Jan. 15, 2018
Vanderbilt will hit the road for the first of two meetings with Mississippi State this Tuesday night at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss. The game begins at 6 p.m. CT, with the game airing live on the SEC Network, on the radio with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network, and online on vucommodores.com.
Vanderbilt dropped their last time out on Saturday against Kentucky at Memorial Gym in a 74-67 decision. Senior Jeff Roberson led the Commodores with 20 points, while freshman Saben Lee added 12 points.
Media Information
Vanderbilt (6-11, 1-4) vs. Mississippi State (13-4, 1-3)
Starkville, Miss. – Humphrey Coliseum – 6 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
TV Talent: Dave Neal (pxp), Daymeon Fishback (talent)
Radio: Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent: Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 138, XM 191
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates: @VandyMBB
Series Information
Series Record: VU leads, 78-48.
Last Meeting: VU win, 77-48, on 2/25/17 at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt: VU leads 46-9.
Record at Miss. St.: MSU leads 33-24.
Record at Neutral Site: VU leads 8-6.
Coach Drew vs. Miss. State: Coach Drew is 1-0 vs. Miss. State.
Roberson Leads Commodores
Jeff Roberson is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder in all games, averaging 15.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Roberson is second in the SEC in double doubles, fourth in the SEC in all games in rebounding, fifth in free throw percentage, and second in defensive rebounding. In league games only, he is tied for seventh in field goal percentage (.491), eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.423) and tied for ninth in three’s made (2.2).
Lee Leads All SEC Freshmen in League Play
In five league games, Lee is the conference’s leading freshman scorer with 17.2 points per game and 7th overall in league games only. He also ranks sixth in SEC-only field goal percentage (.519).
Commodores Have Played Most Ranked Opponents in SEC
The Commodores have already played six ranked opponents this season in USC (#10/#10), Virginia (RV/#25), Seton Hall (#20/#20), Arizona State (#5/#6), Tennessee (#24/#23), and Kentucky (#21/#20) the most in the SEC. The four ranked non-conference opponents is the most by a Commodore team since 1988, when Vanderbilt also played four (11/22 – # 2 Michigan, L, 66-91; 11/27 – #16 Ohio State, L, 82-97; 11/30 – #13 Louisville, W, 65-62; 12/7 – #8 North Carolina, L, 77-89).
More on Mississippi State
- Mississippi State enters the game Tuesday with a 13-4 overall record and a 1-3 mark in SEC play.
- Quinndary Weatherspoon leads the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging 14.4 points per game. Aric Holman (11.8) and Nick Weatherspoon (11.0) also average double digits.
- This will be the 190th meeting between the two schools, with Kentucky holding a 142-47 advantage in the series. The Wildcats are 53-27 all-time against the Commodores in games played on Vanderbilt’s campus.
- The two teams will meet twice this season. The Bulldogs will play at Memorial Gym on February 14.
A Commodore Win Would…
- Give Vanderbilt their first road win of the season. Vanderbilt won 5 league games on the road in 2016-17.
- Move the Commodores’ record to 2-4 in SEC play.
- Be Vanderbilt’s first win in Starkville since Feb. 13, 2013 (72-31).
Jeff Roberson: Mr Double-Double
Jeff Roberson has six double doubles on the season, the most in a season by a Commodore since Damian Jones had seven in the 2015-16 season. Seven is also the most by a Commodore since Will Perdue had 10 in his junior season (1986-87) and 16 in his senior season (1987-88).
Vanderbilt Quick Hitters
- Roberson eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier in his career with his 21-point game against Alcorn State. He joins two other 1,000-point scorers on this year’s roster – Riley LaChance and Matthew Fisher-Davis. There has been only one other class of Vanderbilt players to have three 1,000-point scorers – the vaunted “F Troop” – Butch Feher, Joe Ford, and Jeff Fosnes in 1976.
- Matthew Fisher Davis adds 11.9 points per game, Saben Lee averages 11.2 points, and Riley LaChance pitches in 10.9 points per game.
- Fisher-Davis has 1,219 points and LaChance has 1,212 career points, and are 29th and 30th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list, respectively, and are second and third among current players in SEC in scoring. Georgia’s Yante Maten is the conference’s current career leader.
- Fisher-Davis is 10th in the SEC in 3’s made with 2.2 in all games.
- LaChance, who has 368 career assists, is now 10th on Vanderbilt’s all-time assist list after surpassing Al McKinney against Florida. McKinney played from 1981-84 and finished his career with 351 career assists. Russell Lakey is ninth on the list with 369 assists.
- The Commodores have used nine different starting lineups this season, with their ninth coming against Kentucky (Lee, LaChance, Fisher-Davis, Roberson, Baptiste).
- The Commodores have already played six ranked opponents this season in USC (#10/#10), Virginia (RV/#25), Seton Hall (#20/#20), Arizona State (#5/#6), Tennessee (#24/#23), and Kentucky (#21/#20) the most in the SEC. The four ranked non-conference opponents is the most by a Commodore team since 1988, when Vanderbilt also played four (11/22 – # 2 Michigan, L, 66-91; 11/27 – #16 Ohio State, L, 82-97; 11/30 – #13 Louisville, W, 65-62; 12/7 – #8 North Carolina, L, 77-89).
- This season’s non-conference schedule features eight games against teams who played in the postseason a year ago. Five opponents, USC, 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. KenPom.com has Vanderbilt’s strength of schedule at 7 as of January 15.
- 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.
SEC Strength of Schedule
Here’s a look at KenPom’s strength of schedule among league teams (1/15).
1. Tennessee , 3
2. Texas A&M, 6
3. Vanderbilt, 7
4. Alabama, 11
5. Kentucky, 15
6. Florida, 16
7. Arkansas, 19
8. Georgia, 44
9. Missouri, 47
10. S. Carolina, 52
11. LSU, 74
12. Ole Miss, 88
13. Auburn, 96
14. Miss. St., 280
700th SEC Win
Vanderbilt is in its 85th SEC season and is a charter member of the league. All time against current members of the conference, Vanderbilt is 710-697.
1,016
Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 1,016 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.