March 5, 2013

Vanderbilt Gamenotes | Florida Gamenotes 

The Commodores, who currently own the SEC's longest win streak, travel to #11/9 Florida this Wednesday night in their last regular season road trip of the year.  The game will tip at 7 p.m. CT from the O'Connell Center, 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.

Game 29/VANDERBILT (13-15, 7-9) vs. #11/9 FLORIDA (23-5, 13-3)
Gainesville, Fla. - O’Connell Center - 7 p.m. CT
Radio:  Vanderbilt Radio Network from IMG College, vucommodores.com
Radio Talent:  Joe Fisher (pxp), Tim Thompson (analyst)
Satellite Radio:  Sirius 123, XM 190
TV:  SEC Network SEC Network Affiliates 
TV Talent:   Dave Neal (pxp), Barry Booker (analyst)
Live Stats: vucommodores.com
Twitter Updates:  @VandyMBB

Series Information
Series Record:  Vanderbilt leads the all-time series, 64-60.
Last Meeting:  Vanderbilt won the last meeting, 77-67, at Memorial Gym on 2/28/12.
Record at Vanderbilt:  VU leads 41-14.
Record at Florida:  VU leads 40-21.
Record at Neutral Site:  UF leads 6-2.
Coach Stallings vs. Florida:  Coach Stallings is 8-21 against Florida.

About Florida and the Series

• Florida enters the game Wednesday night with a 23-5 overall record and a 13-3 mark in SEC play.  
• Four players average double figures for the Gators - Mike Rosario (12.9), Kenny Boynton (12.5), Erik Murphy (12.4), and Patric Young (10.4).
• The Commodores lead the all-time series, 64-60, but the Gators lead the series in games played in Gainesville, 40-21.
• Coach Stallings has an 8-21 record all-time against Auburn, and a 2-11 mark against the Gators in games played at Florida.
• This is the lone regular season meeting between the two schools, the first time since 1965-66 that there has only been one regular season meeting. 

Vanderbilt's Last Time Out

Vanderbilt claimed its third win in a row and its fourth in five games after a 62-55 win over Auburn on Saturday.  Kedren Johnson led the team with 16 points, Kevin Bright added 14, and Josh Henderson scored 11.  The Commodores carry the current longest winning streak in the SEC heading into the midweek games.

• Three Commodores scored in double-figures, which marks the 14th time this season that has occurred.  Kedren Johnson led VU with 16 points, Kevin Bright scored 14, and Josh Henderson added 11.
• Vanderbilt held Auburn to 17 first-half points, which ties an opponent season low.  The Commodores also held Mississippi State and UTEP to 17 points in the first half.
• The Commodores shot only 32.7% from the floor, and made 38.5% of its attempts from three.  Vanderbilt made 20-31 free throw attempts for a 64.5%.  The 31 free throw attempts is the second-most by Vanderbilt this season.
• The Commodores outrebounded Auburn, 39-36.  Vanderbilt moves to 9-3 on the season when outrebounding their opponent.
• Vanderbilt led 26-17 at the half and the Commodores are now 11-2 when leading at the half this season.
• The Commodores were 10-26 from three for the game.  It is the eighth time this season Vanderbilt has made 10 or more threes, and the fourth time in the last five games VU has made 10 or more.  
• Kedren Johnson led the team with 16 points.  He was 10-for-15 from the free throw line, tied a career-high with eight assists and had five rebounds.
• Kevin Bright tallied 14 points, and made four threes.  He led the team with eight rebounds.
• Josh Henderson added 11 points, his seventh double-figure game of the season.  Vanderbilt is 5-2 in those games.
• Vanderbilt only connected on 16 made field goals in the game, but had 12 assists.  The field goal total tied a season-low in a Commodore win (at South Carolina).

'Dores Three-Point Streak Still Intact

Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in 860 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.

Gators Third Ranked Opponent This Season

Florida will be the Commodores' third ranked opponent this season, with Vanderbilt being 0-2 in the previous two meetings.  Vanderbilt dropped a 68-49 decision to #18/21 Butler at Memorial Gym on December 29, and lost 81-59 at #22 Missouri on January 26.

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).

Matchup Of Threes

43.6% of Vanderbilt’s attempts from the floor are threes, which ranks eighth out of 347 Division I teams.  39.1% of the team’s total points comes off of threes, which ranks first nationally.  UF leads the league in threes made (8.5) and attempted (22.4), with the Commodores second in both categories (7.9 makes, 22 attempts per game).

Commodore Three-Point Success

The Commodores have made 10 or more threes in its last three of its four games, and have made 10 or more in eight games this year.

Bright Wins SEC Freshman of the Week

Freshman Kevin Bright captured SEC Freshman of the Week honors from the SEC on Monday after averaging 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two Vanderbilt victories last week.  It is Bright’s second SEC weekly honor of the season.  He was 8-14 from the floor for the week (.571), and 7-12 from three (.583), with his only two-point basket a game winner against Georgia with 0.8 seconds remaining to give the Commodores a 63-62 win.  In his last three games, Bright has converted on 12 of his 18 three-point opportunities, which is a 66.7 percent clip.

Defensive Excellence

The Commodores are only surrendering 59.6 points per game, which marks Vanderbilt’s best scoring defensive effort since 1950-51 (60.5 ppg).

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