Lid-Lifters

Alabama State Reconnaissance

•  This will be the first meeting between Vanderbilt and Alabama State. 
•  Vanderbilt is 11-0 all-time against the SWAC.
•  Vanderbilt’s most recent matchup with a SWAC opponent was Dec. 13 against Mississippi Valley State. The Commodores won 84-41 at Memorial Gymnasium.  

Texas State Reconnaissance

• This will be the first meeting between Vanderbilt and Texas State.
• Vanderbilt is 11-1 all-time against the Sun Belt Conference.
• Vanderbilt’s most recent matchup against a Sun Belt opponent was an 86-80 win in the 2013-14 season opener on Nov. 12 in Memorial Gymnasium.
• Vanderbilt’s only loss to a Sun Belt opponent came in overtime to Appalachian State at the 2006 San Juan Shootout, 87-79.

2020-21 Season Debrief

• Vanderbilt used 18 different starting lineups­ in 25 games in 2020-21. Fourteen different Commodores started at least one game. 
• Jordan Wright has the longest active games started streak for Vanderbilt at 15 in a row. 
• Trey Thomas and Max Evans were the only Commodores to play in all 25 games in 2020-21. 
• Vanderbilt went 9-2 when tied or leading at the half and 0-14 when trailing at the break this season. 
• Vanderbilt was 7-3 when scoring 75 or more and 2-13 when scoring less than 75 in 2020-21. 
• Vanderbilt won its fourth straight season opener and its 14th straight home opener. 
• Vanderbilt played fewer than 30 regular season games for the first time since 2005-06 when the Commodores went 16-11 (7-9) prior to the SEC Tournament.

Pippen Preseason Prognostications 

Junior guard Scotty Pippen Jr. earned several preseason honors this offseason, including: 

•   NABC Player of the Year watch list 
•   Lute Olson National Player of the Year watch list
•   Naismith Trophy watch list 
•   Bob Cousy Award preseason watch list
•   Preseason SEC Player of the Year
•   Preseason First-Team All-SEC (media and coaches)

Pippen Points

• Scotty Pippen Jr. was second in the SEC last season with 20.8 points per game and 4.9 assists per game.
• Pippen set the school scoring record for a sophomore with 20.8 points per game. 
• Pippen was third in the NCAA among sophomores in scoring (20.8 ppg)—first among power conference players.
• Pippen also finished ninth in school history with 4.9 assists per game, ranks seventh all-time among Vandy sophomores with 457 points and finished with the 10th-most assists (107) by a sophomore at Vanderbilt.
• Pippen finished seventh in the nation with 142 made free throws and third in the NCAA with 6.5 made free throws per game. Only five players in the country got to the line more often than Pippen’s 7.6 free throw attempts per game.  
• Pippen scored at least 20+ points 12 times and 30+ points three times, including a career-high 36 at Cincinnati.
• Pippen matched or upped his career-high point total six different times in 2020-21. He led the team in scoring 13 times, while also leading the Dores in assists 17 times in his 22 games played.
• Pippen was 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) as well as the first Commodore since 2015 to record a double-double with points and assists (Wade Baldwin IV).

Commodores Changes 

• Vanderbilt added eight newcomers this offseason, including two graduate transfers (Robbins, Chatman), a TCU transfer (Frank), a Gardner-Webb transfer (Mann), three incoming freshmen (Dezonie, Dorsey, Daniels) and a freshman walk-on (Calton).
• Vanderbilt added Michael Curry and Ed Conroy as associate head coaches. Conroy, who brings 30 years of college coaching experience, spent the last five seasons at Minnesota and served as head coach at Tulane from 2010-16 and at his alma mater, The Citadel, for four seasons. Curry has served as head coach for the Detroit Pistons and Florida Atlantic, and brings more than 20 years of basketball experience as a coach, player and front office executive.

Freshman Class

• Vanderbilt’s Class of 2025 is set to make its debut. Peyton Daniels, Shane Dezonie and Gabe Dorsey each received four-star ratings, while Graham Calton joins the Commodores as a walk-on.
• Daniels, a 6-foot-2 guard, was a first-team all-state selection at Tri-Cities (Ga.), while Dorsey, a 6-foot-6 wing, set the career record for made threes at The Hill School as a junior. 
• Dezonie was originally committed to the University Arizona, but joined the Dores in the summer and was the No. 86 recruit in the nation according to rivals and No. 96 from 247Sports. 

Graduate Transfers 

• Seven-foot center Liam Robbins, who was named to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award watch list, joined the Commodores after earning his degree in business marketing and education from the University of Minnesota where he led the Big Ten and ranked 10th in the nation in blocks last season. He averaged 11.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks while shooting 44 percent and starting all 23 games he played. He also ranked 11th in the conference in rebounding and seventh in offensive rebounding.
• Rodney Chatman recently graduated from Dayton with a degree in education and played two seasons with the Flyers. As a junior, he led the third-ranked Flyers in steals (40) and was second in assists (99) as Dayton finished 29-2 and was projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before it was canceled. Last season, Chatman missed 12 games due to a hand injury, but returned for the final six games of the season. Prior to his injury, Chatman started the first six games and averaged 10.0 points, 4.2 assists and 2.5 steals. 

Two More Transfers 

• Terren Frank spent his freshman campaign at TCU last season. The 6-foot-8 forward was No. 90 in the ESPN Top 100 recruits out of Sierra Canyon High School. 
• Jamaine Mann played 26 games and started 10 as a freshman at Gardner-Webb in 2020-21. He averaged 6.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and shot 51.6 percent from the field in 20.8 minutes per game. A native of Hampton, Georgia, he was a three-star prospect and rated as high as the No. 13 recruit in the state.

Adding to Memorial Magic 

• Memorial Gymnasium underwent several upgrades over the summer to enhance the fan experience. 
• New concessions are available, including Slim and Husky’s, Kernels Popcorn, and a refillable drink option.
• Eight new LED display boards along the corner walls, and two LED ribbon boards along the lower mezzanine baseline. Video boards and LED ribbon boards have also been added to portions of Memorial’s lobbies.
• A new court design featuring a more prominent Star V logo at center court and Vanderbilt branding.
• Last summer, as part of a $5 million gift from Seattle-area businessman and Vanderbilt alumnus George B. Huber, BA’79, and his wife Cathy, Vanderbilt’s basketball practice facility underwent extensive upgrades—branded paint and graphics throughout the gym, environment-conscious LED lighting and an all-new

Infirmary

• Both graduate transfers will miss the start of the season due to injury. Dayton transfer, Rodney Chatman, suffered a knee injury the week prior to the start of the season and is expected to miss at least a month. Minnesota transfer, Liam Robbins, is recovering from a foot injury and remains week-to-week to make  his Commodore debut.
• Last season, Vanderbilt had 12 of its 17 players miss games due to injury or illness. In all, the Commodores amassed 62 missed games: Odusipe (2), Wright (2), Harvey (2), Pippen (3), Millora-Brown (3), Weikert (3), McBride (3), Stute (4), Disu (7), Albert (7), Brown (8), Lawrence (17).

Fire Away

• The Commodores ranked second in the SEC in made 3s per game (9.3) last season. 
• Vanderbilt made at least four 3s in every game in 2020-21 and has done so in 40 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 25, 2020 when the Commodores were held without a 3 for the first time in 1,080 games.

Looking Astern

• Vanderbilt’s 2020-21 season came to a heartbreaking end March 11 at the SEC Tournament where fifth-seeded Florida survived in a 69-63 win at Bridgestone Arena. No. 12-seeded Vandy led with 7:56 to play and trailed 64-63 in the final minute, but the Gators prevailed. Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 23 points and went 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Trey Thomas and DJ Harvey finished with 12 points each.

A Vandy Victory Wednesday Would…

… be the fifth straight in a season opener and 15th straight in a home opener.
… make Vanderbilt 3-0 in season openers in the Stackhouse era. 

A Vandy Defeat Wednesday Would…

… be the first season-opening loss since falling to Marquette at the 2016 Veterans Classic in Annapolis.
… be the first loss in a home opener since the 2006 when the Dores were bested by Georgetown.
… be less good than a win.

On Deck

• Vanderbilt will continue its four-game homestand to start the season. The Commodores face Texas State on Sunday, host VCU on Wednesday, Nov. 17, and then welcome Winthrop on Saturday, Nov. 20. All at 7 p.m.
•  Vanderbilt’s first road game of the season will come against ACC foe Pittsburgh on the night before Thanksgiving.