Mark Byington after second court-storming: 'We gotta start a GoFundMe page or something'

In the closing minutes of Saturday’s 74-69 upset of No. 9 Kentucky, Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee stood in front of the Commodores student section and pleaded with them to not storm the Memorial Gymnasium court.

Alas, those pleas fell on deaf ears as Vanderbilt fans flooded onto the elevated court for the second time in a week — its second Top 10 win in that span — following the host Commodores’ 76-75 upset of No. 6 Tennessee on Jan. 18.

That victory over the in-state rival Volunteers proved quite costly as the SEC levied a $250,000 fine paid out to the opposition for a second violation of its revised access to competition area policy that was adopted at the 2023 SEC Spring Meetings.

Saturday night’s second court-storming in a week will cost the Commodores athletic department the maximum fine of $500,000 for a third such violation, this time with the check made out to Kentucky. Vanderbilt was also cited for its fans rushing the field after the football team upset then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 5, 2024.

Mark Byington on Vanderbilt court-stormings: ‘Let the fans enjoy it’

While Storey Lee publicly pleaded with Commodores fans to avoid another court-storming fine, first-year Vanderbilt head men’s basketball coach Mark Byington was far less bothered by it, even if he hopes to get the program to the point where Top 10 wins are more than norm than the exception.

“There’s big picture things that I want to happen around here. And at one point, I want it to be where we’re not surprised (by big wins) and we don’t feel like the underdog in these games,” Byington said in the postgame press conference. “And we’re going into them knowing that our program is good and we expect to win. We’re not there yet, so let the fans enjoy it.”

Of course, the Vandy fans are the only ones enjoying the postgame celebrations.

“It’s awesome. I’ve actually never been apart of a school when they stormed the court, so it’s pretty cool for me,” junior wing Tyler Nickel said after Saturday’s game. “I know Mrs. Lee’s kind of getting tired of it now (laughter) with all that money we have to send out for storming the court. But the atmosphere is crazy. … It’s a crazy adrenaline rush having everybody over therere hyped for you. It shows you the community of the school, and how much the student body cared about what we’re doing.”

Unfortunately, it’s not the Vanderbilt student body that will have to write the $500,000 check to Kentucky, though Byington jokingly suggested they might be asked to help in some way if these court-stormings continue.

“If we gotta start a GoFundMe page or something to pay the fines, we’ll figure it out,” Byington joked. “But at the same time, I’m happy for (the fans). What a memory for them. I told our guys, let’s make a memory for all those people cheering for Vanderbilt today. And they made a great memory.”