🧬 (IN OUR DNA) Nationwide stardom

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 opposition 🔍
- Reflecting on the process 💭
+ so much more 💪

🎾 Men’s Tennis coaching pair reflects on their journeys

⛳ Women’s Golf upsets Georgia Southern in a match-play event on the road

🔥 FORCES OF NATURE

Women’s Basketball freshman Mikayla Blakes and sophomore Khamil Pierre have been listed to the 2025 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Midseason Team (READ MORE).

🏀 STARTING FIVE: ROAD STINT

Men’s Basketball (17-7) travels for a week of action at No. 5 Tennessee (20-5) this Saturday and later jet to No. 15 Kentucky (17-7) for a mid-week showdown:

• Despite the Volunteers’ most recent defeat at Kentucky (75-64), Tennessee held the Wildcats without a point for 3:28 and during that period cut the deficit to three, 50-47, with 12:45 to play

• In the past four years (2021-25), Tennessee's 26 AP top-25 wins lead the nation

• Only UConn (25), Iowa State (24), Kansas (24) and Purdue (23) are even within three, while the closest SEC school is four behind (Alabama with 22)

• Under head coach Rick Barnes, Tennessee is 22-8 versus AP top-25 teams at Food City Center, including 17-2 in its last 19 such games

• In Tuesday’s battle with Tennessee, Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh each scored 13 points as No. 15 Kentucky topped fifth-ranked Tennessee 75-64

• Kentucky (17-7, 6-5 SEC) made 12 of 24 from beyond the arc, while the Vols made just 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) of their long-distance attempts

• Three Wildcats, Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh and Jaxson Robinson are on various midseason watch lists following stellar starts to the season

• Butler and Oweh are both on the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List

• Defensively, Butler is leading the Wildcats with 1.7 steals per game

• Kentucky is 13-5 with him on the court and is yielding 74.7 points per game, a 41.2% field-goal clip and a 28.8% 3-point rate to its opponents

• Robinson was selected to the top 10 midseason list of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year list

Women’s Hoops (18-7) hits the road to meet Auburn (12-13) on Sunday and a No. 16 Oklahoma team (18-6) on Thursday night:

• The Tigers have held 18 of 24 Division I opponents below their season scoring average

• Twelve of those opponents have scored more than 10 points below their season average

• Grad student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s eighth-leading scorer and third in the SEC

• She leads the Tigers with 21.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game

• Gaston also set a Neville Arena record for an Auburn player with 36 points in the win over VUL, then nearly matched that with 35 points vs. Alabama State

• The Sooners are on a three-game winning streak after dropping Auburn in a narrow battle, 73-71

• No. 16 Oklahoma have dominated unranked teams at home, boasting a 15-1 record this season

• They've won 24 straight conference home games against unranked teams, with their last loss coming on March 5, 2022

• Proving to be a big factor in her team’s impressive season thus far, Oklahoma junior Raegan Beers has been named a top-10 candidate for the prestigious Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award

🏃‍♀️ February 14-15 // Women’s Track & Field hosts the Music City Challenge on SEC Network+

🎳 February 14-16 // Bowling competes in the Mid-Winter Classic in Jonesboro, Ark.

🎾 February 14 // Women’s Tennis welcomes Murray State at 11:00 am CT

🎾 February 14 // Women’s Tennis hosts Tennessee State at 3:00 pm CT

⚾ February 14 // Baseball hits the road to face Grand Canyon at 7:00 pm CT on MLB Network

🏀 February 15 // Men’s Basketball takes on Tennessee away at noon CT on SEC Network

⚾ February 15 // Baseball plays Nebraska in Phoenix at 7:00 pm CT on MLB Network

🏀 February 16 // Women’s Basketball hits the road to meet Auburn at 3:00 pm CT on SEC Network

🥍 February 16 // Lacrosse battles Denver back-to-back on the road at 1:00 pm CT

⚾ February 16 // Baseball goes head-to-head against UC Irvine in Phoenix at 1:00 pm CT