March 5, 2014
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| LSU Gamenotes
The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team will honor seniors Nick Souder, Rob Cross, Kyle Fuller, and Rod Odom on Thursday against LSU in the team’s home regular season finale. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT, with the game airing live on ESPN2 and the radio call coming on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network in middle Tennessee and online at vucommodores.com.
The Commodores dropped to 15-13, 7-9 in SEC play after a 76-38 defeat Saturday afternoon in Knoxville to the University of Tennessee in their last time out. The 38 points was a season-low, as was Vanderbilt’s 22.4% shooting percentage from the floor. Senior guard Kyle Fuller scored a game-high nine points for the Commodores, with Dai-Jon Parker grabbing a team-leading seven rebounds.
Ticket Information
Tickets are still remaining for the game Thursday night for $25, including lower level tickets in the Vanderbilt Student Section, since the students are away on spring break.
Game 29/Vanderbilt (15-13, 7-9) vs. LSU (17-11, 8-7)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 6 p.m. CT
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Rece Davis (pxp), Bob Knight (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 92, XM 200
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 60-50.
Last Meeting: LSU win, 81-58, on 1/18/14 in Baton Rouge.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 34-13.
Record at LSU: LSU leads, 30-21.
Record at Neutral Site: LSU leads, 7-5.
Coach Stallings vs. LSU: Coach Stallings is 11-8 against LSU.
About LSU
- LSU enters Thursday’s game with a 17-11 overall record and an 8-7 mark in SEC play.
- The Tigers defeated the Commodores, 81-58, in an earlier meeting this season in Baton Rouge on January 18.
- Tiger forward Johnny O’Bryant III leads four LSU players in double figures with 15.6 points per game. Jordan Mickey (13.4), Andre Stringer (11.6), and Jarell Martin (10.3).
- The Commodores have two players that hail from Baton Rouge – Dai-Jon Parker and Damian Jones.
Last Game at Memorial
The Commodores will be playing their final home game of the 2013-14 regular season on Thursday against LSU, and it will be the final regular season home game for seniors Kyle Fuller, Rod Odom, Rob Cross, and senior manager Nick Souder. The senior day presentation will take place before the game.
Odom Leads Commodores
For the season, Rod Odom is averaging a team-leading 13.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, has made three or more threes in a game on 13 occasions in 2013-14, and scored 20 or more points seven times this year. Odom is fourth in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.400) and third in threes made (2.8). Earlier this year, Odom won the SEC Player of the Week for his performances against Tennessee and Arkansas, when he averaged 24.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in the two games.
Kyle Fuller Having Solid Senior Season
Senior point guard Kyle Fuller is having a solid senior season, averaging 11.4 points per game in all games and 12.8 points per game in league play. Fuller is ranked second in the SEC in assists in all games (4.3) and is also second in SEC games only (4.9). Fuller has scored in double-figures in 16 games this season, and has had 11 games with five or more assists. He has two double-doubles, with the first coming against Tennessee with 12 points and 10 assists, and added his first career double-double with a 17-point, 10-assist game vs. Kentucky.
Contributing Walk Ons
Two Commodore walk-ons, Carter Josephs and Nathan Watkins, played significant minutes at Auburn and helped Vanderbilt to a win on February 22. The two entered the game at the 8:12 mark of the first half with the team trailing, 27-11, and left the game with 12:03 to go in regulation with the Commodores leading 47-45. Each played 16 minutes, with Josephs dishing out a career-high nine assists, and Watkins adding a career-high seven points and three rebounds. Josephs had one career assist entering the Auburn game, and Watkins had played 10 minutes in his career and scored only one career point heading into the game. Josephs played a career-high 20 minutes against Florida, grabbed a career-high three rebounds, dished out two assists, and one steal.
Terrific 10
The Commodores have seven scholarship players and 10 overall on the roster after Josh Henderson was lost for the season with a left knee injury Dec. 5 against Marshall and Eric McClellan was dismissed from the team. However, of those seven, five are ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in one category or another.
Jones Wins SEC Freshman of the Week
Freshman post player Damian Jones has had an outstanding start to his freshman campaign, averaging 11.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest and has scored in double figures in 18 games this season. He has four double-doubles on the season, including games against South Carolina and Texas A&M. He recently won SEC Freshman of the Week for averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in games against Missouri and Auburn last week.
Assist Numbers
Kyle Fuller now has 10+ assists in two games this season (Kentucky, Tennessee), and in both cases, he has had double-doubles in those games. Since 2000-01, Vanderbilt has had only six games with a player with 10 or more assists in a game. Brad Tinsley has two games, Mario Moore one, and Alex Gordon one.
Siakam’s Stellar Play
Although junior James Siakam is an undersized four man at 6’7, he more than holds his own on the glass. He has three double-doubles this season (vs. Lipscomb, at Texas A&M, vs. Texas A&M), and leads the team with 1.4 blocks per game. Vanderbilt is 3-0 in the games in which he has a double-double, and 5-1 when he scores in double figures.
Record Against the SEC
Vanderbilt is 678-666 all-time in Southeastern Conference play.
Roster Addition
The Commodores added senior manager Rob Cross to the roster on January 16. Cross served as the senior manager for the last two seasons, and has been a part of the program for four years. Cross played in the first game of his career at Tennessee on March 1, and showed up on the stat sheet with a rebound and an assist.
Three-Point Streak Still In Tact
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 893 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.