Vanderbilt to Face UCF in Non-Conference Road Test

Vanderbilt will travel to UCF for a non-conference road game on Nov. 8, it announced in its Tuesday non-conference schedule release. 

The Commodores’ will also face Memphis, SMU, Wake Forest and potentially a few power-five teams in the Battle 4 Atlantis as well as six buy-game opponents in Lipscomb, New Haven, Eastern Kentucky, Central Arkansas, Texas Southern and Arkansas Pine Bluff–five of those games were reported by Vandy on SI. 

Vanderbilt looks to build on a 2024-25 season in which it finished with 20 wins and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016-17. Head coach Mark Byington’s first non-conference slate as Vanderbilt’s leader saw the Commodores go 12-1 and put themselves in a position to become a tournament team with a favorable SEC slate. 

Byington told Vandy on SI earlier this summer that he planned to play fewer buy games than he did a season ago as his team played seven. 

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.”

Now Vanderbilt’s ability will be tested early in the season as it eases into things with six buy games before the dawn of the new year. The Commodores didn’t lose a buy game in 2024-25, which helped it significantly in the computer metrics, and will likely have to do so again in 2025-26 if it wants to head back to the NCAA Tournament.