No. 16 MBB travels to Alabama Saturday

March 7, 2008

GAME AT A GLANCE

Last Game: Playing in his final home game, Shan Foster put on one of the greatest shooting performances in Vanderbilt history, finishing with 42 points including nine straight 3-pointers to lead the Commodores to a miraculous 86-85 overtime win over Mississippi State. Recap No. 16 Vanderbilt (25-5, 10-5 SEC) at Alabama (15-15, 4-11) Sat., March 8 at 1 p.m. CT Coleman Coliseum (15,316) Tuscaloosa, Ala. TELEVISION: Raycom Play-by-Play: Tom Hammond; Color: Joe Dean RADIO: 104.5 the Zone Play-by-Play: Joe Fisher; Color: Tim Thompson SIRIUS: Channel 122 SERIES INFORMATION Alabama leads the all-time series, 63-61. Alabama leads 42-18 in Tuscaloosa; VU leads 38-18 in Nashville; VU leads 5-3 on neutral floors. LAST MEETING Vanderbilt won 94-73 in Nashville on Jan. 17, 2007. COACHES Kevin Stallings is in his ninth year at Vanderbilt (169-113) and his 15th overall (292-176). Mark Gottfried is in his 13th season overall (264-146) and 11th with Alabama (196-122). UA TIDBITS Tide coach Mark Gottfried coached Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster this summer at the Pan Am Games; Gottfried was the USA’s assistant coach and Foster was a USA player… Alabama has outrebounded its opponent in each of its last five games… Out of the Tide’s 14 active players on the roster, ten have started at least once this season. Junior guard Alonzo Gee is the only Alabama player who has started in all 30 games… Saturday’s game will mark the final home appearance for four members of the Crimson Tide team, senior players Mykal Riley, John Dill and Kyle Sellers and co-head manager (the first female manager) Heather Mesalam. UA PLAYERS TO WATCH Junior forward Richard Hendrix was named 1st team All-District by the NABC this week. Hendrix continues to be the only player in the SEC to average a double double (17.9 ppg, 10.0 rpg). He also leads the league in rebounding. Sophomore forward Demetrius Jemison has been red hot in his last five games, shooting 60% from the field and 92% at the free throw line and has scored 53 points, including 19 last time he played at home (vs. Arkansas).

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SEC Quotes: Stallings and Gottfried Discuss Matchup

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NASHVILLE -The 16th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores will end their regular season Saturday when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for an interdivisional matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CST, and the game will be televised by Raycom Sports. Tom Hammond and Joe Dean will handle the call for Raycom, while Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson will call the action on the Vanderbilt-ISP Radio Network.

Saturday’s game with the Crimson Tide comes on the heels of Vanderbilt’s stunning, 86-85 win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night at Memorial Gym, a victory that pushed the Commodores to a perfect 19-0 this season at home and a school-record tying 25 regular season wins. Only the 1992-93 squad has posted as many regular season wins as this year’s team.

Vanderbilt led in the game against the Bulldogs for only a mere 37 seconds in the Commodores’ fourth overtime tilt of the season Wednesday night, but the group of four seniors, led by Shan Foster, would not allow VU to lose in the home season finale. Foster, the Commodores’ all-time leading scorer, poured in an SEC-single-season best 42 points against the Bulldogs, including a game-tying three in regulation and the game-winning three with 2.7 seconds to go in overtime. The 6’6 senior wing made nine consecutive threes after missing his first six three-point attempts, and scored the most points in a game for a Vanderbilt player since Tom Hagan tallied a school-best 44 points against Mississippi State on March 8, 1969. It tied Bo Wyenandt for the second-best single-game scoring output in Vanderbilt history; Wyenandt scored 42 points against Alabama on February 20, 1967.

The 19 wins at Memorial Gym is a new school record, and it marked the sixth time Vanderbilt has gone undefeated in a season at home. The Commodores also had perfect records at home in 1955-56, 1960-61, 1964-65, 1966-67, and 1992-93.

Vanderbilt has also now won 10 conference games for the second-straight year for the first time since the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons.

Vanderbilt and Alabama will meet for the 125th time on Saturday, with the Crimson Tide holding a 63-61 advantage in the series. Alabama leads 42-18 all-time in matchups in Tuscaloosa. The Commodores won the last meeting between the two schools, 94-73, in Nashville on January 17, 2007.

Commodore head coach Kevin Stallings is 6-4 all-time against Alabama and has posted a 1-3 record in Tuscaloosa, with the only win coming on February 18, 2004, when the Commodores won, 70-67.

Alabama enters the contest with a 15-15 overall record, and a 4-11 mark in SEC play.

Junior forward Richard Hendrix leads Alabama at 17.9 points per game and leads the SEC in rebounding with 10.0 rebounds per game. Guards Mykal Riley and Alonzo Gee also average double-digits at 14.1 and 14.5 points per game, respectively.

Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CST.

ALABAMA’S PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP