Feb. 9, 2016
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Missouri Gamenotes
The Commodores return home on Wednesday night when they take on the Missouri Tigers at Memorial Gym. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network, with all of the action also available on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
The Commodores dropped to 13-10 overall, 5-5 in SEC play after losing to Ole Miss, 85-78, on Saturday in Oxford. Junior forward Luke Kornet scored a season-high 20 points on a season-best seven made field goals. Sophomore guard Wade Baldwin IV added 19 points and 9 assists and junior guard Nolan Cressler tied a season high with 14 points.
Vanderbilt out shot the Rebels, 45.6% to 35.8%, but Ole Miss outscored the Commodores, 25-6, in second chance points and 18-12 in points off of turnovers.
Wednesday’s meeting with the Tigers will be the 10th all time between the two schools , with Vanderbilt leading the overall series, 5-4. The Commodores are a perfect 4-0 against Missouri at Memorial Gym.
Game 24/ Vanderbilt (13-10, 5-5 SEC) vs. Missouri (8-15, 1-9 SEC)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 8 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Dave Neal (pxp), Daymeon Fishback (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 93, XM 190
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 5-4.
Last Meeting: VU win, 76-53, on 2/21/15.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 4-0.
Record at Missouri: MU leads, 4-0.
Record at Neutral Site: VU leads, 1-0.
Coach Stallings vs. Missouri: Coach Stallings is 3-3 against Missouri.
Quick Hitters
- Nationally, Vanderbilt ranks 3rd in 3FG% defense (28.1%), 9th in FG% defense (37.9%), 17th in 3FG% (39.9%), and 20th in blocks (5.5). Individually, Luke Kornet is tied for eighth in blocks (2.88)
- Vanderbilt ranks first in all games in the SEC in 3FG% defense (.281) and second in scoring margin (+9.3), FG% defense (.379), 3FG% (.399), and 3FG Made (8.4). In league games only, VU is second in 3FG% (.400), 3FG% defense (.287), 3FG’s made (8.4), and blocks (5.5).
- The Commodores are 10-2 in home games this season, and are averaging 79.8 points per game with a +17.7 scoring margin. Vanderbilt is shooting 48.6% from the floor and 43.8% from three, while limiting opponents to a 36.8% shooting percentage from the field and a paltry 28.5% from three.
- Luke Kornet’s 10 blocks against Auburn set a new program record for blocks in a game – he surpassed three games with seven blocks by Will Perdue (vs. East Carolina, 12/28/87), Festus Ezeli (at Georgia, 2/16/11) and Damian Jones (at South Carolina, 2/13/14). The 10 blocks is also the most in the nation this season.
- Kornet leads the SEC in blocks in all games and in SEC games only, and Jones is fourth in all games and third in SEC games.
- Ten players have scored in double figures in a game this season – Wade Baldwin, Luke Kornet, Damian Jones, Jeff Roberson, Riley LaChance, Matthew Fisher-Davis, Nolan Cressler, Camron Justice, Josh Henderson, and Joe Toye.
- Fisher-Davis is second in the SEC in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.462).
- Vanderbilt is 10-2 on the season when Kornet attempts more two point baskets than three’s.
- Head Coach Kevin Stallings, the school’s all-time winningest coach, is in his 17th season with the Commodores and 23rd overall as a head coach, and is now the dean of SEC coaches. Stallings has 326 career wins at Vanderbilt and 449 overall as a head coach. He has eight 20-win seasons in the last 12 seasons, with 11 total postseason appearances, six NCAA tournaments, and two Sweet 16’s (2004 and 2007). He is also 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, and is in 6th place all-time on the SEC wins list.
- Vanderbilt’s win over the eighth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies on February 4 was the Commodores’ first win over a ranked opponent since March 11, 2012, in a win over #1-ranked Kentucky in the SEC Tournament Championship. It was Vanderbilt’s first win at Memorial Gym over a ranked opponent since defeating Florida on February 28, 2012 (77-67).
- The Commodores have three players at seven feet or higher in their front court – Josh Henderson (7’0), Damian Jones (7’0), and Luke Kornet (7’1). LSU has two seven footers, and the rest of the league has one or fewer.
954
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 954 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.
Academic Success
Eight members of this year’s team were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll or the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for 2014-15.
Schedule Tough
The Commodores have faced nine teams in the top 27 of the current NCAA RPI (Kansas, 6th; Dayton, 12th; Texas A&M, 17th; Texas, 20th; Kentucky, 19th; Florida, 21st; Purdue, 22nd; South Carolina, 25th, Baylor, 27th)
Block Party
Junior Luke Kornet is eighth in the nation in blocks at 2.9 blocks per game, and he has spurred the team to 127 blocks on the season (already 9th all-time team total in program history) and blocking 10 or shots in a game on three separate occasions. Damian Jones is tied for second on the career blocks list with Will Perdue with 157, and his 1.77 blocks per game career mark is the best in program history, while Kornet is fifth in the program’s history in career blocks per game (1.29) and seventh in total blocks (107).
About Missouri
- Missouri enters the game Wednesday with an 8-15 overall record and a 1-9 mark in SEC play.
- Kevin Puryear leads the Tigers in scoring, averaging 11.3 points per game. Wes Clark also averages double figures (10.5).
- This will be the second consecutive meeting at Memorial Gym in the overall series.
