Feb. 17, 2015
After their first SEC road win on Saturday at Alabama, the Commodores hit the road again, this time to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the Florida Gators on Wednesday. The game tips off at 6 p.m. CT, and will be televised on the SEC Network and can be heard on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network throughout Middle Tennessee.
Vanderbilt won for the third time in four games this past Saturday at Alabama in a 76-68 win over the Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum. Damian Jones notched his 6th 20+-point game of the season with a game-high 20 points and was 7-11 from the floor and 6-9 from the free throw line, and also added a team-high seven rebounds. Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 13 points, Riley LaChance and Luke Kornet tallied 12, and Wade Baldwin IV added 10.
After struggling from the line against Tennessee in their previous game, Vanderbilt converted on 28 of their 35 foul shots Saturday night (80%) and made 17 of their last 19 attempts in regulation. Alabama was 11-17 (64.7%) from the charity stripe.
Game 26/Vanderbilt (14-11, 4-8 SEC) vs. Florida (12-13, 5-7 SEC)
Gainesville, Fla. – O’Connell Center – 6 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Mike Morgan (pxp), Barry Booker (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 134, XM 190
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 65-62.
Last Meeting: VU win, 67-61, 2/3/15, in Nashville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 42-15.
Record at Florida: UF leads, 41-21.
Record at Neutral Site: UF leads, 6-2.
Coach Stallings vs. Florida: Coach Stallings is 8-22 against Florida.
About Florida
Florida enters Tuesday’s game with a 12-13 overall record and a 5-7 mark in league play. The Gators have dropped four consecutive games, but losses have come by a combined 15 points. Florida’s last two losses have each been by one point.
Michael Frazier leads the Gators with 13.2 points per game, but will miss the game due to injury. Dorian Finney-Smith averages 12.9 points per contest.
Florida has a 41-21 series advantage in games played in Gainesville.
Vanderbilt won an earlier meeting between the two schools at Memorial Gym on February 3, 67-61, in a game in which the Commodores never trailed. Vanderbilt has not had a season sweep of the Gators since 2010.
Damian Jones leads Commodores
Sophomore post player Damian Jones is having a stellar sophomore campaign, averaging 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in the first 24 contests. Jones, a preseason All-SEC First Team selection by the league’s coaches, has scored 20+ points in six games this year and is second in the SEC in field goal percentage (.545), eighth in the SEC in scoring, ninth in rebounding, 3rd in blocks (1.8), 10th in offensive rebs. (2.3), and 9th in defensive rebs. (4.4). He was also recently named to the Kareem Abdul Jabar Award watch list for the nation’s top center.
LaChance leads all SEC Freshmen
Freshman Riley LaChance is the leading freshman scorer in the SEC at 12.5 points per game in all games and 11.9 points per contest in SEC Games. He also leads all SEC freshmen in three’s made per contest at 2.0 per game, which is sixth in the conference overall. LaChance has won three SEC Freshman of the Week awards this season, and earlier this year, he poured in two consecutive 26-point games against Purdue and Western Carolina. He has three 20+ point games this season, and has scored in double figures in 18 contests.
Freshmen Leaders
Riley LaChance leads all SEC freshmen in scoring at 12.5 ppg, while Wade Baldwin IV leads all freshmen in assists with 4.4 per contest.
Baldwin now Vanderbilt Freshman Single-Season Assist Leader
Baldwin IV is now Vanderbilt’s all-time freshman single-season assist leader with 111, surpassing Atiba Prater, who had the all-time freshman single-season assist record with 103 in 1997. Shelton Mitchell is 8th on the list with 80. 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.
Siakam Coming On
Senior James Siakam has three straight double-doubles this year after posting a 16-point, 10-rebound effort in a win over South Carolina. In a win over Florida, Siakam had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Rebounding runs in the family – James is 26th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, while his brother Pascal, who plays at New Mexico State, is ranked 21st in the same category.
More on Baldwin
Baldwin leads all freshmen in assists, and is 4th in the SEC in assists (4.4) in all games, 3rd in SEC games only (4.4) and 3rd in A/TO ratio (2.3) in all games. He is also 6th in steals in all games (1.6) and 2nd in SEC games only (2.0). Baldwin already has more steals (40) than last year’s season leader, James Siakam, who had 28 for the entire season. He also won his first SEC Freshman of the Week honor earlier this season.
Stallings wins 300 vs. Penn, now has 306 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 46.9%, and have shot 50% or better in eight games this year. VU is also 1st in 3-Pt FG% (.369) and 5th in assists (14.9).
Scoring Balance
In the last two games, seven different players have scored in double figures – Roberson, Siakam, Jones, Baldwin IV, LaChance, Kornet, and Fisher-Davis.
Getting to the Free Throw Line
In the last four games, the Commodores have been to the free throw line a combined 136 times (34/game) and made 96 (24/game) – a 70.6% clip. In the previous eight league games, the Commodores went to the line a combined 138 times (95-138, 68.8%). In the same four game stretch, opponents are 45-59 (76.3%) from the FT line.
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 921 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.