Vanderbilt Basketball's March Madness Momentum

0:00On March 14, Vanderbilt's basketball team started the season looking undersized and struggling against bigger opponents. But the 4th Citi Commodores have turned that around with three straight wins over physical teams. They beat 5th Citi Tennessee twice, once in the regular season finale in Knoxville, and again in the SEC tournament quarter finals. On March 14, they took down top-seated Florida 91-74 in the tournament semi-finals at Bridge Stone Arena in Nashville. Both teams finished 26 and 7. Florida usually plays three big men together, but Vanderbilt got out rebounded 38-23 and missed some easy layups. Still, the Commodores used their quickness and active defense to force 14 turnovers and score 24 points off them. Guards like Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles dished out 15 assists and grabbed six steals combined, while getting Florida's bigs into foul trouble. The front court stepped up, too, with balanced scoring from players like Jalen Washington,

1:01Devin McLaughlin, and Akko Kareke. Coach Mark Beintin says his versatile squads did tough against the SEC's most physical teams. Now heading into March madness, Vanderbilt enters with real momentum, ready to face even bigger challenges from schools like Michigan and Duke.