Ready for Richmond, Radford

Battle Grounds

• This will mark the fifth all-time meeting between the Spiders and the Commodores. The program’s have split the previous four encounters. Vanderbilt won the first two meetings in 1977 and 1978, but Richmond has won the last two, including the 2011 NCAA Tournament matchup in Denver (69-66) and last year’s overtime game in the Virginia capitol (93-92).
• Vanderbilt is 27-13 all-time against Atlantic-10 opposition and went 1-1 against the conference last year with the road loss to Richmond and a 76-71 win over Davidson in its most recent matchup with the Atlantic-10. 
• In the only all-time meeting with Radford, Vanderbilt defeated the Highlanders 74-62 on Nov. 28, 2017. The Commodores are 13-0 all-time against Big South opponents.

Sunday Debriefing

• Vandy is coming off an 84-41 win over Mississippi Valley State on Sunday.
• The last time Vanderbilt held an opponent to less than 50 points was Dec. 20, 2017 in an 81-48 over Houston Baptist.
• Dylan Disu recorded his sixth career double-double which included a career-best 13 rebounds and five made 3s to go along with 17 points and no turnovers in 23 minutes. 
• Disu’s 13 rebounds were the most by a Commodore since Aaron Nesmith had 14 on Feb. 16, 2019.
• Freshman Tyrin Lawrence made the start in his first collegiate game.

Full Steam Ahead

• Vanderbilt is 2-0 for the third straight season. 
• Vanderbilt has made at least four 3s in 17 consecutive games.
• Vanderbilt has hit the 80-point mark in three of its last five games (3-0) and 11 times in the Jerry Stackhouse era with a 9-2 record in those games—the only two losses came in overtime, including 93-92 at Richmond last season.
• Vanderbilt won its fourth straight season opener and its 14th straight home opener.

Worth the Wait

• Vanderbilt’s season-opening date of Nov. 27 was the latest beginning to a season in 31 years. The Commodores began the 1989-90 season by facing Southern Methodist on the same Nov. 27 date. 
• Vanderbilt then had a 16-day wait until its second game of the season after four straight cancellations due to a positive COVID-19 result within the program.
• Following the long breaks, Vanderbilt is now scheduled to play four games in 10 days between Dec. 13-22. 

Super Sophomores 

• Disu is averaging 11.5 points and an SEC-best 12 rebounds through the first two games while Scotty Pippen Jr. is leading the team with 18 points (fifth in SEC) and five assists per game (second in SEC). 
• Pippen Jr. was named preseason All-SEC second team. 
• A product of Los Angeles, Pippen scored a career-high 25 points in the season opener against Valparaiso on Nov. 27. He was 14 of 14 from the free throw line and 5 of 11 from the field. 

Freshmen Five

• Vanderbilt welcomed five true freshmen to the fold for the 2020-21 season: Max Adelman, Lawrence, Akeem Odusipe, Myles Stute and Trey Thomas.
• Thomas and Stute made their collegiate debuts in the season opener. Thomas played six minutes and finished with two points on a pair of free throws while Stute buried a three and hauled in three rebounds in 17 minutes. 
• Lawrence made the start in his first collegiate game and finished with 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting to go along with four assists and four rebounds and just two turnovers in 25 minutes (second-most on team).
• Thomas, a Canadian native, was a late signee in July, while Adelman came to Nashville as a walk-on.

TV and Tip Times

• An SEC debut on ESPN2 and 16 league contests on the SEC Network highlight the television coverage for the Commodores during the 2020-21 season.
• The Commodores begin conference play at 8 p.m. Dec. 30 against Florida inside Memorial Gymnasium. That matchup will be televised by ESPN2.
• Sixteen of the next 17 conference games for Vanderbilt will be televised by the SEC Network. A Jan. 20 game against Texas A&M in Nashville is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and be televised by ESPNU.

Eligible Transfers

• Three Commodores are now eligible to play for Vandy this season: redshirt junior D.J. Harvey, freshman Issac McBride and junior Quentin Millora-Brown.
• Harvey, who began his career at Notre Dame, and Millora-Brown, who started his college career at Rice, were both with the program in 2019-20.
• McBride came to West End from Kansas in the spring.

NBA and the Lottery 

• Vanderbilt is the only program in the nation with back-to-back NBA lottery picks. Former Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland was drafted fifth overall by Cleveland in the 2019 NBA Draft and guard Aaron Nesmith was selected 14th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2020 draft. 
• Vanderbilt’s six first round picks since 2012 ranks second in the SEC.
• In the second round of the 2020 draft, Saben Lee was selected 38th overall by the Detroit Pistons. It marked the first time a pair of Vanderbilt players were selected in the NBA Draft since 2016. 
• Nesmith and Lee join Garland, Luke Kornet (Chicago), Simi Shittu (Chicago) and Damian Jones (Phoenix) as Commodores in the NBA.

New Recruits 

• Entering his second season on West End, head coach Jerry Stackhouse announced that Peyton Daniels and Gabe Dorsey signed their letters of intent to join the Vanderbilt men’s basketball program on Nov. 11.
• Daniels and Dorsey have each received four-star ratings, and are ranked as the sixth-best recruits in their respective states of Georgia and Pennsylvania. Daniels, a 6-foot-2 guard, was a first-team all-state selection at Tri-Cities (Ga.) last season, while Dorsey, a 6-foot-6 wing, set the career record for made threes at The Hill School as a junior.

Looking Astern: W, 84-41 vs. Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 13)

• It had been 16 days since Stackhouse’s squad had taken the floor. It certainly showed early Sunday in a game against Mississippi Valley State inside Memorial Gymnasium. Vanderbilt was down 15-9 with 11:27 to go in the first half, but the Commodores would end up pulling away for an 84-41 victory, their second victory in as many tries. A 25-2 start to the second half erased any doubt. Eleven of the 13 available Commodores who played scored and Disu finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth career double-double.

A Vandy Victory Would…

• … make the Commodores 3-0 for the second time in three seasons and first time under Coach Stackhouse.
• … be the fourth in a row at home, including the win over South Carolina in last year’s home finale.
• … be the first over Richmond since Nov. 25, 1978 (70-59 at Spider Invitational).
• … mark the second three-game winning streak under Stackhouse (Nov. 20-25, 2019). 

A Vandy Defeat Would…

• … be the third in a row to the Spiders.
• … be less good than a win.

On Deck

• Vanderbilt wraps up a three-game homestand when the Commodores welcome Radford on Dec. 19.
• The Commodores will play at Davidson on Dec. 22 and will begin conference play on national television with ESPN2 matchup on Dec. 30 against Florida.