When Vanderbilt scheduled Middle Tennessee for a home-and-home series back in 2010, Kevin Stallings probably didn't anticipate the Blue Raiders being one of Vandy's highest rated opponents. When the Commodores traveled to Murfreesboro last season, they left with a 19-point win over a .500 team that ended up missing the postseason.

One year later, that same MTSU team is now a RPI Top 50 team and is undefeated against BCS conference opponents. The Blue Raiders toppled UCLA and Ole Miss en route to a 19-2 record and some major NCAA Tournament buzz. If they can extend this record with an upset win in Nashville, they'll not only post their 20th win, but land a hallmark victory by which the tournament selection committee can judge them.

Middle Tennessee has run off a perfect 8-0 record in Sun Belt play behind a combination of size and experience. LaRon Dendy and JT Sulton lead a proficient inside scoring attack that has the Blue Raiders shooting over 49 percent from the floor. The big men have shown off their defensive talents in 2011-2012 as well, combining for 13 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. On the outside, junior guard Marcos Knight can do a little bit of everything. He scores from inside and out, rebounds, passes well, and is a disruptive defender who averages 1.7 steals per game. These three players drive an MTSU that boasts a balanced rotation behind them.

Vanderbilt's defense will be tested by an efficient offense that doesn't miss often. Four of the team's top five scorers shoot over 50 percent from the field. Part of this can be attributed to their preference for inside shots. MTSU has attempted under 14 three-pointers per game and is hitting less than 35 percent from long range. Comparatively, Vandy - one of the most prolific three-point shooting teams in the country - is averaging nearly 23 attempts and has made over 40 percent of them this season.

UAB was ultimately successful in shutting down Middle Tennessee's offense, holding them to just 56 points in a home win. So what was the strategy that dealt the Blue Raiders their only loss in the past three months? Let's take a closer look.

Middle Tennessee State (19-2, unranked, #31 in the Pomeroy Rankings)

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Two possessions, two dunks. That's just how Brad Tinsley does it.

By the time Tinsley flushed his second straight entry to the upcoming Fox special "World's Whitest Dunks," any lingering effects from Saturday's overtime loss to Mississippi State had disappeared in Nashville. Vanderbilt was beating their arch rivals 38-16 late in the first half. Jeffery Taylor was coming to grips with his ability to manipulate the matrix. Memorial Gym had regained its madness. All was right with the world.

The moment wasn't lasting, but it was another link in what has been a chain of dominant performances from the Commodores. Vanderbilt is now 5-1 in SEC play, and all five wins have come in blowout form. While the level of competition in these games hasn't been the greatest, their outcomes have still been impressive. It's doubtful that you'd have been able to find anyone that was confident that this Vandy team would be able to defeat Cuonzo Martin's Tennessee squad so handily.

Though UT was just 9-10 heading into the game, they had already posted two wins over top 15 ranked opponents. They were also transforming into a stronger unit behind the addition of freshman big man Jarnell Stokes. Stokes's presence helped lead the team to a major upset of #11 Connecticut and kept them within three points of #1 Kentucky a week earlier.

The Volunteers proved in 2011 that they could control the Commodores even amidst turmoil and turnover. A team that finished with 15 losses and the dismissed their head coach after the season ended up sweeping Vanderbilt in statement-making games. Both games saw the 'Dores squander double-digit second half leads. If nothing else, that Tennessee team showcased a distinct mental advantage over their in-state rivals.

Taylor, Tinsley, and the rest of this Commodore team reversed that trend in 2012. Vanderbilt refused to be bullied or intimidated on their home court. More importantly, they maintained their level of intensity for 40 straight minutes, denying the Vols' offense even late in the game. John Jenkins's presence on the court in the final minutes of a blowout wasn't just about exerting dominance over UT - it was a reaction to recent critiques that this team has difficulty closing out big wins.

That wasn't the only concern being addressed in the win. Taylor put together a strong wire-to-wire performance that helped shake some of the concerns about his ability to play with intensity on both ends of the court for a full 40 minutes. The Vandy defense clamped down and showed that athletic scoring guards like Trae Golden (2-11, 4 points) aren't their kryptonite. Festus Ezeli proved that he can defend physical post players even with a bum knee, holding Stokes to a season-low six points and helping to force the freshman into seven turnovers.

Vanderbilt held serve with an affirming win over an underrated Tennessee team Tuesday night. While that victory won't move the needle too much in the eyes of national pollsters, it should inspire confidence amongst the Vandy faithful. The 'Dores won big when they needed to bounce back and proved that Memorial Gym can regain the magic that makes it a daunting setting for teams like Florida and Tennessee. Last night's win wasn't the high point of this season, but it was certainly a building block for what may become a truly special campaign.

Two more things we learned from Vanderbilt/Tennessee I are after the jump...

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The rest of us are just along for the ride.

Prior to last season, there was much discussion about who would be the team leader. There was a pretty good argument to be made that Jeff would be the natural go-to guy, given his off-the-chart abilities and the possibility that he would enter the draft following his junior season. At the same time, there was the shooting prodigy in John Jenkins who seemed poised for a breakout season, given that he was a bit underused (but unbelievably effective) as a freshman role player.

As the season wore on, Jenkins blossomed into the premier scorer in the SEC, while Jeff had a somewhat frustrating year where he was simultaneously brilliant on defense and maddeningly inconsistent on the offensive end, inexplicably disappearing for long stretches during games. It became John Jenkins’ team, though his inability to get his own shot off against premier defenses limited our ability to win close contests (as did our porous defense, but that’s another discussion altogether).

This season, conventional wisdom was that it would again be Jenkins’ team, and he was given preseason first team SEC honors as well as preseason SEC POTY and AA consideration. Jeff was hardly an afterthought, given his first team placement on both the coaches and media preseason first team selections, but there wasn’t a lot of talk of him being a possible SEC POTY. Given the overall consistency of his first three seasons, Taylor had established who he was in the minds of many observers.

Jeff Taylor had other plans.

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Jeffery Taylor put together a game that could make him a lottery pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and Vanderbilt avenged last season's sweep to Tennessee with a monster 65-47 win at Memorial Gym Tuesday night.

The Commodores shook off Saturday's disappointing loss to Mississippi State with a blowout win over their arch rivals. Vandy opened the game with a 9-0 run and never looked back, pushing their lead to as many as 27 points in the victory.

Taylor led the team with some excellent play on both ends of the court. He scored 23 points (including 3-3 from three point range) and had nine rebounds in a next-level performance. John Jenkins scored 16, while Festus Ezeli added nine boards and four blocks in another step forward in his ongoing recovery from knee troubles. The Commodores continued their streak of solid defense, holding UT to just 35.3 percent shooting from the field. The Volunteers were held to a season-low 47 points.

Though Tennessee was just 9-10 coming into the game, they were coming off a potential turnaround win last weekend against Connecticut. Freshman Jarnell Stokes made a big impact in his first ever game at Memorial Gym, pulling down 10 rebounds and getting into a couple of altercations with Ezeli - eventually leading to double technicals in the second half. It wasn't the only instance of chippy play in the game - Ezeli was called for a flagrant foul in the first half, and Volunteer freshman Yemi Makanjuola was ejected with 1:25 to play for clotheslining Jenkins as he ran down the court.

Big man Jeronne Maymon had 15 points to lead Tennessee. The team's starting guards combined to go 4-21 from the field.

The win was huge for the Commodores. Not only was it a blowout win over their arch rivals, but it was also a major bounceback from Saturday's Mississippi State loss. Vanderbilt showed that they could maintain their intensity throughout a game even when they held a big lead. The 'Dores never let off the gas, and Tennessee didn't have a chance to get back into this game in the second half.

Vandy will take a break from SEC play this weekend, hosting Middle Tennessee State in a big non-conference showdown. The Blue Raiders are 19-2 on the season and will be looking to earn a statement win in Nashville. If the Commodores can win, they'll regain much of the momentum they lost with last weekend's overtime loss to MSU.

Post your pregame, in-game, and post-game comments and thoughts below. STAT-KING!

The Tennessee Volunteers head west to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Vols have had a pretty remarkable turnaround, thanks in large part to the addition of talented freshman Jarnell Stokes. Though Vanderbilt is the much stronger team on paper, it's hard to quantify exactly what these teams are right now, not to mention the fact that you're often better off tossing rankings and statistics out the window when sizing up rivalry games. I ran the numbers anyway, because THAT'S HOW I ROLL.

Game Page /// TSN Preview /// Rocky Top Talk /// RTT Preview /// SEC's Worst Losses: Tennessee (I)

Click through the jump for a breakdown of each team's opponents thus far and a closer look at their respective personnel.

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