Tyler Tanner: Vanderbilt took Nate Oats comments about schedule 'personally' before Alabama win

Ahead of Alabama’s game at Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said the Commodores had not played any “real, real good teams” yet this season. Those comments made their way to the players, and Tyler Tanner said it served as motivation for the matchup.

Vanderbilt stayed undefeated with the victory over Alabama, improving to 15-0 on the year. The Crimson Tide erased a 13-point deficit in the first half and led by as much as four points in the second half, but Vanderbilt was able to come away with the 96-90 win.

Afterward, Tanner pointed out Vanderbilt’s mindset amid the strong start to Year 2 under head coach Mark Byington. In the process, he said the Commodores took Oats’ remarks about the schedule “personally.”

“We’ve got a lot of guys who want to win,” Tanner said on SportsCenter after the game. “We’re putting the team before ourselves every time. We heard what Nate Oats was saying before, that we didn’t have a lot of good games before this – we had some high-majors, but no real good teams.

“We kind of took that personally. We knew how good of a team we were, we know how good we are and we just wanted to show everybody tonight.”

Tanner led the charge for Vanderbilt on Wednesday with 29 points on 8-of-15 shooting, as well as a 12-of-15 showing from the free throw line. He also added seven assists as the Commodores got their 15th win of the season.

More on Vanderbilt’s resume, Nate Oats’ comments

Vanderbilt entered Wednesday’s game with the No. 54 strength of schedule in the country, according to KenPom, while Alabama’s ranked No. 1. But the Commodores have been one of the best teams in the nation, ranking No. 5 in the KenPom rankings. They also won all but two non-conference games by double digits.

Nate Oats acknowledged Vanderbilt’s scoring differential throughout the dominant start to the year. He also noted the amount of high-major opponents on the schedule while giving credit to the work Byington has done in Nashville this season.

“They’re good. They haven’t played any real, real good teams, they’ve played some high-majors, and shoot, blowing them out,” Oats said. “They’re good. The metrics say they’re good, you watch them on film, the eye test says they’re good. They’ve got a confidence about them, they’ve got good guard play. They’re smart, they’re well-coached, they’re good on both sides of the ball.

“The defense is good, offensively they know what they’re doing. They’ve got shooting, they’ve got guys that can drive, they move the ball, willing passers. Their point guard just had 14 assists, that’s not easy to do. It’s gonna be a good game.”