When Tyler Tanner went through the NBA draft process before returning to Vanderbilt basketball, he heard one consistent message from scouts: he needs to improve on his defense.
Tanner is hardly a defensive liability. He set the program's single-season steals record and was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team. But at the NBA combine, he measured at 5-foot-10¾ and 167 pounds. His lack of size is a concern in the pros, and while he generates a lot of havoc, scouts wanted to see better ball-screen defense.
"They want him to beat screens on his own, without the help of a big or somebody else," Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. "That's him getting through a ball screen on his own. He's always been good at guarding somebody in isolation, but they're seeing those areas. But also, they love his steal percentage. ... Always feel like an unbelievable coach when I sit on the sideline and do nothing, and he steals the ball and goes and dunks it."
Tanner said Oct. 16 that he's working to add weight, which he believes will help with his defense. He wants to be able to switch onto bigger players without standing out in a bad way.
"It's defense, eliminating ball screens, just being a stronger defender and less of a weak link for my team," Tanner said. " ... I think it's something that I do have to put a lot of effort into being a smaller guard, but the biggest piece was putting on a little bit of weight as well to try to help me defensively."
Tanner and Vanderbilt basketball host UAB at 6 p.m., Monday at Memorial Gymnasium in an exhibition game.
Tanner averaged 19.5 points per game in 2026-27 with 3.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals. He went through the NBA draft process but withdrew even with the possibility that he could've been a first-rounder. Other than defense, the main concern was 3-point shooting after he shot 36.8% from three last season, albeit with an 85.3% free-throw percentage that indicates room for the shooting to improve.
Since he returned, Tanner is considered as one of the top players in the SEC and the country. He was named a preseason First Team All-SEC selection and received votes for SEC Preseason Player of the Year. And as he works to improve his defense, he'll have more personnel around him.
Vanderbilt, which last season was a team built around guard play and scoring, instead looked for size and defense in the transfer portal. That includes 6-11 Bangot Dak, 6-10 Berke Buyuktuncel and 6-9 Sebastian Williams-Adams. Returning wing Chandler Bing also has a reputation as a defensive ace.
"Pretty much every guy we brought in is really good defensively, and we notice it in practice," Tanner said. " .... Everybody wants to guard, and everybody wants to win."
Byington remembers a time after the SMU game last year, when Tanner scored 24 points. Byington called Tanner into his office, intending to humble him. But 15 seconds into their conversation, Byington realized Tanner didn't need to be humble. He wasn't someone who was bought into his own hype.
That's why Byington is confident Tanner won't be affected by his preseason accolades.
"He's gotten better, and he's going to have huge games for us, huge moments for us, but he can't get caught up in whether he's first team preseason All-American or this type of stuff," Byington said. "And he won't."
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Here's where NBA scouts said Tyler Tanner needed to improve for Vanderbilt basketball