Nov. 10, 2014
After knocking off Illinois-Springfield in their first exhibition game last Thursday, the Commodores will play their final exhibition tune up of the 2014-15 season when they welcome Sewanee to Memorial Gym for a 7 p.m. tip off Tuesday night.
In their first exhibition contest, Vanderbilt overwhelmed the Prairie Stars, 82-63, Thursday night behind a 24-point effort from freshman Riley LaChance and a 21-point, nine-rebound, five-assist performance from fellow freshman Shelton Mitchell. The Commodores shot 50% from the floor in the victory.
Media Information
Exhib. Game 2/Vanderbilt vs. Sewanee
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 7 p.m. CT
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
First Meeting with Sewanee Since 1961
Vanderbilt and former SEC member Sewanee have met 50 times, but the last regular season meeting came in the 1961-62 campaign. Sewanee was a member of the SEC from 1932-40, and the two teams’ first meeting came in the 1908-09 season. Vanderbilt has a 46-4 all-time record against Sewanee.
Siakam to miss Sewanee and Trevecca games
Vanderbilt senior James Siakam will miss the Sewanee game Tuesday night and the team’s season opener Sunday against Trevecca due to the death of his father in his native Cameroon.
Damian Jones SEC All-Freshman
Freshman post player Damian Jones had an outstanding freshman campaign, and was named to the All-SEC Freshman team by the league’s coaches to prove it. He averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest, scored in double figures in 20 games, and had five double-doubles on the season. He won SEC Freshman of the Week when he averaged 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in games against Missouri and Auburn earlier in his freshman year.
The big man from Baton Rouge, La., also blocked 43 shots in his freshman campaign, which ties him for ninth on the single-season Vanderbilt all-time list.
Stallings Becomes All-Time Winningest Vanderbilt Coach
Head Coach Kevin Stallings, who won his 279th career game with Vanderbilt against Lipscomb on November 15, 2013, and became the all-time Vanderbilt wins leader, surpassing legendary coach Roy Skinner. Stallings now has 292 wins at Vanderbilt, is the wins leader at Memorial Gym with 198, and has 415 victories as a head coach.
Stallings is the second most winningest active coach in the SEC behind Florida’s Billy Donovan with his 292 wins, and he is 10th all-time on the SEC wins list, one win behind Rick Stansbury of Mississippi State (1999-2012).
Stallings’ Success
Coach Stallings has seven 20-win seasons in the last 10 seasons, with six NCAA tournament appearances and two Sweet 16’s (2004 and 2007). Stallings has the most 20-win campaigns in Vanderbilt history, and is the first Commodore coach to lead Vanderbilt to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2010, 2011, 2012).
New Backcourt
Although the Commodores return significant playing time at the power forward and center positions, Vanderbilt must break in an entire new backcourt in 2014-15.
Freshmen Shelton Mitchell and Riley LaChance will compete for the starting point guard position, with Wade Baldwin IV, Matthew Fisher-Davis, and Jeff Roberson filling in for the Commodores at the two and three positions.
Vanderbilt’s recruiting class of 2014 was ranked 24th by Rivals.com, and they will get ample opportunities for playing time this season.
International Presence
The Commodores are represented by two countries on this year’s roster – the United States and Cameroon (James Siakam) – to continue Vanderbilt’s line of foreign players. VU has had a player from outside of the United States on its roster for every season dating back to the 1996-97 campaign. The countries represented in the last 16 years (Ivory Coast, Poland, Austria, England, Australia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sweden, Germany).
3-Point Streak Continues Through 27th Season; VU One Of Three Teams To Hit A Trey In Every Game Since 1986-87 Season
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 896 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.
Individual and Team Notes
– The Commodores lost their first, third, and fourth leading scorers from 2013-14 in seniors Rod Odom, Kyle Fuller, and junior Dai-Jon Parker. Odom, a second-team All-SEC selection by the league’s coaches, averaged 13.6 points per game, while Fuller added 11.0 ppg and Parker 8.3 ppg.
– Sophomore seven-footer Luke Kornet was one of only eight seven footers in the SEC this season, but was the only one who shoots threes on a regular basis. Kornet finished 21-89 for the season, and was one of only two to have shot a three in 2013-14 (Darcy Malone, LSU, 3-7 in 2013-14). Against Ole Miss in Oxford, he scored a career high 13 points in a career-best 34 minutes of action.
– Senior James Siakam posted three double-doubles in 2013-14 (vs. Lipscomb, at Texas A&M, vs. Texas A&M), and was second on the team with 1.3 blocks per game. Vanderbilt finished 3-0 in the games in which he had a double-double, and 5-1 when he scored in double figures.
