⚓ (ANCHOR DOWN) Watch Lists & Leadership Councils

Welcome to Anchor Impact, a newsletter fueled by Student-Athlete NIL (SANIL) for Vanderbilt University’s collective Anchor Impact.

In today’s content ⚓
- Scouting the enemy 🔎
- Winning Dores 👑
+ so much more 💪

⚾ Baseball announces schedule update

⚓ Four Dores nominated Allstate NACDA Good Works Winter Team

🕗 TOP OF THE MORNING

With a current 19-8 overall record this season, Women’s Basketball head coach Shea Ralph has been named to the 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Watch List (READ MORE).

Dores linebacker Bryan Longwell takes on a new leadership role after being named vice chair of the SEC Football Leadership Council (READ MORE).

Lacrosse midfielder Brooke Baker led all scorers to escort her team to a commanding 19-7 victory over Mercer (READ MORE).

🏀 STARTING FIVE

Men’s Basketball (17-9) will look to bounce back from its weekday loss this Saturday against Ole Miss (19-7) at home before jetting to Texas A&M (20-6) for a mid-week scuffle:

• In the latest released top-25 polls, Ole Miss ranks No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll

• The Rebels have their eyes set on a 20-win campaign for the second year in a row, a feat last accomplished in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons

• Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield continues to come off the bench putting up impressive numbers

• With a season average of 10.9 points per game, Brakefield leads the conference with 17 double-digit point games when coming off the bench

• Texas A&M average 6.9 more shots per game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools

• The Aggies have won 32 times in 65 games when being out-shot by its opponent over the past four seasons

• A&M are 5-3 when losing the FG% battle, including wins over NET top 10 teams Purdue (.440-.453) and Texas Tech (.373-.451)

• Earlier in the week, Wade Taylor IV became the 43rd player in SEC history to eclipse the 1,900-point mark, and the first since 2019

Coming off of a loss Thursday night, Women’s Basketball (19-8) will host the No. 6-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (24-3) Sunday afternoon and Texas A&M (10-15) later in the week:

• South Carolina leads the SEC in scoring defense (57.75 ppg), field goal percentage (.470) and field goal percentage defense (.344)

• The team is also second in scoring (80.67 ppg

• The 2024 National Champions’ bench remains the best in the country with 41.6 points per game, besting the second-place team by nine points per game

• Three of the team’s top five scorers come off the bench, and, in addition to accounting for 51.9 percent of the offense, the bench has pulled down 41.7 percent of the team’s rebounds

• Earlier in the week, Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley was one of 15 coaches named to the 2025 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List

• With a current 10-15 record, the Aggies’ two most notable victories were against ranked teams Ole Miss and Kentucky where the Maroon & White overcame double-digit deficits in both outings

• Texas A&M is No. 24 in the country in blocks per game, swatting 4.7 shots per contest

• Lauren Ware leads that effort with 1.9 blocks each night

• Texas A&M sophomore Janae Kent has been leading the team in scoring over the past five games, averaging 11.8 points per game and has scored in double figures four times during that stretch

🏊 February 18-22 // Swimming competes at the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga.

⚾ February 21 // Baseball welcomes Saint Mary’s in a three-game series at 2:00 pm CT on SEC Network+

🎾 February 21 // Women’s Tennis clashes with Northwestern away at 4:00 pm CT

🥍 February 22 // Lacrosse hosts No. 22 Ohio State at noon CT on ESPN+ (Youth Day | Postgame Autographs)

🎾 February 22 // Men’s Tennis travels to Texas at 1:00 pm CT

⚾ February 22 // Baseball continues its three-game series against Saint Mary’s at 1:00 pm CT on SEC Network+

🏀 February 22 // Men’s Basketball takes on Ole Miss at home at 2:30 pm CT on SEC Network

⚾ February 23 // Baseball closes its three-game versus Saint Mary’s at home at noon CT on SEC Network+

🎾 February 23 // Women’s Tennis sets it sights on Missouri at noon CT

🏀 February 23 // Women’s Basketball goes head-to-head against South Carolina at home at 2:00 pm CT on SEC Network+ (Senior Day)