Middle Tennessee St. @ Vanderbilt preview
Memorial Gymnasium
Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2016 ) Vanderbilt 48, Middle Tennessee St. 71
Vanderbilt has played one of the most difficult early-season schedules in the nation, and it won’t get much of a break when it hosts in-state rival Middle Tennessee on Wednesday. The mid-major darling Blue Raiders have won three straight and are off to a 6-1 start.
The Commodores have dropped four of their last five, including an 84-79 home loss to Kansas State on Sunday, but three of their five defeats came against top-25 teams. "I think Vanderbilt's going to win a lot of games in the SEC, and we're looking forward to going over there," Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis told reporters. "I've watched them play four or five times, and they've had one of the toughest schedules in college basketball." The Blue Raiders are coming off an 81-76 win at Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday in which Nick King had a career night with 32 points and 11 rebounds. Vanderbilt has won 29 of the 35 all-time meetings – including all 16 at home – but Middle Tennessee has won two straight, including a 71-48 rout on its own court last season.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus
ABOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE (5-1): King, a graduate transfer from Alabama who began his career at Memphis who leads the team in scoring (24.3 points) and rebounding (6.8), has topped 20 points in five straight games. King is shooting 60.2 percent while frontcourt mate Brandon Walters (11.4 points, five rebounds) hits 57.9 percent, so the Blue Raiders don’t give up many possessions. Star guard Giddy Potts (10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds) scored 27 points in last year’s win against the Commodores.
ABOUT VANDERBILT (3-5): The Commodores have a trio of double-digit scorers in Matthew Fisher-Davis (11.3 points), Riley LaChance (12.6) and Jeff Roberson (14.4, 9.4 rebounds). Freshman guard Saben Lee (7.9 points) has shown signs of emerging as another dependable scorer, as he matched his career high with 19 points against Kansas State. A big part of the Commodores’ early struggles has been their 3-point shooting – they average 23 attempts from beyond the arc per game but are making just 31 percent of them.
TIP-INS
1. Vanderbilt has made a 3-pointer in all 1,007 games it has played since the advent of the shot at the start of the 1986-87 season.
2. Roberson’s five double-doubles are the most by a Commodore since Damian Jones recorded seven in 2015-16.
3. Middle Tennessee is 10-8 against Power Five teams since the start of the 2011-12 campaign, including two victories over Vanderbilt.
PREDICTION: Middle Tennessee 74, Vanderbilt 69