Periscope: Vanderbilt vs. Mercer

by KingJamesIV on Dec 21, 2009 12:58 PM EST in Vanderbilt Commodores Basketball

Most casual Commodore fans will be in for a bit of a shock to learn that Mercer should actually be a very good litmus test for the current progress that the Dores have made over the past week.

Though they struggle defensively, Mercer is a competent offensive team. James Florence, their 6'1" PG is currently 8th in the country in scoring at 23.1 ppg, with games of 33, 23, 40, 32 and 25 under his belt already this season. In their last game against Piedmont, E.J. Kusnyer dropped 26 points on 8-10 shooting from 3 point range. As a team, their turnover percentage is low and they are a good rebounding team.

Mercer appears to be capable against good teams: They lost by 2 to Providence, by only 11 to a borderline Top 25 team in Georgia Tech (even out-rebounding the Yellow Jackets). Their biggest victory of the season came against D-III Fisk 110-45 (which certainly is padding some of the efficiency statistics below). Unfortunately for Bears fans, Vanderbilt is not Fisk.

Vanderbilt needs to continue to make slow, steady progress over these next games. They don't have to start proving that they can overachieve tonight. They just need to continue to get better to the point where they aren't underachieving by SEC play. Including tonight, they have four more games to do so. Likewise, Jermaine Beal needs to continue to play like he did against Tennessee State: 7 assists, 0 turnovers, and solid PG defense. When he struggles, so does the team (see: Illinois, Western Kentucky)

Efficiency Breakdown

Traditional Stats - Mercer Bears

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
James Florence	9	31.3	7.8	17.0	45.8	2.4	6.9	35.5	5.1	7.0	73.0	1.0	2.1	3.1	5.1	3.0	2.0	0.1	3.0	23.1
E.J. Kusnyer	9	25.6	4.2	10.1	41.8	3.8	8.9	42.5	1.2	1.7	73.3	1.7	1.9	3.6	0.6	1.1	0.8	0.2	2.4	13.4
Daniel Emerson	9	30.0	4.4	9.8	45.5	0.4	1.2	36.4	2.7	4.3	61.5	4.0	7.6	11.6	1.1	2.4	0.8	0.3	1.8	12.0
Jeff Smith	9	30.9	3.1	8.6	36.4	1.1	3.7	30.3	1.9	2.4	77.3	1.0	2.4	3.4	2.6	2.3	0.6	0.1	1.8	9.2
Brian Mills	9	23.3	3.2	5.2	61.7	0.4	1.3	33.3	1.1	1.3	83.3	2.6	3.4	6.0	1.6	2.2	0.6	0.3	2.7	8.0
Brandon Moore	9	18.2	2.6	4.7	54.8	0.1	0.3	33.3	1.4	2.3	61.9	1.9	2.0	3.9	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.2	2.0	6.7
Michael Jenkins	5	8.4	1.2	3.8	31.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.4	71.4	1.2	1.4	2.6	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.8	3.4
Ridas Pulkauninkas	9	8.8	0.8	2.9	26.9	0.2	2.1	10.5	0.2	0.6	40.0	0.4	0.8	1.2	0.6	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.7	2.0
Chris Smith	7	3.6	0.7	1.7	41.7	0.1	0.3	50.0	0.4	0.7	60.0	0.4	1.4	1.9	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.0	2.0
Tevin Swann	6	6.3	0.5	1.3	37.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.7	75.0	0.0	0.8	0.8	1.2	0.3	0.5	0.0	0.8	1.5
Mark Hall	9	11.2	0.3	2.2	15.0	0.3	2.0	16.7	0.4	0.4	100.0	0.4	0.6	1.0	1.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	1.6	1.4
Jake Gollon	7	4.9	0.7	1.4	50.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.9	1.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.4	1.4
David O`Shaughnessey	4	5.8	0.5	2.8	18.2	0.3	2.3	11.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.3	1.3
Marquisse Jackson	4	5.0	0.5	1.3	40.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.3
Brendan Walker	7	4.1	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.6	75.0	0.3	0.3	0.6	0.6	0.3	0.4	0.0	0.1	0.4

Stallings mentioned last night on the Call-In Show that the team had a great day of practice yesterday. Usually that bodes well for Vandy. Hopefully Commodore fans will enjoy a nice blowout victory of epic proportions, though I'll settle for around a 12-15 point victory, providing the team plays with passion.

Game Previews

Previewing Vanderbilt vs. Mercer | VandySports.com (Rivals - Premium)

Vanderbilt – Mercer Preview | VandyMania.com (Scout - Premium)

Vanderbilt Welcomes Mercer To Memorial Gym | VANDERBILT OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Vanderbilt men vs. Mercer: Game at a glance | The Tennessean

Make sure to reserve about an hour for the Tennessean's preview. Classic example of density. Another impressive example of the Tennessean's exemplary record of outstanding Vanderbilt coverage.

As always, the open game thread will go live about an hour before tipoff. Don't forget to swing by Stat King to make your selection for the game. You could win yourself one of these: