Nov. 16, 2017
Vanderbilt Gamenotes 
| UNC Asheville Gamenotes
The Commodores return home Friday to begin a two-games-in-three-days stretch at Memorial Gym when they face off against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. CT, with the game airing live on SEC Network Plus, on the radio with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network, and online on vucommodores.com.
Vanderbilt dropped to 1-1 on the season after losing to Belmont at the Curb Center, 69-60, on Monday evening. Senior Jeff Roberson led the Commodores with his second consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman Saben Lee led the team in scoring with 19 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Senior Riley LaChance also added 10 points, his 55th career game in double figures.
This will be Vanderbilt’s third meeting with UNC Asheville, with all of the previous meetings taking place at Memorial Gym. The Commodores are 3-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.
Canned Food Drive for Second Harvest Food Bank
Fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for the Second Harvest Food Bank on Friday. There will be donation bins set up at each entrance.
Media Information
Vanderbilt (1-1) vs. UNC Asheville (1-1)
Nashville, Tenn. – Memorial Gym – 7:00 p.m.
TV: SEC Network Plus
TV Talent: Kevin Ingram, Shan Foster
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads 3-0.
Last Meeting: VU win, 80-66, on Dec. 7, 1995 at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 3-0.
Record at UNCA: NA
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Drew vs. UNCA: Coach Drew has never faced UNC Asheville.
More information on the UNC Asheville series
- UNC Asheville enters Friday’s game with a 1-1 overall record and as the preseason favorite to win the Big South Conference after finishing the 2016-17 season with a 23-10 overall record and advancing to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament a year ago.
- Three starters and nine letterwinners return for the Bulldogs from last year’s team.
- Kevin Vannatta and Drew Rackley lead the Bulldogs in scoring this season, with each averaging 12.5 points per game. MaCio Teague and Raekwon Miller also average double figures with 10.5 points per game.
- 2016-17 leading scorer Ahmad Thomas, who averaged 18.0 points per game a year ago, comes into Friday’s game with a 9.5 scoring average after two games.
Vanderbilt Quick Hitters
- Roberson is looking for his third consecutive double-double Friday. The last Commodore to do that was Dan Langhi in 1998. (vs. Notre Dame (33 points, 10 rebounds) 11/21/1998; vs. Morehead State (18 points, 10 rebounds) 11/24/1998; vs. Ohio State (14 points, 17 rebounds) 11/28/1998)
- Commodore head coach Bryce Drew, now in his second season, led the Commodores to the NCAA Tournament in his first season in Nashville, marking the first time in the history of the program a first-year Vanderbilt coach led his team to the tournament. Overall, the Commodores made their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their first back-to-back appearances since making three consecutive tournaments from 2010-12.
- Vanderbilt has two 1,000-point scorers on their roster – Riley LaChance and Matthew Fisher-Davis, with Jeff Roberson 143 points away from the 1,000-point mark. LaChance is 2nd in the SEC in returning scorers while Fisher-Davis is third behind Georgia’s Yante Maten.
- This is the 115th year of Vanderbilt basketball, with the first season taking place in 1900-01. There were no teams in 1904-05 and 1905-06.
- Vanderbilt has now made a three-point basket in 1,001 straight games, a streak that stretches back to the implementation of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.
- The Commodores return eight letter winners and three of their top four scorers in 2017-18 that advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year – seniors Matthew Fisher-Davis (13.9), Jeff Roberson (10.8), and Riley LaChance (10.5). Junior Joe Toye, who started in 13 games a year ago, also returns after averaging 6.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. In all, Vanderbilt returns 70.5% of its scoring and six players who started at least one game in 2016-17.
- Vanderbilt had five top-25 wins, six top-50 victories and 11 top-100 RPI wins a year ago, the overall toughest strength of schedule and toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, and were the only SEC team to sweep Florida. The Commodores are tied for the second-most top 50 wins in SEC with Florida with six – only UK (8) had more.
- The Commodores played 11 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17 (Marquette, Bucknell, Butler, Minnesota, Middle Tennessee, Dayton, Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas, Iowa State, and South Carolina) and four teams in the 2017 Postseason NIT (Belmont, Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss). Twenty of Vanderbilt’s 34 games came against teams that advanced to the postseason. This season, nine of their potential games will be against teams who played in the postseason a year ago. Six possible opponents, USC, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Virginia, Kansas State, and Middle Tennessee, all played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, with NIT participant Belmont, 2017 NIT Champion TCU, and CollegeInsider.com Tournament team UNC Asheville also on the challenging slate.
- The Commodores have had five NBA Draft picks since 2012 – Wade Baldwin IV (17th, Memphis Grizzlies), Damian Jones (30th, Golden State Warriors), and John Jenkins (23rd, Atlanta), Festus Ezeli (30th, Golden State), and Jeffery Taylor (31st, Charlotte) in 2012.
- Vanderbilt welcomes six newcomers to the team in 2017-18 – true freshmen guards Saben Lee (6-2, 174, Tempe, Ariz.) and Maxwell Evans (6-2, 186, Houston, Texas), true freshman big man Ejike Obinna (6-10, 234, Enugu, Nigeria), redshirt sophomore transfers Matt Ryan (6-8, 209 forward, Notre Dame) and Yanni Wetzell (6-10, 235 forward/center, St. Mary’s (Texas)), and freshman walk-on guard Isaiah Rice (5-11, 189, Carmel, Ind.).
SEC Three-Point Leaders
Of the top 20 season 3 pt FG %’s in SEC history, Vanderbilt has 5 of them.
4. Billy McCaffrey (51.2%, 1993)
7. Barry Booker (50.0%, 1987)
T9. Riley LaChance (48.6%)
12. John Jenkins (48.3%, 2010)
16. Shan Foster (46.9%, 2008).
On the top 20 SEC career 3-point % list with at least 300 attempts, Vanderbilt has six guys.
2. Booker 46%
3. McCaffrey 44.6%
8. Scott Draud 43.8%
8. Jenkins 43.8%
14. Dan Cage 42.6%
19. Foster 42.1%
LaChance made threes at high clip in 2016-17
Riley LaChance, who played the point guard position in 2016-17 and will slide over to his more natural two-guard spot in his senior season, made 48.6% of his three-point attempts last year, which is the third-best in a single-season all-time for the Commodores – only Billy McCaffrey (51.2%, 1992-93) and Barry Booker (50%, 1986-87) have had better seasons from three. LaChance led the SEC in three-point shooting in 2016-17, and his three-point field goal percentage a year ago ties for the ninth-best in SEC history.
Career and Single-Season Lists
Matthew Fisher-Davis is 8th in 3’s made in a career with 234. Riley LaChance‘s 48.6% from three clip in 2016-17 is Vanderbilt’s 3rd-best all-time.
More Threes
Making threes is not a new thing for this year’s Commodore team. Combined in their career, current players have made 583 career threes.
700th SEC Win
Vanderbilt is in its 85th SEC season and is a charter member of the league. The Commodores won their 700th league game at Florida, and all time against current members of the conference, Vanderbilt is 709-693.
1,001
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 1,001 consecutive games, a streak which began at the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The Commodores rank third only to UNLV and Kentucky 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.