Jan. 25, 2016
The Commodores return home to the friendly confines of Memorial Gym when they host Florida Tuesday night in Nashville. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU, with all of the action also available on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
Vanderbilt had a three-game winning streak snapped against Kentucky Saturday at Rupp Arena after dropping a 76-57 decision to the Wildcats. Damian Jones led Vanderbilt with 13 points, while Jeff Roberson added 12 points in the Commodore effort.
Kentucky shot 55% from the floor against the Commodores, the best by an opponent this season. The Wildcats also limited Vanderbilt to 32% from the floor and 33.3% from three. The 32% is a season-low for Vanderbilt, and the Commodores also had a season-low 16 made field goals.
This will be the 129th all-time meeting between the two schools, with Vanderbilt leading the series, 65-63, overall and 42-15 in games played in Nashville. The first meeting between the two schools came in the 1930-31 season.
Game 20/ Vanderbilt (11-8, 3-4 SEC) vs. Florida (13-6, 5-2 SEC)
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 81, XM 81
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 65-63.
Last Meeting: UF win, 50-47, 2/18/15, in Gainesville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 42-15.
Record at Florida: UF leads, 42-21.
Record at Neutral Site: UF leads, 6-2.
Coach Stallings vs. Florida: Coach Stallings is 9-23 against Florida.
Quick Hitters
- Vanderbilt ranks first in all games in the SEC in 3FG% defense (.273), and is second in scoring margin (+11.4), FG% defense (.383), 3FG% (.405), and in threes made (8.5).
- Nationally, VU ranks second in 3FG% defense, 12th in FG% defense, 14th in 3FG%, and T-20th in blocks (5.4).
- Kornet’s 10 blocks against Auburn set a new program record for blocks in a game – he surpassed three games with seven blocks by Will Perdue (vs. East Carolina, 12/28/87), Festus Ezeli (at Georgia, 2/16/11) and Damian Jones (at South Carolina, 2/13/14). The 10 blocks is also the most in the nation this season, and his 3.1 average per game would be fourth in the nation, but NCAA rankings only account for players who have played in 75% or more contests (Kornet is at 74%).
- Ten players have scored in double figures in a game this season – Wade Baldwin, Luke Kornet, Damian Jones, Jeff Roberson, Riley LaChance, Matthew Fisher-Davis, Nolan Cressler, Camron Justice, Josh Henderson, and Joe Toye.
- Fisher-Davis leads the SEC in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.488).
- Vanderbilt is 9-1 on the season when Kornet attempts more two point baskets than three’s – the Commodores dropped their first game of the season at Kentucky when Kornet shoots more twos than threes.
- Head Coach Kevin Stallings, the school’s all-time winningest coach, is in his 17th season with the Commodores and 23rd overall as a head coach, and is now the dean of SEC coaches. Stallings has 324 career wins at Vanderbilt and 447 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 in 6th place all-time on the SEC wins list.
- Vanderbilt assistant coach Derrick Jones worked with current Florida head coach Michael White for four seasons at Louisiana Tech.
- Vanderbilt has a record of 8-2 at home this season.
- The Commodores have three players at seven feet or higher in their front court – Josh Henderson (7’0), Damian Jones (7’0), and Luke Kornet (7’1). LSU has two seven footers, and the rest of the league has one or fewer.
950
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 950 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.
Academic Success
Eight members of this year’s team were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll or the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for 2014-15.
Non-Conference Tough
According to KenPom.com, Vanderbilt has had a difficult non-conference slate. The Commodores’ non-conference schedule is ranked 78th in the nation, but seventh among all Power Five schools. Only Florida (42), UCLA (48), Texas (55), Stanford (59), Alabama (70), and Wake Forest (71) have had a tougher schedule accoring to KenPom.
About Florida
- Florida enters the game with a 13-6 overall record and a 5-2 mark in SEC play after defeating Auburn Saturday in Gainesville, 95-63.
- Dorian Finney-Smith leads the Gators with 14.5 points per game. KeVaughn Allen (11.3) and John Egbunu (11.1) are also averaging double figures.
- Vanderbilt assistant Derrick Jones was an assistant on Michael White’s staff at Louisiana Tech from 2011-2014.