most appealing thing about the Commodores. They may not be the most experienced or oldest team in college basketball, but the talent is still there. There are still other guys that can make shots when big shots are needed, which is exactly what Glass and Brown Jr. did Thursday.
What Vanderbilt showed against Wake Forest is that the amount of options it has will translate to wins throughout the season. Even on nights where Vanderbilt's best guys may not have it, the depth of the roster allows for at least one or two guys to make shots.
That kind of depth is going to be important late in the season during the dog days of SEC play and postseason play. Though it may not have been the most adverse circumstances, Thursday was a good barometer on how the team responds when things are maybe a little dysfunctional and sloppy at times.
"I feel like we can really rely on each other. We all have off nights, I had an off night. I couldn't get a bucket to fall, but there's other guys that can score the ball as well," Vanderbilt guard T.O Barrett said. "We got a lot of guys that can make shots, a lot of guys that can make plays and I think that's going to really help us especially toward the end of the season."
Vanderbilt is still a work in progress. The Commodores did not play to their standard for periods of time against Wake Forest. Perhaps that is a good thing because of what was learned from the night.
"I had to remind myself we're young, we're new. But that's the positive part of this is we can be better and better. We're going to be way different in January and February," Byington said. "We just got to stay the course and understand it's getting better every day."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/vanderbilt as How Vanderbilt Basketball Showed it Can Win Outside of Tyler Tanner .
