Tennessee Week

Battle Grounds

• This will be the 200th all-time meeting between these programs. Tennessee leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt, 124-75.
• Vanderbilt’s last win was Feb. 22, 2017, 67-56, in Knoxville.

Saturday Debrief

•  For the first time since the season opener, Maxwell Evans, Quentin Millora-Brown, Dylan Disu, Scotty Pippen Jr., and DJ Harvey made the start together. Vanderbilt has had six different starting lineup combination in nine games.
• Pippen became the first Commodore since 2000 with 8 or more assists in back-to-back games, and was the first Commodore since 2005 with 12 assists in a game (Mario Moore). He was also the first Commodore since Wade Baldwin IV in 2015 to record a double-double with points and assists.
• Senior center Clevon Brown (abdominal strain) was unavailable to play and has missed six games this season (four from injury and two due to medical reasons). Last year, he missed the final 23 games due to a knee injury. 
• Freshman Issac McBride (ankle) missed his second straight game, while walk-on Braelee Albert also missed his third straight game due to injury. 
• In all, Vanderbilt has had eight players miss a combined 21 games this season: Lawrence (1), Odusipe (1), McBride (2) Wright (2), Harvey (2), Albert (3), Stute (4), Brown (6).
• Dylan Disu: “Coach (Jerry Stackhouse) likes to call (the last five minutes) winning time and he’s 100 percent right. It is winning time. You have to lock in and not let any mistakes happen on defense or offense – no turnovers, no easy buckets, no defensive lapses. So I think us locking in come winning time, we’ll be able to get a lot of wins coming down the stretch.”

Ranking History

•  Vanderbilt’s last Top 25 win was against No. 18 LSU at Memorial Gymnasium, 99-90, on Feb. 5, 2020. It was Coach Stackhouse’s first career SEC victory.
•  Vanderbilt’s last Top 10 win was Feb. 4, 2016 against No. 8 Texas A&M—77-60 at Memorial Gymnasium.  
•  Vanderbilt has lost the last four against a ranked Tennessee team, dating back to an 85-76 road win on Jan. 27, 2010, and is 12-17 all-time against a ranked Tennessee.
•  Vanderbilt’s last win over a Top 10 Tennessee team was the victory over the top-ranked Volunteers on Feb. 26, 2008 at Memorial Gymnasium (72-69).

Full Steam Ahead

•  Vanderbilt has made at least four 3s in 24 consecutive games. The streak began immediately after the Commodores were held without a 3 against Tennessee on Jan. 25, 2020, ending a streak of 1,080 straight games with at least one made three.
• Vanderbilt has hit the 80-point mark 13 times in the Coach Stackhouse era with a 10-3 record in those games. The only loss in regulation was Jan. 9 against Mississippi State (84-81). 
• Vanderbilt is 0-4 on weekdays and 4-1 on the weekends. 
• Vanderbilt ranks second in the SEC with 10.0 made 3s per game and a .758 free throw percentage, and has the third-fewest turnovers in the league.

Moving Up the Ranks 

• Fifth-year senior Clevon Brown has 116 career blocks. That is tied with Julian Terrell for the sixth-most in a Vanderbilt career. A.J. Ogilvy is fifth with 145.

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 won its fourth straight season opener and its 14th straight home opener).
• 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.
• Vanderbilt played just six nonconference games­—its fewest since 1952-53 (the first season Memorial Gymnasium opened). At that time, Tulane and Georgia Tech were still in the SEC. 

Super Sophomores 

• Dylan Disu and Scotty Pippen Jr. are the only two Commodores to start every game this season, and have started the last 23 games together. Disu has started 40 straight games (the only game he has not started was the first game of his freshman year).
• Dylan Disu has recorded three double-doubles this season (eight for his career) and leads the SEC in
   Not only is Scotty Pippen Jr. second in the SEC with 22.0 points per game, he is also second in the league with 5.0 assists per game. He is one of just five players in the nation averaging more than 20.0 points and 5.0 assists per game.
• Pippen Jr., who was named preseason All-SEC second team, has scored at least 20+ points in five of eight games, and scored a career-high 30 against Alcorn State (Dec. 27). 
• He has tied or matched his career-high point total four times already this season. 
• Pippen is also now just one of five players in the nation this season to average over 20.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. 

Freshmen Five

• Vanderbilt welcomed five true freshmen to the fold for the 2020-21 season: Max Adelman, Tyrin Lawrence, Akeem Odusipe, Myles Stute and Trey Thomas. 
• Including McBride, Vandy freshmen have combined for nine starts this year: Lawrence (5), Stute (2), McBride (1) and Thomas (1).
• Thomas is second among freshmen in the SEC in 3-point percentage (.423), while Stute leads the Dores rookies with 22.5 minutes and 10.0 points per game.
• Lawrence made the start in his first collegiate game against Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 13) 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. 
• Thomas, a Canadian native, was a late signee in July, while Odusipe is a Nigerian native who prepped at Catholic in Knoxville. Adelman came to Nashville as a walk-on.

Eligible Transfers

• Three transfers became eligible to play for Vandy this season: redshirt junior D.J. Harvey, freshman Issac McBride and redshirt sophomore 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 and was granted a waiver to become immediately eligible.
• All three have started games this season: Millora-Brown (6), Harvey (6), McBride (1). 

Looking Astern

• Visiting Mississippi State shot 60.8 percent from the floor and escaped with an 84-81 victory over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday.
• Dylan Disu hit a 3 with six seconds to play to get it all the way down to a one-point game at 82-81.Vanderbilt got the ball back down 83-81 and had a final shot for a tie or the win, but turned the ball over in the backcourt. Cameron Matthews hit one of two free throws to seal the victory for the Bulldogs.
• Scotty Pippen Jr. led the Commodores with 18 points and 12 assists. 

A Vandy Victory Would…

• … be the second in the last three games against Top 25 opposition.
• … be Vanderbilt’s first win over the Volunteers since Feb. 22, 2017, 67-56, in Knoxville.

A Vandy Defeat Would…

• … snap a three-game losing streak.  
• … mark the third straight 0-4 start in SEC play. 
• … be less good than a win.

On Deck

•  Vanderbilt hosts Texas A&M at 6 p.m. Wednesday on ESPNU.