Everything Vanderbilt Basketball Head Coach Mark Byington Said After Opening Night Win Over Lipscomb

NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt men’s basketball returned to the hardwood Monday night and tipped off the 2025-2026 season against the Lipscomb Bisons and got a strong-looking 105-61 win over Lipscomb.

It was a dominant performance offensively and defensively for Vanderbilt as the Commodores had an assist to turnover ratio of 23-6 while forcing Lipscomb to turn the ball 18 times in the game. Vanderbilt also shot 55 percent from 3 as it made 17 three-pointers in the game. Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington spoke after the game. Here is everything he said.

Opening Statement

“Well, this is a great step. And you can see our guys, we're excited to play. I was excited to coach. We wanted to see what we can do when we're in the game that mattered, and we got off to a great start. Just our defensive intensity right away, I thought, changed the game. And we just kept up blind pressure. Really proud of how unselfish we played. Did a good job of finding the right guy, the right shots and making the right plays for their teammates. And we showed our depth. You know, I told the guys, I thought why didn't you know who was going to start? But I said, whoever comes in the game off the bench, I was like, ‘we're gonna turn it up at this point.’ And I thought we had kept applying pressure, and we did that with Frankie Collins coming in. Obviously, Tyler Harris was terrific in the first half, and then Jalen Washington gave us good energy and some other guys too, so great start, just we got a lot of things to fix. As a coach, you're already kind of getting ready for the next practice, but we'll enjoy this tonight, and then we have another road game coming up.”

Through the two scrimmages and tonight, I’d imagine you’re happy with what you’ve seen right? 

“Well, I know we have a chance of a good team. A lot of times, when you're a coach, you want hope for the season. You want to have excited optimism for the season. And some people lie about it, but that can be truthful and say that I'm excited about this group. And we'll get better and better. You know, I think we've even done that so far. You know, you watch our first game against UVA and then UAB exhibition, and now this one. And so I hope that's a trend for us that we're constantly improving, and then we'll see how good we get by the time we get to March.” 

You mentioned not having set starting five combinations. Why did you end up choosing this combination and what did you like from them?

“Tyler Harris, he's been just dealing with a little nagging injury. We're kind of protecting him, but in my mind, he's a starter. Jalen Washington gets the start, I'm fine with that. And so I think people make a big deal out of it. I know they get their name called out and get to see the face on the storeboard. And for me, it's when you get in there, be productive, and those guys who came off the bench are productive as well as the starters.” 

What did you see from Tyler Tanner tonight? 

“Yeah, I thought his energy was great. That’s his offensive energy, his defensive energy. Whether it was getting steals or applying pressure, yeah, we really wanted to go after them. We thought they had one ball handler, and so we thought with the pressure Tyler Tanner could put on them and Frankie Collins to put on him, that could sway the game in our favor, and those guys did that. So, he made shots, he's been playing really good basketball. I just keep saying this. There's going to be a step up from last year, so whatever you saw last year, I think he was great in that role. His role is different this year.”

Would you like to play local teams at least one game like this? 

“Yeah, I mean, the thing about it, like, I've been in Lipscomb’s shoes, and now I'm on the other side of it, but I know how good it is for them to get a game like this, and to be able to help out their athletic department and be able to drive home, they'll be home in 10 minutes. There's something about that I want us to be Nashville's team. I want Vanderbilt to be Nashville's team, but that's not going to be disrespectful to the other teams, 'cause I want to support them as well, and I want to cheer for them as well. But without having professional basketball here and playing in the SEC Conference in probably the second-highest level of basketball in the world besides the NBA, I want to be really good. I want this to be a draw, I want to be Nashville's team, and still be able to support the other teams along the way, anything we can do for them.” 

How good was it to get your younger guys in and what did you see from them? 

“Yeah, it's great. You know, it's those moments and then things in there to be able to get in and make a play, and then Dean-Vines scored and Chandler Bing is close to being our rotation. I think he's going to get in there. He's a good player. And right now, he's got the guys right now, but he's going to help this team this year, and the big fella. It's good to have film on him now and watch Leverette right now, because you're not going to recognize him in two or three years. Now, this will be the moment you're like, all right, that's what it used to look like. He's gonna get better and better.”

What did you make of your team's defensive performance? 

Yeah, we did a great job of communicating and switching and actions to take away plays. And they run a really good offense. You know, Kevin's offense is hard to guard, and our scout team did a great job getting us ready for this, but it's back door cuts, it's threes, it's multiple movements, cutting, and spacing. And one little slip up is going to be a layup or a three. And I just thought we were really focusing on our defense to be able to cover that stuff up. Only a few times in the game I thought we had a lack of whatever, skill or fundamentals there to be able to get something, but the fact that you see our team that we can switch a lot of things, I know we're good at it. And I think you saw it against UVA, and you see that tonight, that we can take away some teams with our switchability. 

Harris and Nickel at the same time, they can both really shoot it and they're big. How much did you want to play them both together and how much of a matchup problem is that going to be with both of them on the floor together? 

“Yeah, you'll see a lot of times. You saw it tonight. I don't know for how many minutes, but I wanted to get to look where Tyler Harris was at the two. And so you got a 6 '7 two guard out there, who can move and guard and obviously shoot. Tyler Nickel, last year, he was a lot of times at the fourth spot for us, and he's moved down and played the majority tonight at the three. Not to say they won't move up, but we can put a big line up out there. And we're missing one guy right now who's coming back for an illness, and messed up a little bit of our post rotation tonight. But when we get him back, I think we'll definitely have a bigger lineup, especially with those wings.” 

How long do you expect Nicholson to be out? 

“It won't be this week, but it won't be far after that.”

I think like Leonard Hamilton Florida where they got two guards the wall and then the switchable wings and the shot blocker in the back. How close schematically or I guess just from a look do you want that to be to those teams? 

“Yeah, I mean, we also don't want to be, you know, taking ourselves out of position. Those guys were really high and deny, and really spread out. And we don't want to do that, but at the same time, we're going to be a better defensive team than we were last year because of guys like that. The guy really triggers everything, and you might not notice unless you'll notice if you keep watching. We’ve already noticed this AK Okereke. What he does on defense is phenomenal. Guards everybody, different spots, communicates well, sees actions coming. Having him on the court, I think, comforts the other guys. And then a guy like Frankie Collins is tremendous on defense. I mean, he can really disrupt the other team.”

Were there any other lineup combinations that stood out to you tonight?

“I wanted to play Devin McGlockton a little more at the fourth spot and just because I only had two of them tonight, I think they kind of wore each other out. They played so hard. Devin's energy was tremendous. I told him that what we're going to do when we have practice in two days from now, he's going to teach the other guys rebounding. And he's gonna be at the rebounding station, and then the coach is going to back away, and then Coach McGlockton is going to teach.”

How much of a weapon is Tyler Harris? 

“Yeah, he can really score. I think UVA, you saw how good he was that way. That way, he had his burst. He's getting his burst back. I thought UVA, he was terrific. And just his speed and his agility and the shot making, everything else. So he's a big weapon for us, and we'll start using them more. It's this one thing as a coach, you have to realize where we're going and how long this race is. And so I would like to play him for six or eight more minutes tonight, but I got to be smart and be smart for him and protect him, too.”

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