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MBB welcomes Bucknell to Memorial Monday

Nov. 20, 2016

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The Commodores will host their second and final game of the campus round portion of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Monday night when they welcome the Bucknell Bison from the Patriot League to Memorial Gym. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. and will be televised online on the SEC Network, with the action also being heard across the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network and online at vucommodores.com.

Vanderbilt improved to 2-1 on the season after a 75-52 win over Norfolk State in a campus round game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. Junior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis led the team with 18 points, junior guard Riley LaChance added 12 points, and junior forward Jeff Roberson added his seventh career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Vanderbilt held the Spartans to 30% from the floor and 18.2% from three. The Commodores also outrebounded Norfolk State, 46-36.

Media Information
Vanderbilt (2-1) vs. Bucknell (2-2)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 8 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Dave Baker (play by play), Barry Booker (Color)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB

Anchor Points

  • LaChance, who took over the point guard duties from Wade Baldwin IV after he was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2016 NBA draft, scored in double figures for the second time in 19 games (other was vs. Wichita State in First Four, scored 10 points), and his game against the Spartans was his first with three or more threes in a game since making three at Texas A&M last season on March 5. LaChance made three or more threes in five games in 2015-16 and has 17 career games with three threes or more.
  • Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew is now 2-1 in his Vanderbilt career as head coach.
  • For the season, the Commodores are converting on 76.5% of their free throw attempts for the season and are going to the line an average of 28.3 times in their first three games.
  • Four Commodores are shooting 45% or better from three so far this season: Matthew Fisher-Davis (45%, 9-20), Riley LaChance (66.7%, 6-9), Nolan Cressler (50%, 3-6), and Clevon Brown (50%, 2-4). Fisher-Davis led the SEC in three-point field goal percentage in 2015-16, converting on 44.6% of his attempts from beyond-the-arc.
  • Fisher-Davis leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game. Senior center Luke Kornet adds 14.7 points per game and Roberson chips in 10.0 points per game.
  • 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 57 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 28.9% 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: VU leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: Vanderbilt win, 80-68, on Nov. 15, 2011, at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 1-0.
Record at Bucknell: NA
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Drew vs. Bucknell: Coach Drew has never faced Bucknell.

About Bucknell

  • Monday is the second game of the Continental Las Vegas Invitational’s campus site contests. Vanderbilt knocked off Norfolk State, 75-52, on Friday in the first game.
  • Vanderbilt will play Butler Thursday in Las Vegas.
  • The Commodores won the only other meeting between the two schools on Nov. 15, 2011, 80-68, at Memorial Gym.
  • Bucknell enters the game with a 2-2 overall record.
  • Junior forward Zach Thomas leads the Bison with 18.0 points per game. Center Nana Foulland also adds double digit scoring with 14.3 points per game.
  • Bison senior guard John Azzinaro and senior forward D.J. MacLeay both hail from San Antonio, Texas, the hometown of Commodore freshman Clevon Brown.

Other News and Notes

Notes from Norfolk State Game

  • Jeff Roberson posted the sixth double-double of his career with 11 points and 11 rebounds
  • Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 18 points and shot 4-9 from 3-point range
  • Norfolk State led 25-22 with 5:13 remaining in the first half, but Vanderbilt closed the half on a 15-3 run to take a 37-28 lead into halftime.
  • The lead changed hands seven times in the first half, but a Matthew Fisher 3-pointer gave the Commodores a 27-25 lead with 4:19 remaining in the first half and the Spartans never reclaimed the lead from there.
  • Riley LaChance scored the Commodores first 9 points of the second half, including a four-point play after he was fouled on a made 3-pointer and converted the following free throw with 18:57 left in the second half.
  • Vanderbilt shot 23-28 (82%) from the free throw line vs. Norfolk State. The Commodores have attempted at least 26 free throws in every game so far this season.
  • Vanderbilt out-assisted Norfolk State by a margin of 16-2.
  • Jeff Roberson made a 3-point field goal with 15:50 remaining in the first half to extend Vanderbilt’s streak to 967 consecutive games with a made 3-pointer.
  • Vanderbilt’s defense held Norfolk State to just 18-60 (30%) shooting from the floor and 2-11 (18%) from beyond the perimeter.

Roberson In Rarefied Air
Junior forward Jeff Roberson is nearly averaging a double-double in the early goings of the 2016-17 season with 10.0 points and 9.7 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.

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.

Coach Drew’s First Home Game
New head coach Bryce Drew coached his first game at Memorial Gym on Tuesday against Belmont, and was the ninth Vanderbilt basketball coach to open their Commodore career in the facility. A look at career openers at Memorial.
Bob Polk, Dec. 6, 1952 vs. Virginia W, 90-83
Roy Skinner, Dec. 2, 1958 vs. Sewanee W, 71-42
Wayne Dobbs, Dec. 1, 1976 vs. Louisville L, 76-81 (OT)
Richard Schmidt, Nov. 30, 1979 vs. Rice W, 94-75
C.M. Newton, Dec. 14, 1981, vs. N. Alabama W, 116-88
Eddie Fogler, Nov. 29, 1989, vs. Tenn. Tech L, 76-89
Jan van Breda Kolff, Nov. 26, 1993 vs. Penn. St. W, 83-60
Kevin Stallings, Nov. 23, 1999 vs. Belmont W, 72-55
Bryce Drew, Nov. 15, 2016 vs. Belmont W, 80-66

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. Patriot League
The Commodores have a 13-3 record all-time against the Patriot League. Bucknell will be the only Patriot League team the Commodores face in the regular season this year.

967
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 967 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 will be 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.

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