NASHVILLE—It was always in there for Tyler Nickel, but he didn’t have all that much to prove it as he walked around Vanderbilt’s campus on Dec. 21, 2024 and worked to get over the hump in its matchup with Austin Peay.
That night presented an opportunity for Nickel to finally break through after averaging just 10.0 points a night, scoring below double figures in five of Vanderbilt’s 10 games and going scoreless in its loss to Drake. Nickel didn’t take advantage and went for just 12 points, though. He’d yet to prove that his pedigree as a one-time North Carolina guard and four-star recruit had translated to consistent college basketball production.
“He didn’t start non-conference off great last year,” Byington said. “I think it was a multitude of things. I think we had to learn him better as a coaching staff, I think the team had to learn him better.”
Once it clicked, Nickel became a go-to guy for Vanderbilt throughout SEC play and averaged 10.4 points per game on 40.5% shooting from 3-point range. His 21-point outing against Texas A&M and important shot that led to an eventual Vanderbilt win over Missouri were among a surprising team’s best moments of the season.
Vanderbilt guard Tyler Nickel (5) celebrates his three-point basket against Missouri forcing the game into overtime at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, March 1, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The murmurs indicated that Nickel demonstrated that he had improved significantly throughout Vanderbilt’s summer program and that he likely wouldn’t be in for a slow start like he was a season ago. Byington told Vandy on SI at the time that he believed that Nickel would be among the SEC’s best players. He still had to do it, though.
Nickel has answered the call–and has been a key ingredient to Vanderbilt’s 10-0 start to the 2025-26 season–as he’s averaged 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting a career-high 47.9% from 3-point range. The 6-foot-7 wing has hit double figures in all but one of Vanderbilt’s games, too. Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner is decidedly Vanderbilt’s most-improved player, but Nickel deserves every bit of flowers he can receive as well.
The analytics have every reason to love the Vanderbilt guard at this stage, and it appears as if they do. Nickel’s KenPom profile is full of red numbers–which indicate that he’s on national leaderboards–and is highlighted by a 72.1 true shooting percentage that puts him ninth in the country, a 71.0 effective field goal percentage that puts him at 10th and the aforementioned 3-point percentage that puts him 56th in the nation among qualified shooters. Nickel was good last season, but is on another level this season.
“Consistency of my work,” Nickel said in regard to the key to his improvement. “Just over time, reps and reps are gonna add up to where you feel consistent and confident. That’s the biggest thing for me this year was consistency in all facets of the game.”
Dec 17, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Tyler Nickel (5) and guard Duke Miles (2) high five against the Memphis Tigers during the second half at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images
Nickel’s best act came in Vanderbilt’s otherwise-lackluster over Central Arkansas–in which his performance was more indicative of his ability to explode and pull Vanderbilt to victory than his improved consistency. The Vanderbilt wing went for a career-high 30 points on 8-for-15 shooting from 3-point range and was dubbed as the only “sharp” piece of Vanderbilt’s program in its 83-72 win over Central Arkansas by Byington.
Then, he topped it with a 26-point performance against Wake Forest in which he tied his career-high with eight makes from beyond the arc and didn’t look incapable of anything. The outing came just days after Nickel’s worst 3-point shooting outing of the season. His 2-for-10 showing at Memphis didn’t phase him, though. Instead, Nickel found his “rhythm” in shootaround prior to Vanderbilt’s trip to Wake Forest and demonstrated his staying power with a performance in which he was deemed figuratively unconscious.
“His confidence is unbreakable,” Byington said on the radio after Vanderbilt’s Sunday win. “He knows what he can do. He puts in so much work. He’s an everyday guy.”