Dores Back Home Sunday

No. 23/ 23 Vanderbilt (18-4, 5-3 SEC) vs. (RV/–) Ole Miss (14-6, 5-3 SEC)
Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025 • 2 p.m. CT

Memorial Gymnasium • Nashville, Tenn. • SEC Network+ • Tickets
94.9 The Fan • Vanderbilt Athletics App • Live Stats • Game Notes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 23/23-ranked Vanderbilt women’s basketball team returns to the Music City on Sunday, as the Commodores are set to battle Ole Miss (RV/–). Tipoff from Memorial Gymnasium is set for 2 p.m. and streams live on SEC Network+.

Starting Five
>> The Dores come into Sunday fresh off a 2-0 SEC road trip that featured winning stops at No. 19 Alabama (66-64) and Florida (99-86), which has put them at 18-4 overall and 5-3 in SEC play. Vanderbilt has won four-straight SEC games for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

>> The Commodores are riding a four-game winning streak. It is the third time this season that Vanderbilt has had a winning streak of four-plus games, as the Dores have had two separate seven-game winning streaks this season. The last time Vandy won five-straight SEC games came during the 2011-12 season.

>> Sunday’s contest will be the second matchup between Vanderbilt and Ole Miss this season. The two last met on Jan. 9 at The Pavilion, where the Rebels captured the 87-59 victory on a cold night in Oxford. Freshman Mikayla Blakes led a trio of double-digit scorers for the Commodores that night with a 19-point performance in her first career SEC road contest.

>> It is the 57th meeting between the Commodores and Rebels. Vandy holds the all-time series lead at 35-21, though Ole Miss has won each of the last four contests. The Dores are 0-4 against Mississippi in the Ralph era.

>> Vanderbilt is 20-5 all-time against Ole Miss at Memorial Gymnasium. The Commodores have dropped each of the last two home games against the Rebels, which includes Mississippi’s 67-61 victory on Feb. 1, 2024.

Game Coverage
Sunday’s contest against Ole Miss streams live on SEC Network+ via the Watch ESPN app, with Andrew Allegretta and Drew Maddux calling the action. Fans can listen to Jake Lyman locally on 94.9 The Fan and the Vanderbilt Commodores app outside of Nashville. Fans can also follow along via live stats.

Alumni Day & National Girls and Women in Sports Celebration vs. Ole Miss
Saturday will be the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team’s Alumni Day and National Girls and Women in Sports Celebration.

In honor of both celebrations, Vanderbilt Athletics is giving away free limited edition Chantelle Anderson bobbleheads to fans while supplies last. Doors at Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday open at 1 p.m. Fans can click here for tickets.

There will also be a Women in Sports Panel on Sunday in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Celebration at Memorial Gym starting at 12:30 p.m. located in the Admiral’s Room. Fans can enter Gate 2 at Memorial Gym starting at 12:15 p.m. to attend the panel.

NET Ranking
Vanderbilt enters Sunday holding a NET ranking of 18. The Commodores came in at No. 7 in the first NET ranking of the 2024-25 season, the highest NET ranking in program history. The NET is an evaluation tool the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to determine seeding and at-large bids.

Nationally Ranked
Vanderbilt broke into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since the 2013-14 season, this week, coming in at No. 23 this week. The Commodores also checked in at No. 23 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll, marking the second-straight season the Dores have been featured in the Coaches Poll. This week’s rankings mark the first time Vanderbilt has been in both polls since Feb. 18, 2014.

Blakes Sets NCAA True Freshman Scoring Record
Mikayla Blakes rewrote the NCAA women’s basketball record book once again on Jan. 30 at Florida, as the Vanderbilt women’s basketball standout broke the NCAA true freshman record for most points scored in a game with a 53-point performance to lead the No. 23/23-ranked Commodores to a 99-86 road win.

Blakes’ 53 points are the most scored in a game by a first-year player at the NCAA Division I level, breaking JuJu Watkins’ NCAA true freshman single-game scoring record of 51 points, set by the Southern California standout last season. Blakes was one point short of setting the NCAA Division I single-game women’s basketball freshman scoring record, held by Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, who scored 54 points in a contest as a redshirt freshman in 2009-10. Delle Donne spent her first season as an NCAA student-athlete on Delaware’s volleyball team before playing four seasons of women’s basketball for the Blue Hens.

Blakes is the only Division I player — men’s or women’s — to score at least 50 points in a game this season. Additionally, she set both the SEC and the Vanderbilt women’s basketball single-game scoring records. The freshman broke Jocelyn Penn’s (LSU) SEC single-game record of 51 points, scored on Jan. 4, 2003, against Stetson. Blakes also surpassed Khamil Pierre’s previous school record of 42 points, which was set on Dec. 17 vs. Evansville.

Moore Production in SEC Play
Senior Iyana Moore contributed to a total of 38 points in Vanderbilt’s 99-86 win at Florida. The guard scored 22 points and dished out six assists, which led to 16 points.

In league games, Moore is averaging 16.9 points per game, an increase of 2.9 points compared to her season-scoring average of 14.0 points. The guard has scored registered double-digit points in all but one SEC game this season, which includes a season-best 23-point performance at LSU on Jan. 13.

Scouting the Rebels
Mississippi holds an overall record of 14-6 and 5-3 in SEC play and is coming off a 63-58 win at Georgia. Ole Miss earned eight votes in the Associate Press Top 25 and holds a NET ranking of 14 entering Thursday’s contest.

The Rebels feature four double-digit scorers led by freshman Sira Thienou’s 12.5 points per contest. Seniors Madison Scott and Kennedy Todd-Williams are each putting up 12.2 points per contest. Senior Starr Jacobs rounds out the quartet with 11.0 points per game.

Ole Miss is putting up 77.7 points per game through 20 games this season. The Rebels are shooting 45.0 percent from the field and 31.4 percent on 3-point field goals. Defensively, teams are putting up 53.6 points per game against Mississippi while shooting 38.9 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from behind the arc.

Follow Us
For more information and exclusive content on the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, follow @VandyWBB on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.