Tyrin Lawrence and Vanderbilt executed their final play perfectly on Wednesday night.
It resulted in by far their biggest win of the season.
Lawrence caught a pass from Ezra Manjon in the corner and expertly drilled a 3-pointer as time expired on Wednesday night at Memorial Gymnasium to secure the Commodores’ 66-65 upset win over No. 6 Tennessee.
The final play came after a tight game the entire way through, where neither team led by more than five points. Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi hit a 3-pointer with about two minutes left to tie the game up at 63, then Olivier Nkamhoua hit a jumper to put the Volunteers up in the final minute.
Tennessee had several chances in the final 15 seconds to seal the win, too, including what would have been a simple Julian Phillips dunk and a Vescovi free throw. Yet Phillips dribbled out what would’ve been a simple two points.
“I am not sure what was going through his head there,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said of Phillips’ decision, via the Knoxville News Sentinel. “I don’t think he will ever make that mistake again.”
Vescovi’s free throw was off the mark, too, which set up the Lawrence game-winning bucket.
Lawrence finished with a game-high 19 points after shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Liam Robbins added 14 points and nine rebounds. The win marked Vanderbilt’s second straight after a three-game losing skid and brought the Commodores to 12-12 for the year.
Vescovi led Tennessee with 14 points on the night, and Tyreke Key added 14 points off the bench. Nkamhoua and Phillips, who finished with 10 points each, were the only other volunteers to hit double figures on the night.
The Volunteers have struggled since their win over Texas in the Big12/SEC Challenge last month. They fell to unranked Florida by 13 immediately after, and then narrowly beat Auburn on Saturday despite putting up just 46 points as a team.
