Mark Byington explains Vanderbilt's ongoing second half issues

Vanderbilt led Tennessee by as many as 16 points in the first half of Saturday’s 81-76 loss to the Volunteers. It marks the third consecutive road game where the Commodores led at halftime, but lost the game.

After the the loss, head coach Mark Byington attempted to place his finger on the pulse of their ongoing second half issues.

“Well, the Oklahoma one I think was an anomaly. I don’t think that’s us,” Byington said. “That was a one time thing this year. But at the same time, these teams are going to come back. They’re gonna come make adjustments, they’re gonna come with fury. You know, we’re there in a possession game against a really good team. Then at the same time, I think a lot of times it gets over exaggerated, the halftime score and things like that. We gotta be winning by one at the end. That’s what we’re not doing a couple times.

“But then at the same time, I could say this, we have done it in games. We’ve done it in Kentucky, we’ve done it in Texas, we’ve done it in some games. But, you know, I don’t want to just — we got some things to fix, but at the same time, I wanna make sure that, you know, people understand how good Tennessee is. And in this building, the crowd was great, and they lifted them up.”

Byington said there were some missed opportunities down the stretch with shot execution and getting stops. Tennessee’s effort in the second half was aided when both forwards Devin McGlockton and Jaylen Carey fouled out.

Carey finished with 18 points and seven rebounds during the loss, while McGlockton was held scoreless in 18 minutes of action. It was the first time this season that McGlockton failed to score in a game he played in.

“He’s probably our most valuable guy,” Byington said of McGlockton. Byington suggested if he was in the game over the final 20 minutes then he could have aided the Commodores in a big way.

In the end, Vanderbilt allowed Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler to score 22 points — all in the second half — the lead the Vols over the Commodores. Chaz Lanier totaled 21 points and eight rebounds in the comeback effort, too.

The two in-state rival programs have now split the season series after Vanderbilt won the first matchup in Nashville last month. A potential rubber match in the SEC Tournament is still on the table, but that remains to be seen.

For now, Vanderbilt will look to put this loss behind them as they travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky inside Rupp Arena on Wednesday. The Commodores were also victorious in their first matchup against the Wildcats, and will look to even the season against an injured UK squad.