Feb. 5, 2016
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Ole Miss Gamenotes
After a win over the eighth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday evening, the Commodores return to action on Saturday evening when they take on the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Miss. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU, with all of the action also available on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
Vanderbilt improved to 13-9, 5-4 in SEC play after a 77-60 win over #8 Texas A&M on Thursday evening at Memorial Gym. Jeff Roberson led the Commodores with a career-high 20 points on 8-10 shooting. He was 3-4 from three on the night, both tied career highs in three’s made and attempted.
Damian Jones added his fifth double-double of the season and 12th of his career with a 13-point, 10-rebound effort. He also added a season-high five blocks. In his last three games, Jones is averaging 19.7 points,10.3 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game. Jones also leads the SEC in field goal percentage in league games only at 58.4%. Wade Baldwin IV scored 17 points and had eight assists with only one turnover in the win over the Aggies. He was 7-12 from the floor and 3-6 from three. Luke Kornet scored 14 points and had nine rebounds and was 4-6 from three. The four made threes was a new season high.
Vanderbilt’s win over the eighth-ranked Aggies was the Commodores’ first win over a ranked opponent since March 11, 2012, in a win over #1-ranked Kentucky in the SEC Tournament Championship. It was Vanderbilt’s first win at Memorial Gym over a ranked opponent since defeating Florida on February 28, 2012 (77-67).
Saturday’s meeting will be the 119th between the two schools, and the third consecutive meeting between the two schools in Oxford. Ole Miss has a 29-23 series advantage in games played in Oxford.
Game 23/ Vanderbilt (13-9, 5-4 SEC) vs. Ole Miss (14-8, 4-5 SEC)
Oxford, Miss. – The Pavilion at Ole Miss – 7 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNU
TV Talent: Richard Cross (pxp), Joe Dean Jr. (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 134, XM 191
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 75-43.
Last Meeting: VU win, 86-77, on 3/7/15 in Oxford.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 48-9.
Record at OM: OM leads, 29-23.
Record at Neutral Site: OM leads, 5-4.
Coach Stallings vs. OM: Coach Stallings is 12-8 against Ole Miss.
Quick Hitters
- Nationally, Vanderbilt ranks 3rd in 3FG% defense (27.7%), 8th in FG% defense (38.0%), 14th in 3FG% (40.14%), and 17th in blocks (5.0).
- Vanderbilt ranks first in all games in the SEC in FG% defense (.380) and 3FG% defense (.277), and is second in 3FG% (.404), blocks (5.6) and in threes made (8.4). The Commodores also rank third in scoring defense (66.0 ppg). In league games only, VU is first in blocks (5.7) and second in 3FG% (.412), 3FG% defense (.287), and 3FG’s made (8.3).
- Luke Kornet’s 10 blocks against Auburn set a new program record for blocks in a game – he surpassed three games with seven blocks by Will Perdue (vs. East Carolina, 12/28/87), Festus Ezeli (at Georgia, 2/16/11) and Damian Jones (at South Carolina, 2/13/14). The 10 blocks is also the most in the nation this season, and he currenty is fifth in the nation in blocks (3.0 per game).
- Kornet leads the SEC in blocks in all games and in SEC games only, and Jones is third in all games and in SEC games only (2.0 per game).
- Ten players have scored in double figures in a game this season – Wade Baldwin, Luke Kornet, Damian Jones, Jeff Roberson, Riley LaChance, Matthew Fisher-Davis, Nolan Cressler, Camron Justice, Josh Henderson, and Joe Toye.
- Fisher-Davis leads the SEC in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.476).
- Vanderbilt is 10-1 on the season when Kornet attempts more two point baskets than three’s.
- Head Coach Kevin Stallings, the school’s all-time winningest coach, is in his 17th season with the Commodores and 23rd overall as a head coach, and is now the dean of SEC coaches. Stallings has 326 career wins at Vanderbilt and 449 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 in 6th place all-time on the SEC wins list.
- The Commodores have three players at seven feet or higher in their front court – Josh Henderson (7’0), Damian Jones (7’0), and Luke Kornet (7’1). LSU has two seven footers, and the rest of the league has one or fewer.
953
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 953 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.
Academic Success
Eight members of this year’s team were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll or the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for 2014-15.
Schedule Tough
Including Texas A&M, the Commodores have faced nine teams in the top 32 of the current NCAA RPI (Kansas, 4th; Dayton, 11th; Texas A&M, 14th; Texas, 17th; Florida, 21st; Purdue, 23rd; Kentucky, 24th; Baylor, 26th; South Carolina, 32nd).
Block Party
Junior Luke Kornet is fifith in the nation in blocks at 3.0 blocks per game, and he has spurred the team to 123 blocks on the season (already 9th all-time team total in program history) and blocking 10 or shots in a game on three separate occasions. Damian Jones is third on the career blocks list with 156, and his 1.77 blocks per game career mark is the best in program history, while Kornet is fifth in the program’s history in career blocks per game (1.29) and seventh in total blocks (106).
About Ole Miss
- Ole Miss enters Saturday’s game with a 14-8 overall record and a 4-5 mark in SEC play after a 76-73 win at Missouri on February 3.
- Stefan Moody leads all Rebel scorers with 23.5 points per game. Sebastian Saiz also averages double figures with 12.8 points per game.
- This will be Vanderbilt’s first game at the Pavilion at Ole Miss. The Rebels lead the all-time series in Oxford, 29-23, but the Commodores won the last meeting in Oxford at the Tad Smith Coliseum, 86-77, on March 7, 2015.
