Facing Florida

Battle Grounds

• Meeting for the 141st time, Vanderbilt holds a 71-69 all-time series edge over Florida. 
• The Gators have won five in a row in the series. Florida swept the last two seasons and took the first matchup this season, 91-72, at Memorial Gym on Dec. 30. 
• Vanderbilt’s last victory was a 71-68 triumph at Memorial Gym on Feb. 17, 2018. Florida has won three straight at home against the Commodores—Vandy’s last win in Gainesville was Jan. 21, 2017 (68-66).

Arkansas Debrief

• For the first time, Jordan Wright, Clevon Brown, Scotty Pippen Jr., Myles Stute and DJ Harvey made the start together. Vanderbilt has had eight different starting lineup combinations in 11 games.
• Freshman Issac McBride (ankle) returned after missing three straight games and played 14 minutes with three points, three assists, a steal and a block.
• Dylan Disu, Drew Weikert, Akeem Odusipe and Quentin Millora-Brown were not available to play for the Commodores, while walk-on Braelee Albert missed his fifth straight game due to injury. 
• In all, Vanderbilt has had 11 players miss games this season for a total of 30 missed games: Millora-Brown (1), Weikert (1), Tyrin Lawrence (3), Disu (1), Odusipe (2), McBride (3) Wright (2), Harvey (2), Albert (5), Stute (4) and Brown (6).
• “We were able to get a workout in on Thursday, had a practice (Friday), thought we were a little better prepared for today’s game than we came out.” — Coach Stackhouse

Full Steam Ahead

• Vanderbilt has made at least four 3s in 26 consecutive games. The streak began immediately after the Commodores were held without a 3 against Tennessee on Jan. 25, 2020, ending a streak of 1,080 straight games with at least one made three.
• Vanderbilt ranks third in the SEC with 9.2 made 3s per game and second in free throw percentage (.751).
• Vanderbilt has hit the 80-point mark 13 times in the Stackhouse era with a 10-3 record in those games. The only loss in regulation was Jan. 9 against Mississippi State (84-81). 

Moving Up the Ranks 

• Brown, a fifth-year senior, has 116 career blocks. That is tied with Julian Terrell for the sixth-most in a Vanderbilt career. A.J. Ogilvy is fifth with 145.

Super Sophomores 

• Pippen Jr. is the only Commodore to start every game this season and has started the last 25 games. Disu had started 41 straight games prior to missing the Saturday’s game due to contact tracing. The only other game he had not started was the first game of his career.
• Disu has recorded three double-doubles this season (eight for his career) and leads the SEC in defensive rebounding with seven per game (second with 8.4 reb/gm).
• Not only is Pippen Jr. second in the SEC with 20.6 points per game, he is also second in the league with 5.3 assists per game. He is one of just four players in the nation averaging more than 20 points and five assists per game—and one of just two Power 5 players, joining Minnesota’s Marcus Carr (20.9 and 5.2).
• Pippen Jr., who was named preseason All-SEC second team, has scored at least 20+ points five times, and scored a career-high 30 against Alcorn State (Dec. 27). 
• He has tied or matched his career-high point total four times this season and has led the team in scoring eight times.
• Earlier this season against Kentucky and Mississippi State, Pippen became the first Commodore since 2000 with eight or more assists in back-to-back games and was the first Commodore since 2005 with 12 assists in a game (Mario Moore). He was also the first Commodore since Wade Baldwin IV in 2015 to record a double-double with points and assists (18 points, 12 assists against the Bulldogs).

Freshmen Five

• Vanderbilt welcomed five true freshmen to the fold for the 2020-21 season: Max Adelman, Lawrence, Odusipe, Stute and Trey Thomas. 
• Thomas, a Canadian native, was a late signee in July, while Odusipe is a Nigerian native who prepped at Catholic in Knoxville. Adelman came to Nashville as a walk-on.
• Four Vandy freshmen have started a game this year: Lawrence (5), Stute (3), McBride (1) and Thomas (1).
• Thomas is third among freshmen in the SEC in 3-point percentage (.383), while Stute leads the Dores rookies with 22.4 minutes and 8.0 points per game.
• Lawrence is out for the season with a torn ACL after seven games and five starts, including a collegiate debut of 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting, four assists and four rebounds and just two turnovers in 25 minutes against Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 13).

Eligible Transfers

• Three transfers became eligible to play for Vandy this season: redshirt junior Harvey, freshman McBride and redshirt sophomore Millora-Brown.
• Harvey, who began his career at Notre Dame, and Millora-Brown, who started his college career at Rice, were both with the program in 2019-20.
• McBride came to West End from Kansas in the spring and was granted a waiver to become immediately eligible.
• All three have started games this season: Millora-Brown (6), Harvey (8), McBride (1). 

Worth the Wait

• Vanderbilt’s season-opening date of Nov. 27 was the latest beginning to a season in 31 years. The Commodores began the 1989-90 season by facing Southern Methodist on the same Nov. 27 date. (Vanderbilt won its fourth straight season opener and its 14th straight home opener).
• Vanderbilt then had a 16-day wait until its second game of the season after four straight cancellations due to a positive COVID-19 result within the program.
• Vanderbilt played just six nonconference games­—its fewest since 1952-53 (the first season Memorial Gymnasium opened). At that time, Tulane and Georgia Tech were still in the SEC.

Looking Astern

• Visiting Arkansas got 26 points and eight rebounds from Moses Moody and 25 points and eight assists from Jalen Tate en route to an 92-71 win over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday.
• The Razorbacks edged out a 10-point lead at halftime and then pulled further away in the second half, building an advantage as large as the final margin.
• DJ Harvey had 16 points to lead the Commodores (4-7, 0-5 SEC) while Scotty Pippen Jr. had 15 points and four assists. Maxwell Evans added 14.

A Vandy Victory Would…

• … be the first over the Gators since 2018 and first on the road against Florida since 2017. 
• … mark Stackhouse’s fourth SEC win and first over Florida.

A Vandy Defeat Would…

• … mark a six-game losing streak overall. 
• … be the first six-game losing streak to Florida since a seven-game skid between 2004-07. 
• … mark the third straight 0-6 start in SEC play. 
• … be less good than a win.

On Deck

• Vanderbilt returns home Saturday to host South Carolina at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network.