Vanderbilt Basketball to Face UAB In Exhibition

Nashville–Vanderbilt will face off against UAB in an open scrimmage on Oct. 23, it announced in a Thursday release. 

The Commodores will travel to Birmingham’s Bartow Arena for the game on the Thursday before Vanderbilt’s Saturday football game against Missouri at FirstBank Stadium. Vanderbilt also has a scrimmage on Oct. 16 against Virginia at Memorial Gymnasium. Its exhibition schedule is complete, a source tells Vandy on SI.

Vanderbilt faced off against UAB in a secret scrimmage at Memorial Gymnasium last fall. This exhibition is the return game in that series, a source told Vandy on SI. 

UAB finished 24-13 in 2024-25 and won two games in the NIT, but loses its star Yaxel Lendeborg–who led it in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Andy Kennedy’s team finished third in the American last season with a 13-5 league record. 

The last time Vanderbilt faced UAB in a non exhibition game was 2022-23, when UAB defeated it in the NIT. 

Vanderbilt started last season with an exhibition against UAB and will now test itself again prior to the season, in which its non-conference schedule is all but known at this stage. 

Byington’s 2024-25 team would eventually go on to win 20 total games and 12 non-conference games before falling in the NCAA Tournament to Saint Mary’s. Vanderbilt ended the season on a four-game losing streak, but has since revamped its roster as it looks to improve in Byington’s second year at the helm. 

The Commodores bring in a roster with just three returning scholarship players in Tyler Tanner, Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel. All three of which are expected to have significant roles on a team that possesses an eight-man transfer class headlined by TCU point guard Frankie Collins, North Carolina big man Jalen Washington, Washington wing Tyler Harris, Oklahoma guard Duke Miles and NC State guard Mike James–who hasn’t played since his days at Louisville, but is fully healthy nowadays.

Byington also added Jacksonville State transfer Mason Nicholson, Cornell transfer AK Okereke and Eastern Kentucky transfer George Kimble.

“The priority this recruiting season was to gain some more length, size,” Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told Vandy on SI over the summer. “We knew going into last year we were maybe the smallest team in the SEC regarding length, size so we wanted to upgrade that, which we did.”

Now, it will get a chance to show what it has in Birmingham in its final game before its season opener against Lipscomb on Nov. 3.