ABOUT VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt (9-8, 0-5 SEC) has had a slow start to conference play, dropping its first five games. The Commodores were tasked with facing three ranked teams during their opening stretch, with a fourth coming against the Vols. Despite its conference record, Bryce Drew’s team does boast wins against Arizona State and USC. When playing in Memorial Gymnasium, VU is 8-4 on the year and will be playing in front a sold-out crowd Wednesday night.
Freshman forward Simisola Shittu was a five- star prospect coming out of high school and has performed like one since arriving on campus. He leads Vanderbilt in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) while ranking second in assists (2.1 apg), blocks (0.7 bpg) and steals (0.7 spg). He has three 20-point games this season and is shooting at a 50-percent clip from the field.
At the beginning of the year, the Commodores had one of the best backcourt duos in the country in five-star freshman Darius Garland and sophomore guard Saben Lee. Unfortunately, Garland, who was averaging 16 points per game, went down with an injury early in the season. Lee (12.4 ppg, 3.5 apg, 0.9 spg) has stepped up in Garland’s absence. A year ago, Lee had 29 starts as a true freshman and is now one of the most experienced players on the roster.
Vanderbilt also has a trio of sharpshooters that can hit from deep in Matt Ryan (38 3-pointers), Aaron Nesmith (26) and Joe Toye (24), accounting for 67 percent of VU’s total 3-pointers for the season. If they have the hot hand early, it could open up the paint for Shittu and create options for the Commodores.