Jan. 5, 2015
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Auburn Gamenotes
The Commodores will open SEC play this Tuesday night when they welcome Auburn to Memorial Gym for an 8 p.m. CT tip off. The game will be televised nationwide on ESPNU, and can be heard on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network throughout Middle Tennessee.
Vanderbilt won their third consecutive contest Saturday against Yale, but the 79-74 victory over the Bulldogs took two overtimes and a 13-point come back in the last ten minutes of regulation. Sophomore post man Damian Jones led five Commodores in double figures with 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Shelton Mitchell scored a career-high 15 points and dished out a career-best eight assists in 46 minutes of play, freshman Riley LaChance chipped in 14 points, freshman Matthew Fisher-Davis added a career-high 12 points, and sophomore forward Luke Kornet tallied 10 points in the win.
Game 14/Vanderbilt (10-3) vs. Auburn (8-5)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 8 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNU
TV Talent: Rich Hollenberg (pxp), Dino Gaudio (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 108,XM 190
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 85-51.
Last Meeting: VU win, 67-59, 2/22/14, in Auburn.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 48-16.
Record at Auburn: VU leads, 34-29.
Record at Neutral Site: Auburn leads, 6-3.
Coach Stallings vs. Auburn: Coach Stallings is 14-5 against Auburn.
About Auburn
Auburn enters the game with an 8-5 overall record and are led by guard K.T. Harrell, who is the SEC’s second-leading scorer at 17.9 points per game. Forward Cinmeon Bowers leads the SEC in rebounding with 11.3 rebounds per game. This will be the 126th meeting between the two teams. Vanderbilt has won nine consecutive games in the series, dating back to the 2006-07 season. Vanderbilt has also won six straight at home against Auburn, dating back to the 1999-2000 season.
Stallings wins 300 vs. Penn, now has 302 Vanderbilt wins
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings won his 300th game at Vanderbilt against Penn, becoming one of five SEC coaches to win 300 or more games at one institution, joining Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, Florida’s Billy Donovan, and LSU’s Dale Brown and Harry Rabenhorst.
LaChance leads all SEC Freshmen
Freshman Riley LaChance is the leading freshman scorer in the SEC at 13.1 points per game, leads all SEC freshmen in three’s made per contest at 2.1 per game, which is fourth in the conference overall, and is second in the SEC overall in 3-point field goal percentage (.415), and recently won his second SEC Freshman of the Week award after averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in wins over St. Louis and Yale. Earlier this year, poured in a career-high 26 points in Vanderbilt’s win over Purdue on December 13 and claimed SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his performance, and then followed with another 26-point game against Western Carolina. It was the most points scored by a Commodore freshman since A.J. Ogilvy scored 27 points on March 13, 2008, in a first-round game of the SEC Tournament in Atlanta, and the first time a Commodore has scored 25 or more points in consecutive games since John Jenkins scored 26 at Ole Miss (2/16/12) and 28 at Georgia (2/19/12).
Damian Jones leads Commodores
Sophomore post player Damian Jones is off to a great start to his sophomore campaign, averaging 16.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in the first 13 contests. Jones, a preseason All-SEC First Team selection by the league’s coaches, has scored 20+ points in four games this year and is second in the SEC in field goal percentage (.566), fifth in the SEC in scoring, 6th in rebounding, 5th in blocks (1.8), and 6th in defensive rebounding (4.8/game).
Vanderbilt among SEC leaders
The Commodores lead the SEC in FG% with 50.5%, and have shot 50% or better in seven games this year. VU is also 1st in 3-Pt FG% (.394) and 4th in assists (16.5). The Commodores are ninth in the country in FG%.
High Conversion Rate
The Commodores are the most efficient team in the league, shooting 50.5% from the field, and are only attempting an average of 49.8 attempts per game, the least in the SEC. Arkansas leads the league with 63.8 attempts per game.
Assists Numbers
Vanderbilt has 215 assists against only 175 turnovers in the 2014-15 season, and has two players in the top five in assists, with Shelton Mitchell third at 5.0 apg and Wade Baldwin tied for fifth with 4.4. Vanderbilt is fourth in the league in assists (16.5/game). The Commodores have 215 assists on 327 made baskets, a 65.7% clip, the best in the SEC and the fourth-best in the nation.
Assist to Turnovers
The Commodores are on track to post their first positive assist-to-turnover ratio in a season since the 2010-11 season (454 assists, 441 turnovers that year).
Free Throws Galore
The Commodores made 38 of 43 free throws against Western Carolina, and was 22-22 at the charity stripe in the second half. It was the most made free throws in a game since Vanderbilt tied a school record with 40 against Kentucky on February 20, 1991.
Double Your Pleasure
The Commodores won a 79-74 double overtime affair against Yale in its last time out, Vanderbilt’s first double overtime game since a 79-73 loss at Kentucky on January 12, 2008. Shelton Mitchell played a career-high 46 minutes Saturday, the most by a Vanderbilt player since that game at Kentucky, when Alex Gordon played 46 minutes and Shan Foster logged 47 minutes.
SEC’s Youngest Backcourt
The Commodores’ freshman backcourt is the youngest in the SEC. In fact, Vanderbilt is the only school in the league to start three freshmen at the three guard spots.
Young Commodores
According to KenPom.com, Vanderbilt is number 348 out of 351 Division I playing schools in terms of experience at 0.72 years. The average years of experience across the 351 schools is 1.67 years.
Three-Point Streak Still Intact
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 909 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.
Frontcourt Height
Vanderbilt’s starting frontline of 7-0, 6-10 & 6-6 is the second tallest in the SEC in terms of average height. Kentucky – 82.3 inches; Vanderbilt – 81.3 inches; LSU – 81.3 inches.
Commodores vs. the SEC
Vanderbilt has a 677-667 against the current members of the SEC.