Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters: Florida Gators Edition

The Gators invade Nashville as they visit Memorial Gym to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores.

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Commodores welcome the Florida Gators for one of two regular-season contests this season on Saturday evening at Memorial Gym. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. CT, with the game being aired live on the SEC Network. Commodore fans can also tune into the game on the Vanderbilt Learfield/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.

Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters

• The Commodores dropped to 8-12 overall and 0-7 in league play after a 71-62 loss to No. 13 Kentucky Wednesday night in Lexington, Ky. Junior Saben Lee led the Commodores with 21 points, his fifth game with 20 or more points in a game this season. Freshman Dylan Disu posted his third career double-double with 13 points and tied a career high with 11 rebounds, while also adding a career-high five blocks. Freshman Scotty Pippen Jr. added his 13th game in double figures this season with 12 points, and junior Maxwell Evans chipped in 10 points.

• Lee became the 49th player in Vanderbilt history to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier when he scored 14 points against Tennessee. He now has 1,068 career points, and is 43rd all-time on the Vanderbilt scoring list.

• Disu’s third double-double ranks second among all freshmen in the SEC in double-doubles (Trendon Watford first with four). He has the highest single-game total for a freshman in the league for steals (5, vs. Tulsa, 11.30.19) and blocks (5, vs. Kentucky, 1.29.20).

• Junior guard Saben Lee is the team’s scoring leader. He is averaging 16.2 points and 4.6 assists per game, which ranks 7th and 5th in the SEC in all games, respectively. Lee is also eighth in field goal percentage (.481), fifth in total free throws made (81), sixth in total free throws attempted (109), and eighth in steals/game (1.5).

• Lee claimed SEC Player of the Week honors earlier this season against Buffalo, and Scotty Pippen Jr. the league’s Freshman of the Week after Commodore wins over Austin Peay and South Carolina State, respectively, earlier this season.

• Scotty Pippen Jr. is ranked in the top 10 in the SEC in assists/game (9th, 4.0), free throws made (5th, 81), free throws attempted (7th, 107), and assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 1.49).

• The Commodores are a youthful bunch - in the last game against Kentucky, Vanderbilt started two true freshmen (Disu, Pippen Jr.), a redshirt sophomore (Obinna), and two juniors (Evans, Lee). True freshmen have accounted for 39% minutes played, and with Aaron Nesmith’s minutes taken away, freshmen have played 45% of minutes played. Disu, Jordan Wright, and Pippen Jr. have all scored in double figures in a game in at least one game. According to KenPom.com, Vanderbilt has 1.13 years of experience on its roster, which ranks 320th in Division I basketball.

• Among freshmen in the SEC in all games, Pippen Jr. ranks sixth (11.1) and Disu 13th (6.2 ppg) in scoring. Pippen is second in assists with 4.0/game. He is also the league’s leader in free throws made (78) and attempted (107) among all freshmen.

• In 20 games this season, Vanderbilt has used 10 different starting lineups.

• As a team, the Commodores are second in the SEC in threes made/game (8.4), and total threes (167). Vanderbilt has been to the charity stripe 461 times this season, which ranks 4th in the SEC.

• New head coach Jerry Stackhouse is the 28th men’s basketball coach in the history of Vanderbilt basketball. He is the first African American Commodore men’s basketball head coach and is one of two current African American head coaches in the Southeastern Conference (Cuonzo Martin, Missouri).

• The Commodores saw their streak of 1,080 consecutive games with a three pointer come to an end against Tennessee. Vanderbilt was one of only three schools (UNLV and Princeton) to have made a three-point basket since the inception of the three-point line in the 1986-87 season.

• It was announced before the Texas A&M game that Vanderbilt’s leading scorer Aaron Nesmith would be out indefinitely with a right foot injury. Prior to the injury, Nesmith led the SEC in scoring with 23.0 points per game and was fifth nationally. He also led the SEC and nation in 3FG/game with 4.29 and 3FG% at .522. He had also made an SEC-best 60 threes this season through 14 games. He also ranked eighth in free-throw percentage (.825) and field-goal percentage (.512) prior to his injury.

• Senior Clevon Brown is also out indefinitely after suffering a knee injury against Liberty on Dec. 14.

• The Commodores have had five first-round NBA Draft picks since 2012, the second-most in the SEC in that time span - Darius Garland (5th, Cleveland Cavaliers), Wade Baldwin IV (17th, Memphis Grizzlies), Damian Jones (30th, Golden State Warriors), and John Jenkins (23rd, Atlanta) and Festus Ezeli (30th, Golden State). Garland, Jones, and former standout Luke Kornet (Chicago Bulls) are all active players in the NBA.

Series Information

Series Record: Vanderbilt leads, 71-66

Last Meeting: Florida - W, 71-55

Feb. 27, 2019 - Nashville, Tenn.

At Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt leads, 44-17

Jerry Stackhouse vs. Florida: First meeting

Florida Series Records/Important Dates

• Vanderbilt leads the all-time series with Florida, 71-66. Vanderbilt owns a 44-17 advantage in games played at Vanderbilt.

• Florida won last year’s meeting at Memorial Gym. The win snapped a four-game Commodore winning streak against the Gators at home.

• 2.17.07 - The Commodores knock off No. 1 Florida, 83-70 at Memorial Gym. The Gators would go on to win the national championship that season.

• 1.21.17 - Vanderbilt knocked off the Gators, 73-71, in their second win over Florida that season. The Commodores would later go on to beat the Gators in an overtime classic in the SEC Tournament to notch their third win over Florida in 2017.