Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitter: LSU Tigers Edition

Here are some quick hitters for tonight's Commodores basketball game as they host the LSU Tigers to Memorial Gym.

Vanderbilt Basketball Quick Hitters

• The Commodores dropped to 8-13 overall and 0-8 in league play after a 61-55 loss to Florida at Memorial Gym Saturday night. Freshman Scotty Pippen Jr. tallied his 14th game in double figures with a team-high 15 points. Junior Saben Lee also contributed double figures with 11 points. Redshirt sophomore Ejike Obinna also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.

• 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 1,079 career points, and is 42nd all-time on the Vanderbilt scoring list.

• LSU will be the third ranked opponent for the Commodores this season, and their first at home. Vanderbilt is 94-238 all-time against ranked opponents and 64-78 at home, with the Commodores’ last ranked win coming against Florida on March 10, 2017, in the SEC Tournament.

• The Commodores’ Jordan Wright is from Baton Rouge, La., where he attended the Dunham School.

• Disu’s notched his third double-double against Kentucky at Rupp Arena. He 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 16.0 points and 4.5 assists per game, which ranks 6th and 5th in the SEC in all games, respectively. Lee is also sixth in field goal percentage (.473), eighth in total free throws made (84), eighth in total free throws attempted (113), 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, 3.9), free throws made (6th, 85), free throws attempted (8th, 113), and assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 1.42).

• The Commodores are a youthful bunch - in the last game against Florida, 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 (11.2) and Disu 14th (6.5 ppg) in scoring. Pippen is second in assists with 3.9/game. He is also the league’s leader in free throws made (85) and attempted (118) among all freshmen.

• In 21 games this season, Vanderbilt has used 10 different starting lineups.

• As a team, the Commodores are second in the SEC in threes made/game (8.2), and total threes (173). Vanderbilt has been to the charity stripe 481 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).

• 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, 62-55

Last Meeting: LSU - W, 80-59

March 19, 2019 - Baton Rouge, La.

At Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt leads, 34-17

Jerry Stackhouse vs. LSU: First meeting

LSU Series Records/Important Dates

• Vanderbilt leads the all-time series with Florida, 62-55. Vanderbilt owns a 34-17 advantage in games played at Vanderbilt.

• LSU won last year’s only meeting in Baton Rouge. After the Commodores reeled off seven consecutive wins from 2007-2012, LSU has won seven of the last nine.

• 2.2.91 - Vanderbilt knocked off No. 14 LSU at Memorial Gym. The Tiger team featured Shaquille O’Neal.

• 1.2.80 - The Commodores knocked off No. 4 LSU, 77-66 at Memorial Gym. Led by Mike Rhodes’ 19 second-half points, Vanderbilt (7-3) handed No. 4 LSU (9-1) its first loss of the season, upsetting the Tigers, 77-66. Rhodes’ performance included two rare dunks as the Commodores made 70.8 percent of their shots in the second half and scored 51 points.