Vanderbilt to Face Western Kentucky in MTE Opener

Vanderbilt men's basketball will open the Battle 4 Atlantis and its trip to Imperial Arena with a game against Western Kentucky on Nov. 26, per a release on Thursday. 

The game will air at 11:00 A.M. central on ESPN. 

The Hilltoppers finished 17-15 last season with an 8-10 record in league play. Second-year head coach Hank Plona’s team played two games against power-five opponents and lost each of them by over 15 points. Western Kentucky loses its top eight scorers from last season. 

The matchup will be the first between the teams since 2010. Vanderbilt leads the all-time series 14-11 and has won 11 of the past 12 meetings.

If Vanderbilt wins its opener in the event, it will play the winner of South Florida’s matchup with VCU. Virginia Tech, Saint Mary’s, Colorado State and Wichita State are also in the event’s field. Virginia Tech–which Vanderbilt beat in non-conference play last season–will face Colorado State, while Saint Mary’s will face Wichita State. 

Vanderbilt fared well in its only multi-team event in Mark Byington’s first season as the Commodores’ head coach as it went to Charleston and knocked off Nevada and Seton Hall before losing in the Charleston Classic championship to Drake. 

Byington’s 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. 

Vanderbilt brings 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.

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.”

Vanderbilt’s roster will be tested in Atlantis as well as in non-conference tests against Cal, Wake Forest, SMU and Memphis.