On Saturday night, the Vanderbilt men's basketball team will be looking to advance to the Sweet 16 when they take on Nebraska in Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center. Both teams advanced to the second round on Thursday with wins, the Cornhuskers over Troy and the Commodores over McNeese.
The winner gets a trip to Houston to face the winner of Sunday's second-round battle between top-seeded Florida and Iowa. The defending champion Gators are primed for a repeat.
Saturday night's matchup will involve one former Virginia Tech player from the 2023-24 team. Forward Tyler Nickel left Blacksburg after one season and hit the portal, landing at Vanderbilt. A sharpshooter who can fill it up when he gets going from behind the arc has fit in very well for the Commodores. Ahead of Saturday night's matchup, he didn't beat around the bush playing in front of what will be a pro-Nebraska crowd.
Former Virginia Tech forward throws gas on Vanderbilt's second-round matchup against Nebraska
Nickel spoke to the media and didn't hide the fact that he was going to love being the underdog against the Huskers and what is expected to be in front of thousands of Nebraska fans.
"Its fun to be the villain, you know what I'm saying'' said Nickel. "We know that the whole gym is going to be against us. Any call we get, they gonna hate it. Any call they get the whole crowd is gonna explode. It just makes it more fun."
Nickel has always been someone who talks a lot, but he generally backs it up with his play. He is averaging 13.4 points a game this season for Vanderbilt in nearly 31 minutes a game. Last season, he averaged 10.4 points in 33 games. In his one season at Virginia Tech under Mike Young, he averaged 8.8 points a game in 33 games and averaged 24 minutes a night. He shot 40% from behind the arc for the Hokies, the same percentage he has averaged in his two seasons in Nashville.
Two years ago, Nickel, who came to Virginia Tech from North Carolina, was part of the mass exodus through the portal and ended up at Vanderbilt. He is one win away from a berth in the Sweet 16 as an underdog, and that's the way he likes it.