Feb. 15, 2016
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| Mississippi State Gamenotes
After defeating Auburn on Saturday on the Plains, Vanderbilt returns to the road to take on Mississippi State this Tuesday night in Starkville. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network, with all of the action also available on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Radio Network.
With the win over Auburn, Vanderbilt improves to 15-10 on the season and 7-5 in league play. The Commodores are 4-1 in their last five SEC games and 7-2 in their last nine league contests. The Commodores are tied with Kentucky and LSU for the best record in their last nine SEC games at 7-2.
Vanderbilt garnered their second true road win of the season against the Tigers and are now 2-7 in true road games. The Commodores outshot Auburn, 49.3% to 29.0%. It is the third time Vanderbilt has held an opponent to under 30% from the field this season, with the last game coming against Detroit on December 2, 2015 (16-70, 22.9%).
Junior Damian Jones led Vanderbilt with a game-high 17 points. He was 8-12 from the floor while also grabbing nine rebounds. Sophomore Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 16 points on the night. He was 6-10 from the field and 4-8 from three. Junior Nolan Cressler scored in double figures for the second time in three games with 11 points. He was 5-6 from the floor. Wade Baldwin IV tallied nine points, seven assists, and five rebounds.
Baldwin has dished out seven or more assists and is averaging 15.5 points per game in his last four games. He is second in the SEC in league games only in assists at 6.0 per game.
Game 26/ Vanderbilt (15-10, 7-5 SEC) vs. Mississippi State (10-14, 3-9 SEC)
Starkville, Miss. – Humphrey Coliseum – 8 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: John Saunders (pxp), Jon Sundvold (analyst), Kaylee Hartung (sidelines)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 145, XM 190
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 77-47.
Last Meeting: VU win, 66-56, on 3/4/16 in Starkville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads, 45-9.
Record at Miss. St.: MSU leads, 32-24.
Record at Neutral Site: VU leads, 8-6.
Coach Stallings vs. MSU: Coach Stallings is 11-11 vs. Miss. State.
Quick Hitters
- Nationally, Vanderbilt is tied for first in the nation with Gonzaga in 3FG% defense at 27.6%. Vanderbilt also ranks 5th in FG% defense (37.6%), and 15th in blocks (5.6). Individually, Luke Kornet is eighth in blocks (3.0)
- Vanderbilt ranks first in all games in the SEC in FG% defense (.376) and 3FG% defense (.276) and second in 3FG% (.388), and 3FG Made (8.4). In league games only, Vanderbilt is first in 3FG% defense (.282) and blocks (5.7), and second in 3FG’s made (8.4).
- Luke Kornet’s 10 blocks against Auburn in Nashville 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 all games in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (.452).
- 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 328 career wins at Vanderbilt and 451 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.
956
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 956 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. Junior Luke Kornet was also recently named to the CoSIDA All-District Three Academic Team.
Schedule Tough
The Commodores have faced nine teams in the top 31 of the current NCAA RPI (Kansas, 1st; Dayton, 12th; Kentucky, 14th; Purdue, 20th; Texas, 21st; Texas A&M, 25th; South Carolina, 26th; Baylor, 30th; Florida, 31st).
Block Party
Junior Luke Kornet is eighth in the nation in blocks at 2.95 blocks per game, and he has spurred the team to 140 blocks on the season (already 6th 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 159, and his 1.75 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 (1.34) and sixth in total blocks (114). Kornet’s 2015-16 total of 59 is fifth all-time in a single season by a VU player, while Jones’ 46 blocks is 10th.
About Mississippi State
- Mississippi State enters the game with a 10-14 overall record and a 3-9 record in SEC play after dropping a 66-57 decision to Georgia at home on Saturday.
- Gavin Ware is the team’s leader in scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg). Malik Newman (12.6), Craig Sword (12.4), and Quinndary Weatherspoon (11.2) also average double figures for the Bulldogs.
- The two teams met twice last season, with each team winning on their home floor.