Headed to the Bayou

Reconnaissance

• This will be the 119th all-time meeting between these programs. 
• Vanderbilt leads the series 63-55 including Vanderbilt’s 99-90 win over No. 18 LSU last season at Memorial Gymnasium (Feb. 5, 2020). However, LSU has won seven of the last 10 overall, including each of the last two in Baton Rouge.
• Vanderbilt’s last win in Louisiana was a 96-89 victory Dec. 29, 2017. 

LSU Debrief

• All four seniors—Maxwell Evans, Ejike Obinna, Isaiah Rice and Clevon Brown made the start on Senior Day along with Jordan Wright. It was Vanderbilt’s 14th different starting lineup­ in 20 games this season.
• 14 different Commodores have started a game. The only three Vandy players who have yet to play a game this season—Drew Weikert, Akeem Odusipe, Max Adelman.
• Jordan Wright has the longest active games started streak for Vanderbilt at 10 in a row. 
• For the first time since Nov. 25, 2019 against 
• Southeastern Louisiana, five Vandy players finished in double figures. Trey Thomas (14), Issac McBride (13), Maxwell Evans (13), Jordan Wright (12), DJ Harvey (10). 
• Coach Stackhouse: “I think this is a high confidence-builder for us to finish up strong and really carry some momentum into the SEC Tournament. We know we can beat any of these teams. Anybody that we play, we step up we can beat no matter who we got because I think we play a style where we try to defend first and then we want to share the basketball. Does it always work out perfectly? No. But I think our guys are trying to learn how to play the right way and (Saturday) we did a really good job of it.”

LSU Rewind 

• In the most recent meeting with the Tigers, Vanderbilt got career nights out of then-junior guards Maxwell Evans and Saben Lee and beat No. 18 LSU 99-90 at Memorial Gymnasium on Feb. 5, 2020.
• It ended Vanderbilt’s 28-game losing streak against SEC competition and marked the first career SEC win for head coach Jerry Stackhouse. 
• Evans carried the load early by scoring 25 of his 31 points in the first half. Lee came on strong in the second half and finished with 33. Jordan Wright had nine of his 11 in the final 20 minutes and Scotty Pippen Jr. hit a dagger of a 3 with 68 seconds left.

Infirmary

• Dylan Disu (knee) and Scotty Pippen Jr. (hip) were each sidelined for the second straight game Saturday. Freshman Tyrin Lawrence has been out since Jan. 9 (knee).
• In all this season, Vanderbilt has had 12 of 17 players miss games this season due to injury or illness. In all, the Commodores have amassed 51 missed games: Pippen (2), Disu (3), Odusipe (2), Wright (2), Harvey (2), Millora-Brown (3), Weikert (3), McBride (3), Stute (4), Albert (7), Brown (8), Lawrence (12).

Trending Dores

•  In the last six contests, Evans is 17-for-33 from 3 (.515).
•  Prior to injury, in his last five games this season, Dylan Disu had averaged a double-double with 17.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, an shot 50 percent from the field (31 of 62). 
• Seven of Vanderbilt’s 11 SEC losses this season are by a combined 30 points. The last six losses have been by an average of six points per game. 

Fire Away

• The Commodores rank second in the SEC in made 3s per game (9.5). Vanderbilt has made at least four 3s in 35 consecutive games. The streak began immediately after the Commodores were held without a 3 for the first time in 1,080 games against Tennessee on Jan. 25, 2020.

Keys to Victory

• In four of five SEC wins under Coach Stackhouse, Vanderbilt has eclipsed the 80-point mark. In all, Vanderbilt has hit the 80-point mark 14 times in the Coach Stackhouse era with a 11-3 record in those games, including 11-1 in regulation (only regulation loss was Jan. 9, 2021 against Mississippi State, 84-81). 
• Vanderbilt is 7-2 when tied or leading at the half and 0-11 when trailing at the break this season. 
• Vanderbilt is 5-3 when scoring 75 or more and 2-10 when scoring less than 75 this season. 
• Maxwell Evans is averaging 12.2 points per game in Vanderbilt’s wins and just 6.0 points in losses. 
• All of Vanderbilt’s wins this season have come over the weekend. The Commodores are 0-8 during the week.

Disu-per Man 

• Dylan Disu was named SEC Player of the Week on Feb. 22 after a pair of double-doubles where he averaged 23.0 points and 15.5 rebounds against Kentucky (Feb. 17) and at Alabama (Feb. 20). Disu was the first Commodore with back-to-back double-doubles since Simi Shittu in November 2018.
• Disu still leads the SEC in rebounding with 9.2 per game, and ranks sixth among all power conference players this season. He is also tops in the SEC in defensive rebounding at 6.9 per game (next closest SEC player is LSU’s Trendon Watford at 5.5 per game).
• At the time of his injury, Disu ranked third in the league in field goal percentage (.492) and 10th in scoring (15.0). 
• Disu finished with six double-doubles this season, eclipsing his total of five from last season (11 for his career). 
• Disu was also the first Vanderbilt player with 10+ rebounds in four consecutive games in the last 25 seasons. The last SEC player with 10+ rebounds in five straight was Ole Miss’ Sebastian Saiz in March 2017 (six games).

Pippen Points

• Not only is Scotty Pippen Jr. second in the SEC with 20.5 points per game, he is also second in the league with 5.2 assists per game. He is one of just four players in the nation averaging more than 20.0 points and 5.0 assists per game—and one of just three power conference players.
• Pippen is 18th in the nation with 106 made free throws.
• Pippen has scored at least 20+ points nine times and 30+ points twice, including a career-high 32 at Florida.
• Pippen has tied or matched his career-high point total five different times this season. He has led the team in scoring 10 times, while also leading the Dores in assists 14 times in 18 games. 

Pippen Points Part II

• Pippen, who was named preseason All-SEC second team, scored at least 15 points in 11 straight games from Dec. 13 – Jan. 30­—the longest streak by a Vanderbilt player since John Jenkins in 2011-12 (19 straight). 
• Also earlier this season, against Kentucky and Mississippi State, Pippen became the first Commodore since 2000 with 8 or more assists in back-to-back games, and was the first Commodore since 2005 with 12 assists in a game (Mario Moore) as well as the first Commodore since 2015 to record a double-double with points and assists (Wade Baldwin IV).
• Pippen was the first Commodore in five years with 5+ assists in four straight games (Wade Baldwin IV did so in four consecutive SEC games in February 2016). 

Looking Astern

•  In the final home game for four Vanderbilt seniors—Maxwell Evans, Clevon Brown, Isaiah Rice and Ejike Obinna—the Commodores would not be denied Saturday inside Memorial Gymnasium.
•   Five players scored in double figures and Vandy controlled the second half in a 75-70 win over visiting Ole Miss. Freshman Trey Thomas led the way for the Commodores with 14 points while Issac McBride and Maxwell Evans each had 13, Jordan Wright scored 12 and DJ Harvey added 10.
•   Up by as many as 10 late against the Rebels in the second half, Vanderbilt got three free throws from Brown in the final 34 seconds to ice the contest.

A Vandy Victory Would…

• … be the first back-to-back SEC wins since the final two games of the 2019-20 regular season.
• … improve Coach Stackhouse to 2-0 all-time against LSU. 
• … eclipse last season’s SEC win total. 

A Vandy Defeat Would…

• … mark the third in the last four meetings with LSU and the third in a row in Baton Rouge.
• … be less good than a win.

On Deck

•  Vanderbilt concludes the regular season at Ole Miss on Saturday.