NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s basketball will cap a busy stretch of basketball this Monday night when they take on Southeastern Louisiana at Memorial Gym. The game will begin at 7 p.m. CT, with a live stream of the game airing on SEC Network+. Commodore fans can also tune into the game on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on WLAC 1510 AM and 98.3 FM, and online on VUCommodores.com and the VUCommodores app.
The Commodores’ matchup with the Lions will be their third game in six days. After Monday’s game, Vanderbilt will have a break for Thanksgiving before returning to the floor on Saturday, Nov. 30, against Tulsa.
Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters
• The Commodores improved to 4-1 on the season after defeating South Carolina State, 97-60, on Friday night at Memorial Gym. Sophomore Aaron Nesmith led six Commodores in double figures with 20 points. Clevon Brown added a career-high 19 points, while Maxwell Evans (15), Scotty Pippen Jr. (13), Saben Lee (12), and Dylan Disu (10) each notched double figures. Disu also added a career-high 11 rebounds to garner his first double-double of the season.
• Nesmith leads the nation and SEC with 5.00 made 3’s per game, while also leading the SEC in scoring (25.2). He is sixth nationally in points per game. Nesmith is also ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in field goal percentage (5th, .616), and 3-point field goal percentage (2nd, .568).
• Nesmith (25.2) and Lee (18.2) are the second-highest-scoring duo in the nation (Hampton’s Jermaine Marrow (26.0) & Ben Stanley (18.2)).
• Lee is sixth (19.2) in scoring, second in assists per game (7.0), seventh in steals per game (2.0), and third in assist-to-turnover ratio in the SEC.
• Other Commodores ranked in the top 10 in the SEC include Pippen Jr. (6th, ATO ratio, 2.2; 9th, steals/game, 1.8), Dylan Disu (9th, steals/game, 1.8), and Clevon Brown (7th, blocks/game, 1.8; 4th, offensive rebounds, 3.0).
• Nesmith tallied a career-high 34 points in an overtime loss at Richmond on Nov. 14. It was the most points by a Vanderbilt player since Shan Foster vs. Miss. State (3/5/08), and the most points by a Vanderbilt player on the road since Billy McCaffrey at Georgia (35, 2/24/93).
• New head coach Jerry Stackhouse is the 28th men’s basketball coach in the history of Vanderbilt basketball. He is the first African American Commodore men’s basketball head coach and is one of two current African American head coaches in the Southeastern Conference (Cuonzo Martin, Missouri).
• Stackhouse has been a star player at every level of basketball. He was a 1993 McDonald’s All-American in high school and an All-American at North Carolina in 1995. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, a two-time All-Star and earned the 2000-01 scoring title. In his 18-year NBA career, he scored 16,409 points while playing for the 76ers, Pistons, Wizards, Mavericks, Bucks, Heat, Hawks and Nets.
• His prior coaching stints have all come in the NBA or the NBA G League. He was an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018-19, and was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors’ G-League franchise, Raptors 905, in 2016-17 and 2017-18, where his teams won one championship (2017) and advanced to the finals (2018) in another. He was also named the G-League Coach of the Year in 2016-17.
• As a team, the Commodores are first in the SEC in field goal percentage (.529), threes made (11.6) and 3-point field goal percentage (.414).
• A season ago, no Commodore had more than seven assists in a game. This season, it has been done three times by Saben Lee and once by Scotty Pippen Jr.
• Nesmith was recently named to the preseason All-SEC second-team by the league’s coaches.
• Saben Lee was one of seven major conference underclassmen in 2018-19 with 400+ points, 100+ rebounds and 100+ assists, and was the only one in the SEC. (Terence Davis and Grant Williams were the only others in the SEC to reach those numbers.)
• The Commodores are one of only three schools (UNLV and Princeton) to have made a three-point basket since the inception of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.
With a made three against Southeastern Louisiana, Vanderbilt will move to 1,070 consecutive games with a three-pointer.
• The Commodores have had five first-round NBA Draft picks since 2012, the second-most in the SEC in that time span – Darius Garland (5th, Cleveland Cavaliers), Wade Baldwin IV (17th, Memphis Grizzlies), Damian Jones (30th, Golden State Warriors), and John Jenkins (23rd, Atlanta) and Festus Ezeli (30th, Golden State). Garland, Jones, and former standout Luke Kornet (Chicago Bulls) are all active players in the NBA.
• Memorial Gym is the SEC’s oldest facility, built in 1952. The Commodores are 806-235 all-time in the building.
About the Southeastern Louisiana Series
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 2-0
Last Meeting: Vanderbilt – W, 85-52
Dec. 18, 2010 – Nashville, Tenn.
Record at Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt leads 2-0
Coach Stackhouse vs. Southeastern Louisiana: First Meeting
Media Information
Vanderbilt vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 7 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network+
TV Talent: Kevin Ingram (pxp), Shan Foster (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from Learfield/IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: VandyStats.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Notes: @VandyNotes
