Jan. 30, 2012
After playing three consecutive games in the friendly confines of Memorial Gym, Vanderbilt returns to the road to take on Arkansas on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. The game will be televised to a national audience on ESPN, and can be heard in the middle Tennessee area and online on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network.
Vanderbilt has now won 11 of their last 12 games after defeating Middle Tennessee State, 84-77, on Saturday night at Memorial Gym. John Jenkins scored a game-high 26 points in the win. Festus Ezeli added 21 points, Jeffery Taylor chipped in 17 points, and Lance Goulbourne scored 11 points in the win.
The Commodores are 2-0 so far on the road in the SEC this season, with wins at South Carolina and Alabama, and 4-1 in true road games in 2011-12.
Series Information
Series Record: Arkansas leads the all-time series, 16-9.
Last Meeting: Arkansas defeated VU, 89-78, on 1/29/11 at Memorial Gym..
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 7-5.
Record at Ark.: Arkansas leads 8-2.
Record at Neutral Site: Arkansas leads 3-0.
Coach Stallings vs. Arkansas: Coach Stallings is 4-10 against Arkansas.
Media Information
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com, XM 85
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
TV: ESPN
TV Talent: Brad Nessler (pxp), Jimmy Dykes (analyst); Shannon Spake (sidelines)
Live Stream: ESPN3.com
Live Stats:
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
More On The Arkansas Series
- Tuesday’s meeting with Arkansas will be the 26th career meeting between the two schools. The Razorbacks lead the all-time series, 16-9.
- The first meeting between the two schools came on December 14, 1963, at Memorial Gym in a game Vanderbilt won, 101-77.
- Since Bud Walton Arena opened in 1993, Vanderbilt has a 2-5 record all-time at the building.
- Although this is Mike Anderson’s first season in Fayetteville, the Commodores have faced Anderson-coached teams in the previous two years while he was the head coach at Missouri. VU defeated Missouri, 89-83, on December 2, 2009, at Memorial Gym, and then lost an overtime game to the Tigers, 85-82, in Columbia on December 8, 2010.
More On Arkansas
The Razorbacks enter the game with a 15-6 overall record, and have won 15 consecutive games at Bud Walton Arena this season. B.J. Young leads all active players with 14.4 points per game, while Mardracus Wade (10.8) and Rickey Scott (10.1) also average double figures. Marshawn Powell, a preseason second-team All-SEC pick by the coaches, played two games earlier this year before suffering a knee injury and will miss the rest of the season.
Quick Hitters
- Vanderbilt is now 6-1 in games with their preseason initial starting lineup of Jenkins, Taylor, Lance Goulbourne, Festus Ezeli, and Brad Tinsley.
- In SEC play, Vanderbilt is outscoring opponents by an average of 13.0 points and shooting 46.9% from the floor and 47.3% from three.
- Four of Vanderbilt’s starters are hovering around 50% from the floor for the season – Jenkins (48.4%), Taylor (53.6%), Tinsley (50.0%), and Goulbourne (49.3%).
- The Commodores sport the leading scorer in all games and SEC games only (John Jenkins, 20.0 ppg; 17.7 SEC) and the second-leading scorer (Jeffery Taylor, 17.3 ppg; 17.0 SEC) in the SEC. Jenkins also paces the league and nation in three’s made at 3.9 per game.
- Taylor won SEC POTW honors for his play against UT and MTSU last week (20 ppg, 7.5 rpg).
- Vanderbilt completed non-conference play 11-5 with Saturday’s win against MTSU.
- Jenkins has scored in double-digit figures in 54 consecutive games, 73 in his career.
- Vanderbilt’s 40.3% from three this season would be the sixth-best in school history and best since the 1992-93 season (41.2%).
- In the last two seasons, VU has defended well from beyond-the-arc – opponents are only shooting 32.0% since the beginning of the 2010 season (324-1,012).
- Taylor paces the SEC in league games only in 3FG % at 68.2% (15-22).
- In SEC play, the Commodores rank first in four different categories – scoring defense (57.0), field goal percentage defense (.365), 3-point field goal percentage (.473), and threes made (10.2).
- VU’s starting five has amassed 381 career starts.
- Taylor is fourth in the SEC in field goal percentage (.536), and has made more field goals than any other player in the SEC (134). Taylor also leads the league in 3-point FG percentage in SEC games only at 68.2%.
- Jeffery Taylor (134) and John Jenkins (132) lead the league in field goals made for the season.
- Vanderbilt is the only team in the SEC that sports three 1,000-point scorers in John Jenkins, Jeffery Taylor, and Brad Tinsley.
- Jenkins leads the league in all games in scoring (19.6), 3-point FG% (44.3%), threes made (3.9), and free throw percentage (86.4%). In league games only, Jenkins leads in scoring (17.7), and is first in threes made (3.8) and free throw percentage (1.00).
- In league games only, Tinsley leads the league in assists (5.5) and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8).
- With the win over Alabama on January 19, the Commodores are now 12-6 in road SEC contests since the 2009-10 campaign (6-2 in 2009-10, 4-4 in 2010-11, 2-0 in 2011-12). The 12 wins is the most in the SEC.
- The Commodores’ bench failed to score against MTSU – for the season, VU’s bench is being outscored, 375 (17.9 ppg) to 273 (13.0 ppg) by their opponent.
- MTSU outshot Vanderbilt, 57.4% to 50%, only the seventh time this season that an opponent has outshot the Commodores. VU moves to 4-3 in those games.
- VU moves to 3-2 in games in which an opponent makes more threes. MTSU made seven threes, while the Commodores made six.
- Vanderbilt outrebounded the Blue Raiders, 28-22, and is now 14-1 in games when outrebounding an opponent.
Taylor Nabs SEC Player of The Week
Senior forward Jeffery Taylor claimed the team’s first SEC Player-of-the-Week award this season on Monday when he was named the league’s player of the week after two Commodore wins last week over Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State. Taylor, who garnered one other player-of-the-week award as a sophomore and one freshman-of-the-week honor in 2009, averaged 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two games.
