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MBB travels to Auburn Saturday

Feb. 12, 2016

Vanderbilt Gamenotes Get Acrobat Reader | Auburn Gamenotes Get Acrobat Reader

The Commodores hit the road for two consecutive games, with the first stop coming on the Plains to face Auburn on Saturday afternoon at Auburn Arena. The game will tip off at 5 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2, with all of the action also available on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.

The Commodores defeated Missouri, 86-71, in their last time out on Wednesday and moved to 14-10 on the season and 6-5 in the SEC. Wade Baldwin led Vanderbilt in scoring. Baldwin finished the night with 17 points and had seven assists to go along with 6 rebounds.

Luke Kornet also recorded his fourth double-double of the year. He finished the night with 13 points and 12 rebounds to go with five blocks. It is the fifth time this season that Kornet has finished a game with at least five blocks. Damian Jones added his 18th double digit performance of the season, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds. Jeff Roberson recorded double figures for the 13th time this season, finishing with 12 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 8 rebounds. He was 2-3 from three on the night. Matthew-Fisher-Davis finished the night in double digits for the 10th time this season with 13 points and was 3-10 from three-point range. It is the 11th time this season that Fisher-Davis has made at least 3 threes in a game.

Game 25/ Vanderbilt (14-10, 6-5 SEC) vs. Auburn (9-14, 3-8 SEC)
Auburn, Ala. – Auburn Arena – 5 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Joe Tessitore (pxp), Sean Farnham (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, 87-51.
Last Meeting: VU win, 75-57, 1/12/16, in Nashville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 50-16.
Record at Auburn: VU leads, 34-29.
Record at Neutral Site: Auburn leads, 6-3.
Coach Stallings vs. Auburn: Coach Stallings is 16-5 against Auburn,

Quick Hitters

  • In his last three games, Baldwin is averaging 17.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game.
  • Head coach Kevin Stallings won his 450th career game and moves to 450-279 in 23 years of coaching. His record is 327-216 at Vanderbilt (17 years).
  • Nationally, Vanderbilt leads the nation in 3FG% defense at 27.8%. Vanderbilt also ranks 8th in FG% defense (37.9%), and 14th in blocks (5.7). Individually, Luke Kornet is fifth in blocks (3.0)
  • Vanderbilt ranks first in all games in the SEC in FG% (.379) and 3FG% defense (.278) and second in 3FG% (.392), and 3FG Made (5.7). In league games only, is first in 3FG% defense (.286) and blocks (5.8), and second in 3FG% (.385), and 3FG’s made (8.4).
  • Luke 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.
  • Kornet leads the SEC in blocks in all games and in SEC games only, and Jones is fourth in all games and fifth in SEC games.
  • 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 is second in the SEC in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.448).
  • Vanderbilt is 11-2 on the season when Kornet attempts more two point baskets than three’s.
  • 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 327 career wins at Vanderbilt and 450 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’s win over the eighth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies on February 4 was the Commodores’ first win over a ranked opponent since March 11, 2012, in a win over #1-ranked Kentucky in the SEC Tournament Championship. It was Vanderbilt’s first win at Memorial Gym over a ranked opponent since defeating Florida on February 28, 2012 (77-67).
  • 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.

955
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 955 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.

Schedule Tough
The Commodores have faced nine teams in the top 25 of the current NCAA RPI (Kansas, 4th; Dayton, 12th; Kentucky, 16th; Purdue, 19th; Texas, 20th; Florida, 22nd; Texas A&M, 23rd; Baylor, 24th; South Carolina, 25th).

Block Party
Junior Luke Kornet is fifth in the nation in blocks at 3.0 blocks per game, and he has spurred the team to 136 blocks on the season (already 8th all-time team total in program history) and blocking 10 or shots in a game on three separate occasions. Damian Jones is second on the career blocks list with 158, and his 1.76 blocks per game career mark is the best in program history, while Kornet is fifth in the program’s history in career blocks per game (1.29) and sixth in total blocks (112).

About Auburn

  • Auburn enters the game with a 9-14 record and a 3-8 record in SEC play.
  • Tyler Harris leads the Tigers in scoring wth 14.3 points per game. T.J. Dunans also averages 12.4 points per game, with Cinmeon Bowers also averaging double digits (10.9).
  • The Tigers’ leading scorer, Kareem Canty, recently declared for the NBA draft. Canty averaged 18.3 points per game in 21 games.