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'They hate to lose': How Tennessee players reacted to the 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•about 10 hours•

GrantRamey

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
(Steve Roberts-Imagn Images) Jan 18, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Zakai Zeigler (5) is helped up by his teammates against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium.

The way associate head coach Justin Gainey described it on Monday morning, Tennessee Basketball’s film session looking back at a frustrating 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt was cathartic. 

“It was great for all of us to kind of sit in there,” Gainey said before practice at Food City Center, “and have that open dialogue, those conversations about what it’s going to take for us to move forward.”

No. 6 Tennessee (16-2, 3-2 SEC) has to move forward quickly, with No. 14 Mississippi State (14-3, 3-2) coming to Knoxville Tuesday for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN2. 

“We got another big game coming up,” Gainey said, “so we got to be better in that game tomorrow than we were on Saturday.”

Tennessee couldn’t finish rally from down 16 points in loss at Vandy

The Vols jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first eight minutes against Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium, but were down six at the half after Zakai Zeigler sat the final seven minutes of the first half with two fouls.

It was a 16-point Vanderbilt lead with 11 minutes left, but Tennessee rallied to get it back to a one-possession game in the final minute — Vandy didn’t score a point over the final 3:48 — before Chaz Lanier missed what would have been a game-tying free throw with 2.8 seconds left.

That kind of loss, against a rival on the road, had some sting to it, starting long before the film session looking back at the game. 

“The great thing about our guys is they hate to lose,” Gainey said. “This is the most competitive group of guys that I’ve been around. And so even before the film starts, right after the game, they’re crushed. Because they put so much into it, they want to win every game. It was good for them to see it (on film).”

The response from the players was good, too. It wasn’t just Tennessee coaches using the tape to make corrections.

“What is great about this group is the communication amongst each other in film,” Gainey said. “It’s not just the coaching staff telling them what they did wrong. They see it, they’re talking to each other. ‘Hey, right here, you got to call this out early. Hey, you box out here and then I’ll help you on this side.’ That’s the great thing about this group of guys.”

Zakai Zeigler: ‘We want the fans to know that we’re going to do what we need to do’

The Vanderbilt loss can’t linger for Tennessee because the SEC schedule isn’t letting up.

After hosting No. 14 Mississippi State on Tuesday, the Vols go to No. 1 Auburn for a primetime game Saturday night, the return home to host No. 9 Kentucky and No. 5 Florida. 

“We’re in the SEC, the best conference in the country,” Zeigler said on Monday. “Night in and night out, we play the best teams, no matter who it is. It’s not like we got any games that we can walk all over anybody. And I feel like everybody in the SEC knows that every night is going to be a really hard, tough battle.” 

Zeigler said the Vols have to the ones making it tough.

“We still pride ourselves on being the No. 1 defense in the country,” he said, “a tough hard-nosed team. So every night that we go out there, we want the fans to know that we’re going to do what we need to do.”

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