Loading

Dores in Brooklyn for NIT Season Tip-Off

Nov. 22, 2017

Vanderbilt Gamenotes Get Acrobat Reader | Virginia Gamenotes Get Acrobat Reader

The Commodores travel to Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Barclays Center for the NIT Season Tip-Off and a match up with ACC power Virginia on Thanksgiving Day. Tip time is set for 3 p.m. CT, with the game airing live on ESPNU, on the radio with Phil Brame and Tim Thompson on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network, and online on vucommodores.com.

Vanderbilt dropped to 2-2 on the season on Sunday after losing an overtime contest to number-ten ranked USC, 93-89, at Memorial Gym. The Commodores were led by senior Matthew Fisher-Davis, who notched his second career 30-point game with 31 points while also adding 11 rebounds. Fellow senior Riley LaChance added a season-high 19 points, junior Larry Austin, Jr., pitched in a career-high 13 points, and senior Jeff Roberson scored 10 points for the Commodores.

Fisher-Davis’ 30-10 game was Vanderbilt’s first since A.J. Ogilvy in 2009 (33 and 10, at LSU, 3/4/09).

Vanderbilt shot their best percentage of the season against USC – 50.9%, and the Commodores also had season highs in three-point percentage (.478) and threes made (11).

Media Information
Vanderbilt (2-2) vs. RV/#25 Virginia (4-0)
Brooklyn, N.Y. – Barclays Center – 3:00 p.m.
TV: ESPNU
TV Talent: Mike Crispino (pxp), Laphonso Ellis (analyst)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Phil Brame (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 84, XM 84
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB

Series Information
Series Record: Vanderbilt leads 5-1.
Last Meeting: VU win, 61-48, on 12/12/95 in Charlottesville.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 4-0.
Record at UVA: Tied 1-1.
Record at Neutral Site: NA
Coach Drew vs. UVA: Coach Drew has never faced Virginia.

More information on the Virginia series

  • Virginia enters the game Thursday with a 4-0 record after wins over UNC Greensboro, Austin Peay, at VCU, and Monmouth.
  • Kyle Guy leads the Cavaliers in scoring, averaging 18.0 points per game. Devon Hall also adds double digit scoring with 11.5 points per game.
  • Vanderbilt owns a 5-1 overall record with Virginia, with the last meeting coming in a 61-48 Commodore win in Charlottesville.
  • Virginia was the first opponent for the Commodores at Memorial Gym on December 6, 1952, in a 90-83 Vanderbilt win.
  • This will be the first neutral court meeting between the two schools.

Vanderbilt Quick Hitters

  • Roberson began the season with three straight double-doubles, the first time a Commodore has had three straight double-doubles since Dan Langhi in 1998.
  • Roberson and Yante Maten of Georgia are tied for the SEC lead in double doubles so far in the 2017-18 season.
  • Vanderbilt will meet Virginia for the seventh time and for the first time on a neutral floor. The Commodores are 89-82 all-time against current members of the ACC.
  • The Commodores are 1-1 all-time at the Barclays Center. Vanderbilt played in the 2014 Legends Classic and lost to Rutgers (68-65) and defeated LaSalle (68-55). Fisher-Davis, LaChance, and Roberson each played in those games.
  • Freshman Saben Lee, who had five assists against UNC Asheville, leads the team in assists and has started the last two games.
  • 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 116 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.
  • Vanderbilt has an all-time record of 94-229 all time against ranked opponents and a 9-16 mark in neutral site games. Coach Drew is 4-3 against ranked opponents as the Commodore head coach.
  • 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.

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 242. 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 601 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.

1,003
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 1,003 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.