April 28, 2016
Vanderbilt men’s basketball will compete in the 2016 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational with Arizona, Butler, Santa Clara, Northern Colorado, Bucknell, Norfolk State, and Sacred Heart November 24-25 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The Commodores return nine letter winners from the 2015-16 team that compiled a 19-14 overall record, an 11-7 mark in the Southeastern Conference, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Guard Matthew Fisher-Davis is Vanderbilt’s leading returning scorer after averaging 9.7 points per game and converting on an SEC-best 44.6% of his shots from beyond-the-arc, with fellow starters Jeff Roberson, who averaged 9.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and forward Luke Kornet, who added 9.3 rebounds and an all-time program single-season best 3.0 blocks per contest, also returning.
Vanderbilt welcomes new head coach Bryce Drew to the fold in 2016-17 after a successful five-year tenure with his alma mater, Valparaiso. Drew, a three-time Horizon League Coach of the Year and two-time NABC District 12 Coach of the Year, averaged 25 wins a season with the Crusaders, won four regular season championships, and made four postseason appearances, two in the NCAA Tournament and two in the NIT.
FOX Sports 1 presents coverage of four 2016 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational games played at Orleans Arena, televising two opening-round games on Thursday, Nov. 24, and the championship and consolation games on Friday, Nov. 25. FOX Sports runs all aspects of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational and Las Vegas Classic, ranging from ticket sales, sponsorships, and television production.
Always one of the top early season tournaments of the college basketball season, the past champions of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational reads like a “Who’s Who” of college basketball: Illinois (2005), Kansas (2006 and 2010), North Carolina (2007), Kentucky (2008) and Oklahoma State (2009). In the 2011 title game, UNLV upset #1 North Carolina 90-80. Creighton (2012), UCLA (2013), Illinois (2014) and last year’s 2015 Champion West Virginia.
Each team will play four games in the Invitational – the first two at on-campus sites and the final two rounds at the Orleans Arena November 24-25. Hosting more than 200 events each year, the Orleans Arena is located just west of the Las Vegas strip and was recently named the #1 mid-size arena in the USA by Venues Today magazine.