Feb. 10, 2015
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Tennessee Gamenotes
Winners of two straight, the Commodores welcome intrastate rival Tennessee to Memorial Gym Wednesday night for the 186th all-time meeting between the two schools. The game tips off at 8 p.m. CT, and will be televised on the SEC Network and can be heard on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network throughout Middle Tennessee.
Vanderbilt improved to 13-10 and 3-7 in league play with a 65-50 win over South Carolina on Saturday at Memorial Gym. The Commodores stormed back after trailing at the half and early in the second half. Vanderbilt went on an 18-0 run in the second half and ended the game on a 34-7 run to come away with the victory. The SEC’s freshmen leading scorer Riley LaChance led all scorers with 19 points in 39 minutes of action. Senior forward James Siakam notched his second consecutive double-double with a 16-point, 10-rebound effort. Siakam had five offensive rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Freshman Wade Baldwin IV tallied 12 points, two assists, and two steals.
Game 24/Vanderbilt (13-10, 3-7 SEC) vs. Tennessee (13-9, 5-5 SEC)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 8 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Dave Neal (pxp), Jon Sundvold (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 92, XM 190
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Tennessee leads, 114-71.
Last Meeting: UT win, 76-38, on 3/1/14 in Knoxville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 53-38.
Record at UT: UT leads, 70-17.
Record at Neutral Site: UT leads, 6-1.
Coach Stallings vs. UT: Coach Stallings is 13-18 vs. Tennessee.
About Tennessee
Tennessee enters the game with a 13-9 overall record and a 5-5 mark in SEC play. Josh Richardson leads the Volunteers in scoring with 15.6 points per contest. Kevin Punter (10.9) and Armani Moore (10.4) are also averaging double figures. Tennessee has dropped four of their last five games, and recently lost at Georgia in a three-point affair, 56-53.
LaChance leads all SEC Freshmen
Freshman Riley LaChance is the leading freshman scorer in the SEC at 12.8 points per game in all games and 12.5 points per contest in SEC Games. He also leads all SEC freshmen in three’s made per contest at 2.0 per game, which is fourth in the conference overall. LaChance recently won his third SEC Freshman of the Week honor for his play in two wins against Florida and South Carolina, when he averaged 17 points, 4.5 rebounds, and two steals in the two games. Earlier this year, he poured in two consecutive 26-point games against Purdue and Western Carolina, and has three 20+ point games this season. In all, he has scored in double figures in 17 contests.
Freshmen Leaders
Riley LaChance leads all SEC freshmen in scoring at 12.8 ppg, while Wade Baldwin IV leads all freshmen in assists with 4.3 per contest.
Damian Jones leads Commodores
Sophomore post player Damian Jones is having a stellar sophomore campaign, averaging 14.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the first 23 contests. Jones, a preseason All-SEC First Team selection by the league’s coaches, has scored 20+ points in five games this year and is second in the SEC in field goal percentage (.535), ninth in the SEC in scoring, ninth in rebounding, 3rd in blocks (1.9), and 10th in defensive rebounding (4.3/game).
Freshmen On Single-Season Lists
Baldwin IV is now 3rd on single-season assist list for freshmen with 98, with Shelton Mitchell 8th on the list with 80. Atiba Prater has the all-time freshman single-season assist record with 103 in 1997. LaChance would be seventh on the freshman single-season scoring average list (12.8). Mike Rhodes is VU’s single-season freshman scoring average leader with 18.8 ppg, which came in the 1977-78 campaign.
Siakam Coming On
Senior James Siakam has now had two straight double-doubles after posting a 16-point, 10-rebound effort in a win over South Carolina. In a win over Florida, Siakam had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Rebounding runs in the family – James is 27th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, while his brother Pascal, who plays at New Mexico State, is ranked 18th in the same category.
More on Baldwin
Baldwin leads all freshmen in assists, and is 5th in the SEC in assists (4.3) in all games, 4th in SEC games only (4.1) and 3rd in A/TO ratio (2.3). He also has 20 steals in his last seven games, and is second in the league in SEC games only (2.0). Baldwin already has more steals (36) than last year’s season leader, James Siakam, who had 28 for the entire season. He also won his first SEC Freshman of the Week honor earlier this season.
Stallings wins 300 vs. Penn, now has 305 Vanderbilt wins
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings won his 300th game at Vanderbilt against Penn, becoming one of five SEC coaches to win 300 or more games at one institution, joining Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, Florida’s Billy Donovan, and LSU’s Dale Brown and Harry Rabenhorst.
Vanderbilt among SEC leaders
The Commodores lead the SEC in FG% with 46.8%, and have shot 50% or better in eight games this year. VU is also 1st in 3-Pt FG% (.368) and 4th in assists (15.1).
Dores 2015 Recruiting Class Ranked 20th by ESPN
Head Coach Kevin Stallings recently signed four players to National Letters of Intent for next season – Djery Baptiste, a 6’11 center from Plano, Texas, Camron Justice, a 6’2 guard from Hindman, Kentucky, Samir Sehic, a 6’9 forward from Cypress, Texas, and Joseph Toye, a 6’7 wing from Chicago, each signed with the Commodores on the first day of the signing period on November 12. The quartet was recently named the 20th-best class in the nation according to ESPN.com.
SEC’s Youngest Backcourt
The Commodores’ freshman backcourt is the youngest in the SEC. In fact, Vanderbilt is the only school in the league to start three freshmen at the three guard spots.
Young Commodores
According to KenPom.com, Vanderbilt is number 348 out of 351 Division I playing schools in terms of experience at 0.72 years. The average years of experience across the 351 schools is 1.67 years.
Three-Point Streak Still Intact
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 918 consecutive games, a streak which began at the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The Commodores rank second only to UNLV for the longest streak in Division I basketball. Vanderbilt, UNLV and Princeton are the only three schools in college basketball to have made at least one 3-pointer in every game played since the 3-point line was implemented.
Frontcourt Height
Vanderbilt’s starting frontline of 7-0, 6-10 & 6-6 is the second tallest in the SEC in terms of average height. Kentucky – 82.3 inches; Vanderbilt – 81.3 inches; LSU – 81.3 inches.
