Game 16: Vanderbilt Commodores at Tennessee Volunteers — Open Game Thread

The bad news, coming off a near-miss at Missouri on Saturday, is that tonight’s opponent is ranked fifth in the country in both the AP and coaches’ polls, and Ken Pomeroy’s algorithm actually thinks that they’re underrated by the pollsters.

The even worse news is that that opponent is the Tennessee Volunteers. On Saturday, Tennessee went into South Carolina, a team that took Vanderbilt to overtime last week, and beat the Gamecocks 85-42. Yes, 85-42. On the road. In an SEC game. The game before that, they beat Mississippi State — a team ranked in the Top 25 a few weeks ago — 87 to 53. Since a loss at Arizona on December 17, Tennessee has been murdering everything in sight. Vanderbilt’s penchant for playing everybody close can only take them so far; Tennessee is an absolute buzzsaw right now, and again, this is made worse by the fact that they are Tennessee.

Jesus, they’re even good at baseball now.