Jan. 30, 2015
The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team caps off four road games in their last five games when they travel to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on the SEC Network, and can be heard on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network throughout Middle Tennessee.
The Commodores dropped a 70-62 decision in their last time out Tuesday night in Athens, Ga. Sophomore center Damian Jones led the team with 16 points, with fellow sophomore Luke Kornet adding 11 and freshman Jeff Roberson chipping in a career-high 11 points. Roberson also added a career-best four assists.
Game 21/Vanderbilt (11-9, 1-6 SEC) vs. Texas A&M (14-5, 5-2 SEC)
College Station, Texas – Reed Arena – 3:30 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Dave Baker (pxp), Joe Dean (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 84, XM 84
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 4-0.
Last Meeting: VU win, 57-54, on 2/15/14 in Nashville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 3-0.
Record at TAMU: VU leads, 1-0
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Stallings vs. TAMU: Coach Stallings is 3-0 vs. Texas A&M.
About Texas A&M
Texas A&M enters the game Saturday with a 14-5 overall record and a 5-2 mark in SEC play, with the Aggies riding a five-game win streak.
Danuel House (14.3) and Jalen Jones (14.1) lead the team in scoring. Jones is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.1 rebounds per game.
Three Commodore players hail from the state of Texas – junior Carter Josephs (San Antonio), sophomore Luke Kornet (Lantana), and freshman Jeff Roberson (Houston).
Vanderbilt leads the all-time series, 5-0, and owns a 1-0 series advantange in games played at Texas A&M.
LaChance leads all SEC Freshmen
Freshman Riley LaChance is the leading freshman scorer in the SEC at 12.5 points per game in all gam, and is also first among SEC freshmen in three’s made per contest at 1.9 per game, which is fifth in the conference overall. He 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, he poured in a career-high 26 points in Vanderbilt’s win over Purdue on December 13 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).
Freshmen Leaders
Riley LaChance leads all SEC freshmen in scoring at 12.5 ppg, while Wade Baldwin IV leads all freshmen in assists with 4.3 per contest. Shelton Mitchell is second among freshmen in assists with 4.0 per game.
Siakam has had success against the Aggies
Senior forward James Siakam posted two double-doubles in two Vanderbilt wins against Texas A&M last season. Siakam scored a career-high 22 points and had 10 rebounds in win at Texas A&M (1/25) and had a 16-point, 10-rebound effort against the Aggies in Nashville (2/15). In those two Commodore wins, he was also a combined 22-27 from the free throw line.
Damian Jones leads Commodores
Sophomore post player Damian Jones is having a stellar sophomore campaign, averaging 15.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the first 20 contests. Jones, a preseason All-SEC First Team selection by the league’s coaches, has scored 20+ points in five games this year and is second in the SEC in field goal percentage (.550), sixth in the SEC in scoring, seventh in rebounding, 4th in blocks (1.8), and 8th in defensive rebounding (4.6/game).
Freshmen On Single-Season Lists
Baldwin IV is tied with Brad Tinsley for 7th on single-season assist list for freshmen with 86. Mitchell 78 and is tied for 8th on the list. Atiba Prater has the all-time freshman single-season assist record with 103 in 1997. LaChance would be seventh on the freshman single-season scoring average list (12.5). Mike Rhodes is VU’s single-season freshman scoring average leader with 18.8 ppg, which came in the 1977-78 campaign.
Stallings wins 300 vs. Penn, now has 303 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.
Vanderbilt among SEC leaders
The Commodores lead the SEC in FG% with 47.4%, and have shot 50% or better in eight games this year. VU is also 2nd in 3-Pt FG% (.371) and 4th in assists (15.2).
Dores 2015 Recruiting Class Ranked 20th by ESPN
Head Coach Kevin Stallings recently signed four players to National Letters of Intent for next season – Djery Baptiste, a 6’11 center from Plano, Texas, Camron Justice, a 6’2 guard from Hindman, Kentucky, Samir Sehic, a 6’9 forward from Cypress, Texas, and Joseph Toye, a 6’7 wing from Chicago, each signed with the Commodores on the first day of the signing period on November 12. The quartet was recently named the 20th-best class in the nation according to ESPN.com.
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 916 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.