Jan. 22, 2018
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Tennessee Gamenotes
The Commodores’ men’s basketball team hits the road to take on instate rival Tennessee on Tuesday night at Thompson Boling Arena looking for their fourth straight win in Knoxville. The game begins at 6 p.m. CT, with the game airing live on ESPNU, on the radio with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network, and online on vucommodores.com.
Vanderbilt snapped a four-game losing skid on Saturday when they came away with a 77-71 victory over LSU at Memorial Gym. Senior Riley LaChance scored 26 points, one point shy of his career high to lead Vanderbilt in the game. Senior Jeff Roberson added 20 points, and freshman Saben Lee tallied 12 points in the win – 10 of which came in 2nd half.
Vanderbilt limited LSU to 21.1% from three, and kept freshman star guard Tremont Waters in check. He only scored seven points on 3-12 shooting and 1-6 from three.
Dores looking for four straight in Knoxville
Vanderbilt has won its last three meetings in Knoxville, the second time the Commodores have come away with three straight wins at Tennessee (1955, 56, and 57). The Commodores have never won four straight in Knoxville.
In the three wins in Knoxville in the last three years, Vanderbilt has made a combined 34 threes (34-84, 40.5%) and limited the Volunteers to only 23.8% from three (15-63) and 33.0% from the field (65-197).
Media Information
Vanderbilt (7-12, 2-5) vs. #22/21 Tennessee (13-5, 4-3)
Knoxville, Tenn. – Thompson-Boling Arena – 6 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNU
TV Talent: Kevin Fitzgerald (pxp), Sean Harrington (talent)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 138, XM 191
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Tenn. leads, 119-75.
Last Meeting: Tenn. win, 92-84, on 1/9/18 at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 50-37.
Record at Tennessee: UT leads 73-24.
Record at Neutral Site: UT leads 9-1.
Coach Drew vs. Tennessee: Coach Drew is 1-2 against Tennessee.
Roberson Leads Commodores
Jeff Roberson is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder in all games, averaging 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Roberson is second in the SEC in double doubles, fourth in the SEC in all games in rebounding, sixth in free throw percentage, and third in defensive rebounding. In league games only, he is seventh in field goal percentage (.500).
Lee top SEC freshman scorer in league play
In seven league games, Lee is the conference’s leading freshman scorer with 14.9 points per game. He has scored in double figures in all but one SEC contest so far.
Commodores Have Played Most Ranked Opponents in SEC
The Commodores have already played six ranked opponents this season in USC (#10/#10), Virginia (RV/#25), Seton Hall (#20/#20), Arizona State (#5/#6), Tennessee (#24/#23), and Kentucky (#21/#20) the most in the SEC, and will play their seventh game with a ranked opponent on Tuesday night. The four ranked non-conference opponents is the most by a Commodore team since 1988, when Vanderbilt also played four (11/22 – # 2 Michigan, L, 66-91; 11/27 – #16 Ohio State, L, 82-97; 11/30 – #13 Louisville, W, 65-62; 12/7 – #8 North Carolina, L, 77-89).
More on Tennessee
- Tennessee enters the game with a 13-5 overall record and a 4-3 mark in SEC play after knocking off South Carolina, 70-63, in Columbia on Saturday.
- Grant Williams leads three Tennessee players in double figures with 16.4 points per game. Admiral Schofield (13.2) and Lamonte Turner (10.0) also add double digits for the Volunteers.
- Tennessee is the Commodores’ most-played opponent – Tuesday’s meeting will be the 195th all-time meeting, with the first meeting coming in the 1921-22 campaign.
- The Commodores have won their last three games in Knoxville against Tennessee, their first three-game win streak at Tennessee since 1955, 56, and 57. Vanderbilt has never won four consecutive games in Knoxville.
- Vanderbilt is 10-16 all-time against ranked Tennessee opponents and 3-11 against ranked Volunteer teams in Knoxville.
- Tennessee won an earlier meeting this year between the two teams, 92-84, on January 9 in Nashville.
A Commodore Win Would…
- Be Vanderbilt’s first road win of the season and their first over a ranked team this season.
- Be Vanderbilt’s fourth win in a row in Knoxville. Vanderbilt has never won four consecutive games in Knoxville.
- Even the season series with Tennessee at 1-1.
Jeff Roberson: Mr Double-Double
Jeff Roberson has six double doubles on the season, the most in a season by a Commodore since Damian Jones had seven in the 2015-16 season. Seven is also the most by a Commodore since Will Perdue had 10 in his junior season (1986-87) and 16 in his senior season (1987-88).
Vanderbilt Quick Hitters
- Roberson eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier in his career with his 21-point game against Alcorn State. He joins two other 1,000-point scorers on this year’s roster – Riley LaChance and Matthew Fisher-Davis. There has been only one other class of Vanderbilt players to have three 1,000-point scorers – the vaunted “F Troop” – Butch Feher, Joe Ford, and Jeff Fosnes in 1976.
- Matthew Fisher Davis adds 11.9 points per game, Riley LaChance 11.4 points per game, and Saben Lee pitches in 11.1 points per game.
- LaChance has 1,243 career points and Fisher-Davis has 1,219 points, and are 29th and 30th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list, respectively, and are second and third among current players in SEC in scoring. Georgia’s Yante Maten is the conference’s current career leader. Roberson is sixth in the SEC in career points with 1,117 points.
- LaChance, who has 375 career assists, is now 9th on Vanderbilt’s all-time assist list after surpassing Al McKinney against Florida (351 career assists). Drew Maddux is eighth on the list with 394 assists.
- The Commodores have used 10 different starting lineups this season, with their 10th coming against Mississippi State (Lee, LaChance, Willis, Roberson, Baptiste).
- The Commodores have already played six ranked opponents this season in USC (#10/#10), Virginia (RV/#25), Seton Hall (#20/#20), Arizona State (#5/#6), Tennessee (#24/#23), and Kentucky (#21/#20) the most in the SEC. The four ranked non-conference opponents is the most by a Commodore team since 1988, when Vanderbilt also played four (11/22 – # 2 Michigan, L, 66-91; 11/27 – #16 Ohio State, L, 82-97; 11/30 – #13 Louisville, W, 65-62; 12/7 – #8 North Carolina, L, 77-89).
- This season’s non-conference schedule features eight games against teams who played in the postseason a year ago. Five opponents, USC, Seton Hall, Virginia, Kansas State, and Middle Tennessee, all played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with NIT participant Belmont, 2017 NIT Champion TCU, and CollegeInsider.com Tournament team UNC Asheville also on the challenging slate. KenPom.com has Vanderbilt’s strength of schedule at 6 as of January 18.
- Commodore head coach Bryce Drew, now in his second season, led the Commodores to the NCAA Tournament in his first season in Nashville, marking the first time in the history of the program a first-year Vanderbilt coach led his team to the tournament. Overall, the Commodores made their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their first back-to-back appearances since making three consecutive tournaments from 2010-12.
SEC Strength of Schedule
Here’s a look at KenPom’s strength of schedule among league teams (1/22).
1. Tennessee. 1
2. Florida, 8
3. Vanderbilt, 10
4. Texas A&M, 11
5. Kentucky, 15
6. Alabama, 16
7. Arkansas, 18
8. Missouri, 22
9. Georgia, 24
10. Ole Miss, 41
11. S. Carolina, 44
12. Auburn, 69
13. LSU, 83
14. Miss. St., 220
700th SEC Win
Vanderbilt is in its 85th SEC season and is a charter member of the league. All time against current members of the conference, Vanderbilt is 711-698.
1,018
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 1,018 consecutive games, a streak which began at the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The Commodores rank third only to UNLV and Kentucky 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.
