Dores take on Alcorn State Friday

The Vanderbilt Commodores men’s basketball team returns to Memorial Gym on Friday evening to take on Alcorn State at 7 p.m. CT.  The game will be televised on SEC Network Plus, and Commodore fans can tune into the game on the Vanderbilt IMG Radio Network with Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson on WLAC 1510 AM and 98.3 FM, and online on vucommodores.com and the vucommodores app.

The Commodores improved to 2-0 on the young season with an 82-78 road win at USC on Sunday evening in Los Angeles.  Freshman guard Darius Garland led the team with 19 points, senior Joe Toye added 16 points and a career-best nine rebounds, freshman Simisola Shittu ended the game with 14 points and 15 rebounds, and fellow newcomer Aaron Nesmith finished with a career-high 10 points.

Bring Five Canned Goods, Receive Free Ticket
Fans can help those in need this holiday season and receive a free Commodore basketball ticket in the process.  Bring five canned goods to the Memorial Gym Practice Gym and receive a free ticket to the game.  

Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters

  • Garland has led the team in scoring in the Commodores’ first two games.
  • Shittu has garnered double-doubles in his first two contests as a collegian, and his 15 rebounds against USC was the most by a Commodore since Jeff Roberson had 16 rebounds against Minnesota on December 3, 2016 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
  • Garland is currently second in the SEC in scoring and Shittu is first in the league in rebounding.
  • 51.1% of the team’s scoring this season has come from Vanderbilt’s freshman class (Garland, Nesmith, Shittu).
  • The Commodores last started a season 2-0 in 2015-16 and won their first game on the road.  It marked Vanderbilt’s first season-opening road win since a 72-70 win over St. Mary’s on November 20, 2009.
  • Garland scored the most points by a Vanderbilt freshman in their collegiate debut since Phil Cox scored 30 against Duke in 1981.  He also tied Savion Flagg of Texas A&M for the most points scored for an SEC team in their opening game of the season.
  • Shittu’s double-double was the first by a Commodore freshman in a season opener since Ted Young tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds against Rice in 1979.
  • Garland has been named to the Naismith and Wooden Award Preseason Watch Lists, while Shittu was named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List, given to the nation’s top power forward.
  • Head coach Brycd Drew, now in his third 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. 
  • Redshirt sophomore forward Matthew Moyer, who transferred from Syracuse after the 2017-18 season, was granted immediate eligiblity by the NCAA this season.
  • Vanderbilt returns eight letterwinners and two starters from a year ago, with rising sophomore guard Saben Lee leading the way after averaging 10.6 points per game in 2017-18.  Senior Joe Toye, who has played significant minutes in his first three years with the Commodores, averaged 5.7 points per game.  Other returnees include sophomore Maxwell Evans, junior Clevon Brown, sophomore Ejike Obinna, and sophomore walk-on Isaiah Rice.
  • 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.  
  • Matthew Fisher-Davis, Riley LaChance and Jeff Roberson each departed Vanderbilt as 1,000-point scorers.  Each were four-year players for the Commodores who advanced to the postseason on three different occasions (2015 NIT, 2016 and 2017 NCAA Tournaments).  LaChance finished 15th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list with 1,476 points, Roberson 20th with 1,373 points, and Fisher-Davis 31st with 1,219 points.  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.  Fisher-Davis (Windy City Bulls) and Roberson (Maine Red Claws) are now playing in the NBA G League, while LaChance has taken his talents to play professionally in Poland.
  • Vanderbilt assistant coach Jake Diebler was named one of 30 assistant coaches to watch by The Athletic.

About Alcorn State

  • Alcorn State enters Friday’s game with a 1-1 record after defeating Blue Mountain, 79-55, on November 9.
  • This is the second consecutive season the two teams have met at Memorial Gym.
  • Maurice Howard leads the Braves in scoring with 16.0 points per game.  DeShaw Andrews (14.5 ppg), Reginal Johnson (14.0), and Jonathan Floyd (11.5) also average double figures.

Darius Garland in Rarefied Air
Most Points by Freshman in Debut, SEC Since 2010-11

Tremont Waters, LSU 27   11/10/17 vs. Alcorn
Terrence Jones, UK 25   11/12/10 vs. EastTn
Darius Garland, VU 24   11/6/18 vs. Win
Keldon Johnson, UK        23   11/6/18 vs. Duke
Frankie Hughes, Mizzou 23   11/13/16 vs. AlaA&M
Julius Randle, UK 23   11/8/13 vs. NC-Ash
Anthony Davis, UK           23   11/11/11 vs. Marist

Darius Garland is one of five major conference freshmen with 20+ Pts and 2+ Threes Made, Steals & Blocks in collegiate debut in the last 20 years (Since 1998-99).

Player Date, Opp Pts,3’s,Stls,Blocks
Darius Rice, Miami 11/18/00 vs Fla. At. 26,5,3,2
Kevin Durant, Texas 11/9/06 vs. Alcorn 20,3,3,2
Terrence Jones, UK 11/12/10 vs. ETSU 25,2,3,2
Ethan Thompson, Ore. St. 11/10/17 vs. So. Utah 20,2,2,3
Darius Garland, VU 11/6/18 vs. Winthrop 24,3,2,2

Three Commodores on NBA Rosters
Former Commodores Damian Jones, Luke Kornet, and Wade Baldwin IV are currently on NBA active rosters.  Jones is averaging 16.5 minutes and 5.7 points per game with the Golden State Warriors this season and has won two championships with the team in his three seasons in the Bay Area.  Kornet is averaging 3.3 minutes per game with the New York Knicks, and Baldwin is averaging 5.0 minutes per game with the Portland Trail Blazers.

NBA Pro Day
The Commodores held the program’s first NBA Pro Day on October 9 at Memorial Gym, with 29 of the NBA’s 30 teams represented and 54 total scouts in attendance.

Ryan, Wetzell return to action
Juniors Matt Ryan and Yanni Wetzell will return to action after sitting out last year due to NCAA transfer rules.  Ryan, who comes to Vanderbilt from Notre Dame, played in two NCAA Tournaments and 72 total games with the Fighting Irish, while Wetzell averaged 13.6 points per game in two seasons at Division II St. Mary’s in Texas.  Both have been good shooters from beyond-the-arc at their previous stops – Ryan is a career 39.8% from three, while Wetzell has made 42% of his attempts from downtown.  Ryan knocked down four threes in his Vanderbilt debut against Winthrop on November 6.

Three Point U
The Commodores are one of only three schools (UNLV and Princeton) to have made a three-point basket in every game since the inception of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.

With a made three against Alcorn State, Vanderbilt will move to 1,034 consecutive games with a three-pointer.

Commodores in 86th SEC Season
Vanderbilt is now in its 86th SEC season and is a charter member of the league.  All time against current members of the conference, Vanderbilt is 715-706.

Against the SWAC
The Commodores are 9-0 all time against the Southwestern Athletic Conference.