The Vanderbilt Commodores (17-8, 5-7) had control in Thompson Boiling Arena. The Commodores jumped on top of the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers (21-5, 8-5) leading the entire first half and stretching said advantage by as much as 16-points to put the home team on upset alert. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt’s road struggles bit the ‘Dores and the Volunteers took advantage of the breaks to close the lead and claim a 81-75 victory.

Vanderbilt moves to 10th in the SEC after losing four of its last five games, particularly dropping the last five conference road games in a row. The Commodores were picked to finish last in the league ahead of the season so its current position should largely be considered a win, but there are six games remaining before the SEC Tournament begins, leaving ample opportunities to improve or fall down the standings.

The Commodores last six games include four opponents ranked in last week’s AP Top 25 Poll with three total road games remaining. If the ‘Dores can defend home court they’ll add three significant wins to their NCAA Tournament resume. Let’s look at three take

Vanderbilt saw its two best big men get into foul trouble early as Devin McGlockton fouled out in 18 minutes and Jaylen Carey fouled out in 26 minutes played. McGlockton wasn’t his usual self as he didn’t score and only hauled in two rebounds. Carey was highly effective in his action off the bench tying his career high by scoring 18 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Despite Carey’s efforts the Commodores couldn’t overcome his absence and McGlocton’s ineffectiveness combined with both of them fouling out and Vanderbilt lost its lead late and ultimately came up short on the day.

“We’re lacking depth there,” head coach Mark Byington said. “One of the guys I thought was going to be a contributor on this team hasn’t played a minute and he’s been out for the entire year and he was a guy who gives us size and a good player. We’re undersized but we’re fighters. Jaylen Carey, he fights, he competes and I’m not going to take that away from him. If I had another big, I would love to be able to have him. But we’re good, we’ll take the guys we’ve got, we’ll go in and compete.”

Vanderbilt expected Southern California transfer Kijani Wright to contribute in the front court, but he’s been unavailable due to an undisclosed medical issue.

It’s not the first time foul trouble’s doomed McGlockton and Carey as the pair fouled out in the Commodores loss at Florida. McGlockton fouled out against Texas and picked up four fouls in the road loss at Alabama. Vanderbilt’s a hard-nose, well-coached basketball team, but it’s clear the Commodores size deficiency presents problems against the SEC’s better teams. McGlockton and Carey have to focus on staying out of foul trouble and on the floor for the team to be successful as the pair can compete with anyone, but the ‘Dores have very little behind them.

Tennessee super senior made all the difference for the Volunteers on Saturday, scoring all 22 of his points in the second half to go with eight assists and a block having a say in 32 of Tennessee’s 50 second-half points

“They did the same thing they did in a lot of games, in the second half when they’re down they go with Zeigler in a high ball screen,” Byington said. “He’s great in space, he’s great in decision-making and we tried multiple things to be able to stop him and we couldn’t come up with it. We tried some zone, we tried some different things and Lanier hit a big shot against the zone. Our zone, we were hoping could hold us together and he hit a big one. If I had to say, you want to say one thing, it was Zeigler and his control of the game and his pace.”

Zeigler obviously stole the show, but Vanderbilt’s Jason Edwards put up quite a fight. The junior guard scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half, making six-of-10 from beyond the arc and four-of-eight in the second half to duel with Zeigler. Edwards has led the ‘Dores in scoring all season, averaging 17.4 points per game. The transfers worked his way from Miles College in Alabama to Dodge City Community College, to North Texas to Vanderbilt and continues to impress against the SEC’s best.

The Commodores program is in a bit of a tough place after bringing together a roster in a short time frame in the best basketball conference in the country. However, despite the recent run of poor results and struggles on the road it is easy to see the progress Vanderbilt’s made under Byington. Vanderbilt held a second half lead on the road against Florida and Tennessee, was ahead at home into the second half against top ranked Auburn and has largely been competitive in all of it’s conference matchups.

“One thing I just told our guys in the locker room is we’ve got to keep going because sometimes success is one more step or two more steps, it’s right around the corner,” Byington said. “We’re battling. We had good segments against Auburn and we’re battling today. A lot of times its like alright we’re not there but you add the word yet. You’ve got to keep going. We’re a good basketball team and you’ve got to be really, really good to beat a team like Tennessee in this building and we’re not there yet.”

Vanderbilt is now 2-7 in Quad 1 games is ranked No. 41 in KenPom’s analytics was ranked as one of Joe Lunardi’s “Last Four Byes” earning a No. 10 seed to take on No. 7 Saint Mary’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The ‘Dores have five more Quad 1 games remaining on the schedule thanks to the strength of the conference and they’ve already shown they can beat top teams as they’ve knocked off No. 6 Tennessee and No. 9 Kentucky. If Vanderbilt can manage these final few weeks of the conference schedule respectably the Commodores can have a strong showing in march despite the depth issues that’ve plagued them in conference play.