Feb. 22, 2013

Vanderbilt Gamenotes  | Mississippi State Gamenotes 

The Commodores continue their road swing this weekend when they travel to Starkville, Miss., to take on Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon. The game will tip at 12:47 p.m. CT, and televised regionally on the SEC Network, with the game also being heard on the Vanderbilt IMG College Radio Network in middle Tennessee and online at vucommodores.com.

The Commodores are coming off of a 74-70 loss at Kentucky on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.  Four Vanderbilt players scored in double figures against the Wildcats, with sophomore guard Kedren Johnson leading the way with 17 points and seven assists.  Junior Rod Odom added 16 points and made four three pointers, which tied a career high.  Odom has connected on eight threes in his last two games.

Game 26/VANDERBILT (10-15, 4-9) vs. MISS. STATE (7-18, 2-11)
Starkville, Miss. - Humphrey Coliseum - 12:47 p.m.
Radio:  Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent:  Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio:  Sirius 93, XM 199
TV:  SEC Network SEC Network Affiliates 
TV Talent:   Dave Baker (pxp), Jon Sunvold (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates:  @VandyMBB

Series Information
Series Record:  Vanderbilt leads the all-time series, 74-45.
Last Meeting:  MSU won the last meeting, 78-77, on 1/21/2012, at Memorial Gym.
Record at Vanderbilt:  VU leads 43-9.
Record at MSU:  Miss. St. leads 31-23
Record at Neutral Site:  VU leads 8-5
Coach Stallings vs. MSU:  Coach Stallings is 7-9 against Miss. State.

About Mississippi State and the Series

• Mississippi State enters the game with a 7-18 overall record and a 2-11 mark in SEC play.  
• The two teams will meet for the 120th time, with the Commodores holding a 74-45 overall advantage in the series.
• However, the Bulldogs own a 31-23 lead over Vanderbilt in games played in Starkville.
• The Bulldogs are led by Craig Sword, who averages 10.0 points per contest.
• Coach Stallings is 7-9 all-time against Missisippi State as a head coach, and got his first victory at Humphrey Coliseum in the Dores’ last trip to Starkville in 2011.  Before the league expanded to 14 teams, Stallings had won at every SEC venue, with the Hump being the last venue that he had not won.

Notes From Last Time Out Against Kentucky

• Four Commodores scored in double figures (Johnson, Odom, Fuller, Henderson) for the first time since a 73-61 win over Auburn on Jan. 23.
• The Commodores only had seven turnovers on the night.
• Kentucky outshot VU, 51.8% to 44.2%.
• Rod Odom tied a career-high with four made threes.  Odom has made eight threes in his last two games.
• Henderson tied his career high with 13 points.
• Kentucky outscored Vanderbilt, 38-24, in points in the paint.
• Kentucky outrebounded the Commodores, 36-30, including 11-9 on the offensive glass.
• Vanderbilt moved to 4-2 on the season when scoring 70 or more points, and 0-5 in games in which their opponent scores 70 or more.

Dores Three-Point Streak Still Intact

Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 857 consecutive games, a streak which began at the inception of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The Commodores rank second only to UNLV for the longest streak in Division I basketball.  Vanderbilt, UNLV and Princeton are the only three schools in college basketball to have made at least one 3-pointer in every game played since the 3-point line was implemented.

Last Meeting Vs. Miss. State

The Commodores got 21 points from John Jenkins and 19 points from Jeffery Taylor, but it was not enough as Mississippi State escaped from Memorial Gym with a 78-77 overtime win over Vanderbilt Saturday.  Lance Goulbourne added 12 points and Festus Ezeli chipped in his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

• Mississippi St. opened up the second half with an 18-2 run.
• John Jenkins hit a three-pointer with 33 seconds remaining to tie the game at 68 to help send things into overtime.
• Jeffery Taylor’s free throw at the 1:52 mark in OT gave Vanderbilt its first lead since MSU’s Renardo Sidney made a layup with 17:44 remaining in the second half to tie the game at 39.
• Vanderbilt’s 14 three-point buckets are the most against an SEC opponent since hitting 15 on March 5, 2008 versus Mississippi State.
• Mississippi State outrebounded Vanderbilt, 37-33, for the game and 12-5 on the offensive glass. 
• John Jenkins led the team in scoring with 21 points while Festus Ezeli had a team and career-high 14 rebounds.  Brad Tinsley’s five assists led all Vanderbilt players.

Close Losses in League Play

Of the nine league losses this season, one has gone to overtime (Ole Miss), two were by four points (Alabama, led by 11 with seven minutes to go, at Kentucky), one was by two points (Kentucky at home), and a pair of games by one point (at Tennessee, at LSU).

Odom Beginning to Come On

Junior forward Rod Odom scored a career-high 20 points and had three made threes in the Commodores’ one-point loss at LSU on February 6, and followed up that performance with a 15-point outing in the win over Arkansas on February 9.  Recently against Kentucky, he scored 16 points and tied a career-high with four threes.  In his last five games, he is averaging 15.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while making 13-of-28 threes over that time span (46.4%).  He has made eight threes in his last two games (8-15, 53.3%).

Wins/Losses Trends

In the Commodores’ 10 wins this season, Vanderbilt is averaging 68.1 ppg, is shooting 47.3% from the floor and 41.4% from three, while making 9.2 threes per contest.  Vanderbilt also has a +3.0 rebounding margin in the wins.  In losses, VU is averaging 53.9 ppg and is shooting only 37.6% from the floor and 31.7% from three.  The Commodores also have a -5.0 rebounding margin in the losses.

Defensive Excellence

The Commodores are only surrendering 62.2 points per game, which marks Vanderbilt’s best scoring defensive effort since 1950-51 (60.5 ppg).

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