Nov. 22, 2015
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| St. John’s Gamenotes
The #17/17 ranked Vanderbilt men’s basketball team begins play at one of the most prestigious preseason tournaments in college basketball on Monday when the Commodores take on St. John’s at 1:30 p.m. CT at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii. All of the action can be seen live on ESPN2 and heard on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
Vanderbilt moved to 3-0 on the season with a 79-72 overtime win over Stony Brook on Thursday night at Memorial Gym. The Commodores trailed for most of the second half before eventually sending the game into overtime and then coming away with the victory in the extra period. Wade Baldwin IV led four players in double figures with a career-high 21 points. Damian Jones (13), Riley LaChance (13), and Matthew Fisher-Davis also scored in double digits.
The game against Stony Brook featured nine ties and five lead changes and the Commodores committed only six turnovers in the game. For the season, Vanderiblt has a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio as a team (44 assists, 25 turnovers), which leads the SEC.
Entering Monday’s game, five Commodores are averaging double figures on the season, with Baldwin leading the way with 14.7 ppg. Jones (11.7), LaChance (11.0), Jeff Roberson (11.0), and Luke Kornet (10.7) also average double figures. For the season, Vanderbilt is shooting 48.4% from the floor and 40% from three, while limiting opponents to 36.1% overall and 22.6% from three.
2015 will be the Commodores fifth trip to the Maui Invitational. Vanderbilt won the tournament in 1986 behind future five-time NBA Title winner Will Perdue. The Commodores also appeared in 1988, 1995, 2009, and hold an 8-4 all-time record at the event.
Game Information
Game 4/#17/17 Vanderbilt (3-0) vs. St. John’s (3-0)
Lahaina, Hawaii – Lahaina Civic Center – 1:30 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Jon Sciambi (pxp), Bill Walton (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: St. Johns leads, 5-1
Last Meeting: St. John’s won a 59-54 decision on November 29, 1977, at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt: 1-2
Record at St. John’s: 0-3
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Stallings vs. St John’s: Coach Stallings has never faced St. John’s.
About St. John’s
- St. John’s enters the game with a 3-0 record after defeating Rutgers, 61-59, at home Thursday night.
- Frederico Mussini leads three players in double figures with 16.3 points per game. Ron Mvouika (12.3) and Durand Johnson (10.7) also average double figures.
- St. John’s owns a 5-1 record all-time against Vanderbilt. The last meeting came at Memorial Gym on Nov. 29, 1977, in a game St. John’s won, 59-54.
- St. John’s finished 21-12, and 10-8 Big East in 2014-15.
Vanderbilt Success at Preseason Tournaments
Vanderbilt has been quite successful in preseason tournaments, winning three preseason tournaments since 2007 – in 2007, the Commodores won the South Padre Island Invitational, in 2008, the Cancun Challenge, and in 2012, the TicketCity Legends Classic in New Jersey.
Damian Jones on Watch Lists
Damian Jones has been named to numerous preseason watch lists, including the Wooden Award, given to the nation’s top player, the Lute Olson Award, presented to the nation’s top Division I player who has played at least two seasons, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, given to the nation’s top center.
Quick Hitters
- Head Coach Kevin Stallings, the school’s all-time winningest coach, is in his 17th season with the Commodores and 22nd overall as a head coach, and is now the dean of SEC coaches. Stallings has 316 career wins at Vanderbilt and 439 overall as a head coach. He has eight 20-win seasons in the last 12 seasons, with 11 total postseason appearances, six NCAA tournaments, and two Sweet 16’s (2004 and 2007). He is also one of five SEC coaches to win 300 or more games at one institution, joining Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, Florida’s Billy Donovan, and LSU’s Dale Brown and Harry Rabenhorst, and is now in 6th place all-time on the SEC wins list.
- The 2015-16 edition of the Vanderbilt Commodores returns 10 letterwinners and four of five starters from a year ago, with 81.6% of the team’s scoring output and 77.4% of rebounding returning. Also added to the mix this year is junior Nolan Cressler, who averaged 16.8 points per game as a sophomore at Cornell in 2013-14, and four incoming freshmen who were ranked as the 20th-best recuriting class in the class of 2015.
- Damian Jones was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder in 2015-16, averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. He scored 20+ points in eight games as a sophomore and finished first in the SEC in field goal percentage, 3rd in blocks (2.0), and 10th in scoring. Jones was named an All-SEC First-Team selection in 2015 and a preseason first-team member by the league’s coaches and media prior to this season.
- Riley LaChance led all SEC freshmen in scoring in 2014-15 at 12.3 ppg in all games a year ago, while Wade Baldwin IV led all freshmen in assists with 4.4 per contest. Matthew Fisher-Davis led all SEC freshmen in threes made with 2.1 per game. LaChance and Baldwin were named to the SEC All-Freshman team.
- The Commodores, ranked as the 347th youngest team in the nation out of 351 teams in 2014-15, finished the season strong, going 10-4 in their last 14 games and 8-2 in their last 10 SEC contests.
- The Commodores finished the 2014-15 season with four different players shooting 40% or better from three this season (at least 10 made threes), only the third time since the three-point line came into existence in 1986-87 that a Vanderbilt team has accomplished that. Wade Baldwin IV, Luke Kornet, Jeff Roberson, and Matthew Fisher-Davis all shot 40% or better on the season, with Baldwin leading the way at 43.9%. In 1987-88, five Commodores – Barry Goheen, Barry Booker, Charles Mayes, Scott Draud, and Derrick Wilcox shot above 40%, the most in program history.
- Vanderbilt moved up one spot in the AP poll to #17 this week and four spots in the USA Today poll to #17.
Single-Season Lists from 2014-15
- Wade Baldwin IV finished tied for 6th all-time on the Vanderbilt single-season assist list with 155 assists, and is the freshman all-time single-season leader in assists.
- Damian Jones had 506 points this season, which is second on Vanderbilt’s sophomore single-season scoring list.
- Jones finished 4th on the VU single-season block list with 68.
- Riley LaChance finished third on Vanderbilt’s single-season freshman scoring list with 429 points – one of only four Vanderbilt freshman to ever eclipse 400-point barrier. The last Commodore freshman to score 400 or more points in a season was A.J. Ogilvy in 2007-08, when he scored a freshman-record 578 points. LaChance finished with 102 assists, and he is fourth on the single-season freshman assist list. Three of the four all-time freshman assist leaders in program history were on the 2014-15 team (Baldwin, LaChance, Shelton Mitchell).
- LaChance finished tied for 10th on Vanderbilt’s single-season free throw percentage list at 87.3%.
- As a team, Vanderbilt’s 255 made threes ranks 10th all-time in a single season and its 39.2% clip is ninth in single-season history.
- The 2014-15 team finished with 541 free throws made, which tied for ninth all-time.
Center U
Vanderbilt has turned into Center University in the last eight seasons, with a center posting double digits in all but one of those seasons. Here’s a look at the totals from centers since the 2007-08 season.
2007-08 – A.J. Ogilvy – 17.0 ppg
2008-09 – A.J. Ogilvy – 15.4 ppg
2009-10 – A.J. Ogilvy – 13.4 ppg
2010-11 – Festus Ezeli – 13.0 ppg
2011-12 – Festus Ezeli – 10.1 ppg
2013-14 – Damian Jones – 11.3 ppg
2014-15 – Damian Jones – 14.5 ppg
Block Party
The 2014-15 team blocked 186 shots on the season, which set a new Vanderbilt season record, surpassing the 2008-09 team, which blocked 174 shots that season. The Commodores’ 186 blocks ranked 15th nationally for the season. Against Saint Mary’s in the NIT First Round, Vanderbilt tied a then-program record with 11 blocks, and then followed that up with a 13-block performance against South Dakota State, which set a new program single-game record.
Assist Numbers
Vanderbilt had 541 assists on the season, which ties the seventh-best season in Commodore history for assists. Wade Baldwin had 155 assists to lead all Commodore players, with Shelton Mitchell registering 103 and Riley LaChance 102, marking only the third time in Commodore history that three players have registered 100 assists or more. Vanderbilt has only had two other seasons in its history in which three players have had 100 or more assists – 1988-89 (Barry Goheen, 130, Barry Booker, 118, Derrick Wilcox, 173) and 1993-94 (Billy McCaffrey, 133, Ronnie McMahan, 108, Frank Seckar, 110). The Commodores also ranked first in the SEC in assist percentage (assists on made baskets) and fourth nationally.
934
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 934 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.
