November 23, 2016

MBB vs. Butler on Thanksgiving Day

Nov. 23, 2016

The Commodores will look to rebound after a 75-72 loss to Bucknell on Tuesday night on Thanksgiving night when they take on Butler in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised online on FS1, with the action also being heard across the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network and online at vucommodores.com.

Vanderbilt dropped to 2-2 on the season after a 75-72 loss to Bucknell on Monday night in a campus round game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. Junior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Commodores, with senior Luke Kornet adding 19 points and junior guard Riley LaChance chipping in 10 points.

The Commodores allowed the Bison to shoot 50.9% from the floor and were outrebounded, 33-27, in the game.

Media Information
Vanderbilt (2-2) vs. Butler (4-0)
Las Vegas, Nev. – Orleans Arena – 7 p.m. CT
TV Talent: Justin Kutcher (play by play), Bill Raftery (Color)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Phil Brame (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB

Anchor Points

Fisher-Davis is ninth in the SEC in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game. The junior from Charlotte is also third in three-point field goal percentage (.481) and second in three’s made (3.3).
Fisher-Davis is also the team’s leading free-throw shooter at 88.9%. So far this season, he has been to the charity stripe 18 times, which is half of what he attempted all season as a sophomore.
Kornet is second on the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game. The senior from Lantana, Texas, is also averaging 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
Junior forward Jeff Roberson is averaging 9.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, and ranks second in the SEC in rebounding.
LaChance leads the SEC in three-point field goal percentage at 66.7%. He has converted on 6-of-9 of his three-point field goal attempts this season, and has scored in double figures in back-to-back games. Lachance also dished out a season-high six assists vs. Bucknell.
Vanderbilt will play in Las Vegas for the first time since 2004.
Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew is now 2-2 in his Vanderbilt career as head coach.
For the season, the Commodores are converting on 76.6% of their free throw attempts for the season and are going to the line an average of 23.5 times in their first four games.
Kornet had four blocks against Norfolk State, the 15th time in his career that he has posted four or more blocks. He led the SEC in blocks a year ago and tied for third nationally, averaging 3.0 per contest.
Drew takes over the Vanderbilt program after spending five seasons as the head coach of his alma mater, Valparaiso, where he posted a 124-49 record. Drew was a three-time Horizon League Coach of the Year and two-time NABC District 12 Coach of the Year with Valparaiso, where he averaged 25 wins a season, won four regular season championships, and made four postseason appearances, two in the NCAA Tournament and two in the NIT, with the Crusaders.
The Commodores return nine letterwinners for 2016-17, including three starters, Luke Kornet, Jeff Roberson, Matthew Fisher-Davis, and one other player, Riley LaChance, who has started 58 games in his three-year career.
In 2015-16, the Commodores finished in a tie for third nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to only 29.4% from three. Vanderbilt also finished fifth in field goal percentage defense (38.6%) and ninth in blocks per game (5.5).
So far this season, Vanderbilt is defending the three ball at a 31.4% clip.
The 11 SEC wins in 2016 was the most since the Commodores registered 12 in 2009-10, and the 15th time in program history a Vanderbilt team has recorded 11 or more league victories.
The Commodores made their 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first appearance since 2012 in the 2016 NCAA Tournament when Vanderbilt advanced to the First Four in Dayton.
Senior Luke Kornet and junior Matthew Fisher-Davis were each named to the All-SEC Preseason second team by the league’s coaches last week.

Series Information
Series Record: Butler leads, 5-0
Last Meeting: Butler win, 85-77 (OT), on Nov. 19, 2013, at Butler.
Record at Vanderbilt: Butler leads, 2-0.
Record at Butler: Butler leads, 3-0.
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Drew vs. Butler: Coach Drew is 3-0 all-time vs. Butler.

About Butler

Butler enters the game with a 4-0 record after wins over Northern Colorado, Northwestern, Bucknell, and Norfolk State.
The Bulldogs have a 5-0 record all-time against the Commodores, but the two programs have never met on a neutral floor.
Kelan Martin is the team’s leading scorer (16.8) and rebounder (4.8). Avery Woodson also averages double figures with 10.5 points per game.
Butler’s average margin of victory in their first four games is +25.3.

Other News and Notes

Notes from Bucknell Game

Vanderbilt shot a season high 46.8 percent (29-62) from the floor against Bucknell. It is the second game this season they have shot 45 percent or better.
The `Dores hit seven three-pointers against Bucknell. They have hit seven or more three in all four games this season.
It is the third-consecutive game the Commodores have had three or more players score in double-figures.
The Commodores have dished out ten or more assists in all four games this season after tailing 15 against Bucknell.
Vanderbilt had a season-high 36 points in the paint against Bucknell.
Matthew Fisher-Davis set a career high in points when he scored 23 against Bucknell. His previous high was 20, which he set three separate times.
Fisher-Davis tied a career high in field goals made with seven.
Luke Kornet scored 19 points, just one shy of his season high. It is the third game this season he has scored 15 or more points.
Riley LaChance scored in double-figures for the second straight game this year.
LaChance led the Commodores in assists with six, which was a season-high.
Jeff Roberson tied a career-high in assists with five.
Joe Toye tied a career-high in steals with one. He has hit that mark six different times.
Djery Baptiste recorded one block against Bucknell, his third game this season with one or more.

Roberson In Rarefied Air
Junior forward Jeff Roberson is nearly averaging a double-double in the early goings of the 2016-17 season with 9.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Although it is early in the season, the Commodores have not had a player average a double-double in a season since 1988, when Will Perdue averaged 18.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

The highest rebounding average since Perdue’s 1987-88 season was Anthony Williams’ 7.9 rebounding average in 2000-01.

Roberson is second in the SEC in rebounding so far this season.

VU Staff Can Score
The Vanderbilt men’s basketball staff has combined to score a total of 5,486 collegiate points, with head coach Bryce Drew leading the way with 2,142 points. Here’s a breakdown of the staff’s scoring totals.
Head Coach Bryce Drew, Valparaiso=2,142
Asst. Coach Casey Shaw, Toledo=1,562
Assoc. Head Coach Roger Powell, Jr., Illinois=1,178
Asst. Coach Jake Diebler, Valparaiso=586
Total=5,468

Kornet Excels in Classroom
Senior center Luke Kornet has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in the three years he has played at Vanderbilt, and also been named a CoSida All-District Academic Selection in his sophomore and junior seasons.

Kornet is double majoring in computer science and mathematics.

Four with 25+ threes
Four returning Commodores made 25 or more threes a year ago, with Matthew Fisher-Davis leading the way with 79. Riley LaChance (43), Jeff Roberson (30), and Luke Kornet (26) also eclipsed the 25 made three mark.

Returning for VU
57.3% of the team’s scoring returns from a year ago, along with six players who played 28 or more games and four players who made 19 or more starts.

In fact, the projected starting five (Kornet – 96 games), Fisher-Davis (69), LaChance (71), Roberson (68), and Cressler (92) have combined to play in 396 games.

Commodores vs. Big East
The Commodores have a 16-33 record all-time against members of the current Big East conference. Vanderbilt dropped their season opener against Marquette this year at the Veterans Classic.

968
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 968 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.

NBA Commodores
Vanderbilt was one of only three schools (Kentucky, Washington) with two first-round selections in the 2016 NBA Draft when Wade Baldwin IV was drafted 17th by the Memphis Grizzlies and Damian Jones was selected 30th by the Golden State Warriors. Baldwin IV and Jones became the sixth and seventh first-round picks, respectively, in the history of the program, joining Will Perdue in 1988 (11th, Chicago), Jeff Turner in 1984 (7th, New Jersey), Clyde Lee in 1966 (3rd, San Francisco), and John Jenkins (23rd, Atlanta), and Festus Ezeli (30th, Golden State) in 2012.

Memorial Gym close to 1,000
The matchup with Bucknell was the 990th regular season game played at Memorial Gym.

2015-16 National Statistics
In 2015-16, the Commodores finished in a tie for third nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to only 29.4% from three. Vanderbilt also finished fifth in field goal percentage defense (38.6%) and ninth in blocks per game (5.5). Luke Kornet tied for third nationally in blocks, averaging 3.0 per contest.

Commodore Postseason History
The Commodores have been named to 14 NCAA Tournaments and 12 NIT’s. Vanderbilt advanced to the Elite 8 in 1965 (field of 23), and the Sweet 16 in 1988, 1993, 2004, and 2007. The Commodores captured the NIT Championship in 1990 and finished runner-up in 1994.

Vanderbilt Coaching History
Bryce Drew is the ninth Commodore basketball coach of the modern era and the 27th all time. 847