PHOENIX — The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team heads out west to take on the Loyola (Chicago) Ramblers on Wednesday in the 2019 Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
The game will begin at 5:30 p.m. CT on the CBS Sports Network. Commodore fans can also tune in on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on WLAC 1510 AM and 98.3 FM and online on VUCommodores.com and the VUCommodores app.
Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters
• The Commodores dropped to 6-3 on the season after falling to Liberty on Dec. 14, 61-56. Sophomore Aaron Nesmith led the Commodores with 19 points with junior guard Saben Lee adding 16 for Vanderbilt.
• Vanderbilt was limited to its lowest shooting percentage of the year against the Flames (.353). The 56 points scored was also a season low.
• Lee claimed SEC Player of the Week honors after his performance against Buffalo a week ago, becoming the first Commodore to win the award since Jeff Roberson on Feb. 19, 2018.
• Lee joins Scotty Pippen Jr. as weekly honorees from the SEC this season. Pippen Jr. was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 25 when he averaged 17 points, 5.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game in two Commodore wins over Austin Peay and South Carolina State, respectively.
• As of Dec. 15, Nesmith is second in the nation in 3’s made per game (4.1), and leads the SEC in 3’s per game, 3-point field goal percentage (.487) and scoring (22.3). He is eighth nationally in points per game. Nesmith is also ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in field goal percentage (8th, .507).
• Nesmith (22.3) and Lee (17.2) are the third-highest-scoring duo in the nation behind Hampton’s Jermaine Marrow (24.9) & Ben Stanley (20.9) and Texas-San Antonio’s Jhivvan Jackson (24.9), Keaton Wallace (15.3).
• Nesmith and Lee have scored in double figures in every game this season. Nesmith has scored 20 or more in six Vanderbilt games this season, Lee in three games.
• As of Dec. 15, Lee is eighth (17.4) in scoring, fourth in assists per game (5.7), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7), eighth in total free throws made (37), eighth in free throws attempted (50), and seventh in field goal percentage (.514) in the SEC.
• Other Commodores ranked in the top 10 in the SEC include Pippen Jr. (7th, assists/game, 4.7; 7th, ATO ratio, 1.83) and Clevon Brown (4th, blocks/game, 2.0; 8th, offensive rebounds/game, 2.4).
• Freshman Dylan Disu registered a career-high three assists and five steals against Tulsa on Nov. 30. His five steals were the most in a game since Riley LaChance had five steals vs. Penn on Dec. 22, 2014.
• Nesmith tallied a career-high 34 points in an overtime loss at Richmond on Nov. 14. It was the most points by a Vanderbilt player since Shan Foster vs. Miss. State (3/5/08), and the most points by a Vanderbilt player on the road since Billy McCaffrey at Georgia (35, 2/24/93).
• New head coach Jerry Stackhouse is the 28th men’s basketball coach in the history of Vanderbilt basketball. He is the first African American Commodore men’s basketball head coach and is one of two current African American head coaches in the Southeastern Conference (Cuonzo Martin, Missouri).
• As a team, the Commodores are first in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage (.373) and second in threes made/game (9.8) and total threes made (88) . Vanderbilt is third in blocks per game (5.1) and turnover margin (1.7).
• A season ago, no Commodore had more than seven assists in a game. This season, it has been done four times by Saben Lee and once by Scotty Pippen Jr.
• Saben Lee was one of seven major conference underclassmen in 2018-19 with 400+ points, 100+ rebounds and 100+ assists, and was the only one in the SEC. (Terence Davis and Grant Williams were the only others in the SEC to reach those numbers.)
• The Commodores are one of only three schools (UNLV and Princeton) to have made a three-point basket since the inception of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.
With a made three against Loyola-Chicago, Vanderbilt will move to 1,074 consecutive games with a three-pointer.
• The Commodores have had five first-round NBA Draft picks since 2012, the second-most in the SEC in that time span – Darius Garland (5th, Cleveland Cavaliers), Wade Baldwin IV (17th, Memphis Grizzlies), Damian Jones (30th, Golden State Warriors), and John Jenkins (23rd, Atlanta) and Festus Ezeli (30th, Golden State). Garland, Jones, and former standout Luke Kornet (Chicago Bulls) are all active players in the NBA.
Series Information
Series Record: Loyola (Chicago) leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: Loyola (Chicago) – W, 25-22
1935-36 – Chicago, Ill.
At Loyola (Chicago): Loyola (Chicago) leads, 3-0
Jerry Stackhouse vs. Loyola (Chicago): First meeting
Media Information
Vanderbilt vs. Loyola (Chicago)
Phoenix, Ariz. – Talking Stick Resort Arena – 5:30 p.m. CT
TV: CBS Sports Network
TV Talent: Ben Holden (pxp), Pete Gillen (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from Learfield/IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: VandyStats.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Notes: @VandyNotes
