In four seconds, Vanderbilt upset Tennessee with a corner 3 at the buzzer

A lot can happen in four seconds.

When you inhale and exhale, it’s ballpark four seconds. You can complement a friend in four seconds or still eat food off the floor after four seconds. Did you know five babies are born every four seconds?

In Pakistan, Syed Nabil Hasan Rizvi is the Guinness World Record holder for setting the longest number in four seconds. Nabil memorized 30 random numbers in just four seconds and correctly remembered them in order. We should have Ryan Lemond try that.

Then last night in Nashville’s Memorial Gym, Tennessee was four seconds from beating Vanderbilt for a 12th consecutive time. Four seconds later, Tyrin Lawrence called game with a three-pointer from the corner.

Adding to the Vols’ pain, Santiago Vescovi had a trip to the line to clinch the game with eight seconds to go, only to miss the front end of a one-and-one bonus. Vanderbilt got the rebound, burned four seconds advancing the ball into the frontcourt to call a timeout, where out of the timeout, Lawrence was four, five seconds from wildin’.

TYRIN LAWRENCE!!!!

DORES WIN!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/JLG5f4Y4iv

— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) February 9, 2023

The win was Vanderbilt’s first over Tennessee since 2017.

Tennessee going the wrong way

Since representing the league well at the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, the Vols dropped two of three in the conference, and in the one win, scored 46 points against Auburn at home in a one-shot game that nearly needed overtime. (It was a foul.) The other loss came at Florida by 13 points.

Tennessee averaged 55 points in those three games (well below its 73.1 points-per-game average) and lost its No. 2 national ranking a week after earning it. The Vols dropped from second to sixth in the AP poll following the trip to Gainesville and will see a further decline in the next update due to last night’s loss to unranked Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was ranked outside the top 100 in the NET at tip-off.

The week-and-a-half funk also cost Tennessee second place in the Southeastern Conference standings, a spot now held by Texas A&M and the Aggies’ surprise two-loss SEC record to date.

Tennessee travels to Lexington a week from Saturday for a huge opportunity for the Wildcats to jump the Vols in the race for double-byes. Until then, Kentucky has road games at Georgia and Mississippi State while Tennessee heads home to host Missouri and unbeaten Alabama.

Current SEC Standings

	CONF	OVERALL	HOME	ROAD	NEUTRAL	PF	PA	STRK
Alabama	11-0	21-3	12-0	7-1	2-2	2009	1649	W3
Texas A&M	9-2	17-7	12-1	4-3	1-3	1802	1601	W2
Tennessee	8-3	19-5	11-1	4-3	4-1	1728	1321	L-1
Auburn	7-4	17-7	11-1	4-5	2-1	1735	1550	L-2
Kentucky	7-4	16-8	12-3	3-3	1-2	1802	1625	L-1
Missouri	6-5	18-6	14-2	2-4	2-0	1967	1795	W1
Arkansas	6-5	17-7	11-1	2-5	4-1	1799	1573	W3
Florida	6-5	13-11	8-3	3-5	2-3	1708	1588	L-2
Vanderbilt	5-6	12-12	9-5	2-5	1-2	1693	1720	W2
Mississippi State	4-7	16-8	10-3	2-4	4-1	1571	1404	W4
Georgia	4-7	14-10	11-2	1-7	2-1	1677	1658	L-3
Ole Miss	2-9	10-14	6-7	2-6	2-1	1625	1638	W1
LSU	1-10	12-12	9-5	0-6	3-1	1597	1650	L-11
South Carolina	1-10	8-16	6-6	2-6	0-4	1538	1756	L-8