Tennessee basketball and Vanderbilt play Saturday in Nashville for the first meeting since Mark Byington was hired as the Commodores coach.

Chaz Lanier is averaging 8.3 points per game in his past three SEC games after scoring five in Tennessee's win against Georgia.

“Too competitive,” Barnes said. “Thinking they’re going to block a shot or stop everybody. Thinking we’re literally going to keep people from getting a shot off, and you can’t. You absolutely can’t foul a 3-point shooter.”

Predictions, picks and odds as No. 6 Tennessee basketball faces Vanderbilt. Plus, injury updates and the latest news.

Here's what Mark Byington said about Vols coach Rick Barnes and the rivalry before the Vanderbilt basketball game vs Tennessee on Saturday

Tennessee basketball plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday in the first meeting with coach Mark Byington's Commodores.

Rick Barnes coached at Texas for 17 seasons, winning more than 400 games before he was fired in 2015 and hired at Tennessee.

Longtime college basketball coach Rick Barnes, who has coached the University of Tennessee since 2015, took NIL matters into his own hands yesterday in a game that saw Tennessee beat Texas 74 to 70.

Rick Barnes said he never considered putting Zakai Zeigler back in the game with two fouls in the first half Saturday afternoon, as Vanderbilt was extending its lead on No. 6 Tennessee before the break.

Zakai Zeigler sat for the final 7:10 of the first half between Tennessee basketball and Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Commodores outscored UT 20-9 then.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes gave leading scorer Chaz Lanier a quick hook just 11 seconds into the second half on Saturday at Texas, benching him for peeling off a screen and hurling an errant pass into the bench area.