Nov. 12, 2015
The #18/20-ranked Commodores begin their 2015-16 campaign this Friday night when they host Austin Peay at 7 p.m. in their season opener at Memorial Gym. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT, with the action being aired live on SEC Network + and on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
The 2015-16 edition of the Vanderbilt Commodores returns 10 letterwinners and four of five starters from a team that went 21-14 in the regular season and won eight of their last 10 SEC games a year ago, with 81.6% of the team’s scoring output and 77.4% of rebounding returning. Also added to the mix this year is junior Nolan Cressler, who averaged 16.8 points per game as a sophomore at Cornell in 2013-14, and four incoming freshmen who were ranked as the 20th-best recruiting class in the class of 2015.
The Commodores’ game against the Governors is an opening round game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, with Vanderbilt continuing play on the island Monday, November 23 against St. John’s.
Game Information
Game 1/#18/20 Vanderbilt vs. Austin Peay
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 7 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network +
TV Talent: Kevin Ingram (pxp), Shan Foster (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Satellite Radio: Sirius 135
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 14-1.
Last Meeting: VU win, 58-56, on 12/17/13.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 12-1.
Record at APSU: 1-0.
Record at Neutral Site: 1-0.
Coach Stallings vs. Austin Peay: Coach Stallings is 3-0 vs. Austin Peay.
About Austin Peay
- Austin Peay finished 8-22 overall in 2014-15 and 3-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
- Chris Horton, a 6’8, 220-pound forward/center, returns as the Governors’ leading scorer after averaging 13.1 points per game last season. Horton also led the team in rebounding with 11.1 per game.
- Austin Peay assistant coach Julian Terrell is a former Commodore great who played for Coach Stallings from 2003-06 was the team’s Director of Video Operations for the last two seasons before taking a job with the Governors in May of 2015.
113
The 2015-16 campaign will be Vanderbilt’s 113th varsity team that it has put on the floor, with the first team playing in the 1900-01 school year. The Commodores did not sport a team in 1904-05 and scores were not recorded in the 1905-06 season.
56-7
Vanderbilt’s record in home openers at Memorial Gym – the SEC’s oldest basketball facility is in its 64th season.
15-1
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings is 15-1 in season openers, with the only loss coming against Georgetown on November 15, 2006, at Memorial Gym.
Dores in Top 25
The Commodores, ranked 18th in the preseason by the Associated Press, and 20th by the Coaches in the USA Today Poll, are ranked in the preseason for the first time since the 2011-12 season and for the seventh time overall. Vanderbilt’s highest preseason ranking was 6th prior to the 1964-65 season.
Damian Jones Show
Damian Jones was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder in 2015-16, averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. He scored 20+ points in eight games as a sophomore and finished first in the SEC in field goal percentage, 3rd in blocks (2.0), and 10th in scoring. Jones was named an All-SEC First-Team selection and as a member of the league’s All-Defensive team by the league’s coaches last season.
20-Win Seasons
Vanderbilt registered its eighth 20-win season in the last 12 years and its 19th overall in program history a year ago after posting a record of 21-12. Coach Kevin Stallings’ eight 20-win seasons is the most by a Vanderbilt coach.
Coach Stallings In 6th Place In SEC Wins
Head Coach Kevin Stallings, the school’s all-time winningest coach, is in his 17th season with the Commodores and 22nd overall as a head coach, and is now the dean of SEC coaches. Stallings has 313 career wins at Vanderbilt and 436 overall as a head coach. He has eight 20-win seasons in the last 12 seasons, with 11 total postseason appearances, six NCAA tournaments, and two Sweet 16’s (2004 and 2007). He is also 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, and is now in 6th place all-time on the SEC wins list.
Young Team Grows Up
The Commodores, ranked as the 347th youngest team in the nation out of 351 teams in 2014-15, finished the season strong, going 10-4 in their last 14 games and 8-2 in their last 10 SEC contests.
Baldwin Named All-SEC Freshman
Baldwin IV was named to the SEC All-Freshman team after finishing the season fifth in the league in assists (4.4) in all games and leading all SEC freshmen in assists. He finished the season 6th in all games in steals (1.5) and 3rd in A/TO ratio (2.2). In league games only, he finished fifth in steals (1.7), fourth in assists (4.5), and 8th in A/TO ratio (2.0). He finished tied for 6th all-time on single-season assist list and is VU’s all-time freshman leader on the single-season assist list with 155 assists. He recorded 50 steals in 2014-15, the 2nd most in 13 years.
Baldwin In Elite Company
Baldwin, along with D’Angelo Russell, finished the 2014-15 season as the only freshman guards to average at least nine points, four assists, and four rebounds per game.
LaChance Leads All SEC Freshmen
Freshman Riley LaChance, who was named to the All-Freshman team in 2014-15, finished the season as the leading freshman scorer in the SEC at 12.3 points per game in all games. He finished the season second among all SEC freshmen in three’s made per contest at 1.9 per game, which was sixth in the conference overall. LaChance won four SEC Freshman of the Week honors a year ago, which set a new program record. He poured in two consecutive 26-point games against Purdue and Western Carolina, and had three 20+ point games this season. In all, he scored in double figures in 24 contests.
Freshmen Leaders
Riley LaChance led all SEC freshmen in scoring at 12.3 ppg in all games a year ago, while Wade Baldwin IV led all freshmen in assists with 4.4 per contest. Matthew Fisher-Davis led all SEC freshmen in threes made with 2.1 per game.
NCAA Rankings
The Commodores finished in the top 35 nationally in four categories for the 2014-15 season. Vanderbilt finished 15th in blocks, 19th in 3-point FG percentage, 22nd in assists, and 31st in field-goal percentage.
SEC’s Youngest Backcourt
The Commodores’ freshman backcourt was the youngest in the SEC in 2014-15. In fact, Vanderbilt was the only school in the league to start three freshmen at the three guard spots.
3’s From Everywhere
The Commodores finished the season with four different players shooting 40% or better from three this season (at least 10 made threes), only the third time since the three-point line came into existence in 1986-87 that a Vanderbilt team has accomplished that. Wade Baldwin IV, Luke Kornet, Jeff Roberson, and Matthew Fisher-Davis all shot 40% or better on the season, with Baldwin leading the way at 43.9%. In 1987-88, five Commodores – Barry Goheen, Barry Booker, Charles Mayes, Scott Draud, and Derrick Wilcox shot above 40%, the most in program history.
Single-Season Lists
- Wade Baldwin IV finished tied for 6th all-time on the Vanderbilt single-season assist list with 155 assists, and is the freshman all-time single-season leader in assists.
- Damian Jones had 506 points this season, which is second on Vanderbilt’s sophomore single-season scoring list.
- Jones finished 4th on the VU single-season block list with 68.
- Riley LaChance finished third on Vanderbilt’s single-season freshman scoring list with 429 points – one of only four Vanderbilt freshman to ever eclipse 400-point barrier. The last Commodore freshman to score 400 or more points in a season was A.J. Ogilvy in 2007-08, when he scored a freshman-record 578 points. LaChance finished with 102 assists, and he is fourth on the single-season freshman assist list. Three of the four all-time freshman assist leaders in program history were on the 2014-15 team (Baldwin, LaChance, Shelton Mitchell).
- LaChance finished tied for 10th on Vanderbilt’s single-season free throw percentage list at 87.3%.
- As a team, Vanderbilt’s 255 made threes ranks 10th all-time in a single season and its 39.2% clip is ninth in single-season history.
- The 2014-15 team finished with 541 free throws made, which tied for ninth all-time.
Center U
Vanderbilt has turned into Center University in the last eight seasons, with a center posting double digits in all but one of those seasons. Here’s a look at the totals from centers since the 2007-08 season.
2007-08 – A.J. Ogilvy – 17.0 ppg
2008-09 – A.J. Ogilvy – 15.4 ppg
2009-10 – A.J. Ogilvy – 13.4 ppg
2010-11 – Festus Ezeli – 13.0 ppg
2011-12 – Festus Ezeli – 10.1 ppg
2013-14 – Damian Jones – 11.3 ppg
2013-14 – Damian Jones – 14.5 ppg
Block Party
The 2014-15 team blocked 186 shots on the season, which set a new Vanderbilt season record, surpassing the 2008-09 team, which blocked 174 shots that season. The Commodores’ 186 blocks ranked 15th nationally for the season. Against Saint Mary’s in the NIT First Round, Vanderbilt tied a then-program record with 11 blocks, and then followed that up with a 13-block performance against South Dakota State, which set a new program single-game record.
Assist Numbers
Vanderbilt had 541 assists on the season, which ties the seventh-best season in Commodore history for assists. Wade Baldwin had 155 assists to lead all Commodore players, with Shelton Mitchell registering 103 and Riley LaChance 102, marking only the third time in Commodore history that three players have registered 100 assists or more. Vanderbilt has only had two other seasons in its history in which three players have had 100 or more assists – 1988-89 (Barry Goheen, 130, Barry Booker, 118, Derrick Wilcox, 173) and 1993-94 (Billy McCaffrey, 133, Ronnie McMahan, 108, Frank Seckar, 110). The Commodores also ranked first in the SEC in assist percentage (assists on made baskets) and fourth nationally.
931
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 931 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.