OKLAHOMA CITY — Tyler Tanner had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Vanderbilt rallied to beat McNeese 78-68 on Thursday for its first victory in the NCAA tournament since 2012.
The Commodores (27-8), the No. 5 seed in the South Region, will play No. 4 seed Nebraska in the second round Saturday.
Duke Miles scored 13 points and Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel each had 12 for Vanderbilt, which trailed by 12 points in the first half and then took control after the break.
The Commodores shot 51% (26 of 51) from the field and made 17 of 20 free throws.
“What an extremely hard-fought game, and that’s what you expect in the NCAA tournament,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “That team is used to winning, and they came out right away and jumped us from the start. I just don’t think we were ourselves for the majority of the game, especially the start.”
Garwey Dual scored 16 points and Larry Johnson had 15 for No. 12 seed McNeese, which was trying to knock off a No. 5 seed for the second straight year. The Cowboys beat Clemson in the first round last year under Will Wade, who then left for N.C. State.
“I thought we were able to get our game plan into the game for the most part,” McNeese coach Bill Armstrong said. “Turned them over 13 times, which they don’t do much. Won the turnover margin by seven. That gave us a chance to win.
“And we fought on the boards with an SEC team, only getting outrebounded by three. We were right there. We shot 18 more shots than they did. We didn’t finish as many plays down the stretch.”
McNeese led for much of the first half before Vanderbilt, which lost to Arkansas in the SEC tournament championship game, found its game. Nickel’s 3-pointer with 4:09 left in the half gave the Commodores a 30-28 lead, their first since 3-2.
“I don’t know if it was something going on from the hangover,” Byington said. “I know our guys prepped well. They were excited to play. We just didn’t have the normal bursts we did. What I really like is I don’t think we had our best game, but the guys just figured out a way.”
Vanderbilt led 38-35 at halftime and extended it to 45-35 on back-to-back 3s by Miles and Nickel early in the second half. McNeese responded with a 7-0 run to make it 45-42, but that was as close as the Cowboys (26-9) would get.
McNeese made 25 of 69 shots (36.2%).
