No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. Vanderbilt Commodores Preview, How to Watch

No. 1 Auburn Tigers (21-2, 9-1 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt Commodores (17-6, 5-5 SEC)
February 11, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Memorial Gymnasium (14,316) | Nashville, Tenn.

Television: SEC Network
Play-By-Play: Roy Philpott
Color Analyst: Daymeon Fishback

Radio: Auburn Sports Network
Play-By-Play: Andy Burcham
Color Analyst: Randall Dickey

» A challenging two-game SEC road swing begins in the Music City as top-ranked Auburn (21-2, 9-1 SEC) battles Vanderbilt (17-6, 5-5 SEC) on Tuesday night at Memorial Gymnasium.

» For a school-record, fifth-straight week, the Tigers remain the No. 1 team in the land in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll. They received 34 of the 61 first-place votes. In this week’s ESPN Coaches Top 25 Poll, Auburn was ranked No. 2 with 16 first-place votes behind Alabama (15 first-place votes).

» Auburn enters the week tied with Alabama on top of the SEC standings with matching 9-1 records. Both teams are on the road Tuesday night (Alabama at Texas) before the two in-state rivals meet in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

» AU and Alabama are the only two remaining teams that are undefeated on the road in SEC play with 5-0 marks.

» Tuesday’s game at Vandy (No. 42 in NET) is a Quad 1 opportunity for AU, which is No. 1 in the NET Rankings and leads the country with 12 Quad 1 wins, four more than any other team.

» Senior guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara is 16 points away from recording his 1,000th career point in his NCAA Division I career. He previously played at Duquesne (2020-21) and San Diego State (2021-22).

» The Tigers will have a lot of “Road Witnesses” on hand with the Greater Nashville AU Club in attendance. Nashville is affectionately nicknamed “Auburn North” – one of the largest alumni fanbases in the Southeast next to Atlanta and Birmingham.

» Auburn is 13-0 this season against unranked opponents winning by an average margin of 26.0 points per game.

THE COMMODORES AT-A-GLANCE

» Vanderbilt is 12-1 inside Memorial Gymnasium this season with victories over No. 6 Tennessee (76-75) and No. 9 Kentucky (74-69).

» VU ranks sixth in the country in turnover margin (5.3) and 13th in steals (9.5). The Commodores have forced 15+ turnovers 15 times this season. Vanderbilt is also 19th nationally with a 13.9 percent turnover rate.

» Eleven players joined Vanderbilt’s roster via the transfer portal under first-year head coach Mark Byington, who previously coached at James Madison, Georgia Southern and College of Charleston (interim head coach).

» Vandy has already surpassed its overall wins and SEC wins marks from a year ago.

» Vanderbilt has four of its players scoring in double figures – all transfers in their first season led by North Texas transfer Jason Edwards averaging 17.6 points per game, which is sixth most in the SEC.

» Teammates Devin McGlockton (11.3 ppg), A.J. Hoggard (10.6 ppg) and Tyler Nickel (10.3 ppg) are also averaging double figures. Hoggard played four seasons under Tom Izzo at Michigan State and is one of four SEC players with over 100 assists this season.

SERIES HISTORY

» Vanderbilt leads 90-58 in the all-time series with Auburn. However, the Tigers have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two schools including an 81-54 victory last season on Jan. 31, 2024 at Neville Arena.

» Prior to 2018, Vanderbilt had won 13-straight games in the series, which tied the longest winning streak by either team in series history, matching the Commodores’ streak from 1933-40.

» Vandy leads 52-20 all-time in games played at Vanderbilt including 39-16 at Memorial Gym.

AUBURN-VANDERBILT SERIES (Last Eight Games)

Feb. 3, 2018 H W, 93-81
Feb. 16, 2019 A W, 64-53
Jan. 8, 2020 H W, 83-79
Feb. 9, 2021 A W, 73-67
Feb. 16, 2022 H W, 94-80
Feb. 18, 2023 A L, 65-67
Jan. 17, 2024 A W, 80-65
Jan. 31, 2024 H W, 81-54

COACHING SIDEBARS

» Bruce Pearl is 15-9 lifetime versus Vanderbilt including 7-5 as the head coach at Auburn. He is 9-2 at home and 6-7 at Memorial Gymnasium (3-4 during his time on the Plains).

» Coach Pearl is 2-0 against Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington. Both games came while Byington was coaching Georgia Southern and Pearl leading Auburn. The Tigers beat the Eagles, 92-62, on Nov. 20, 2015, and 83-74 on Nov. 5, 2019. Both games were played at Neville Arena.

TIGERS NEARING DOUBLE-DIGIT SEC WINS

» With one more win, Auburn would reach double-digit SEC wins for the 24th time in program history including the seventh occasion in the last eight seasons.

» Of the Tigers’ five seasons with at least 13 SEC wins, three have occurred since 2018.

PLAYER TO WATCH: MILES KELLY

» Senior guard Miles Kelly registered a season-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers, to go with three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal against No. 6 Florida on Feb. 8. It marked his 62nd career game in double figures and 13th of the season. Kelly also went over 1,300 career points on the afternoon, finishing with 1,312 points to date.

» He has had some of his best games of the season on the road – 14 points (5-7 FG%, 4-5 3PT%) at No. 9 Duke on Dec. 4, 18 points (4-6 3PT%) at Texas on Jan. 7 and at No. 23 Ole Miss (4-8 FG%, 3-6 3PT%).

» Kelly currently ranks 15th among SEC players in 3-point field goals made (52) averaging 2.26 per contest.