Game 26: Mississippi State Bulldogs at Vanderbilt Commodores -- GameThread

Tonight, your Vanderbilt Commodores (9-16, 3-9 SEC) take a second crack at reaching double digits in the win column on what has to be the latest date within recent memory. Even the 2002-03 team, which finished the season 11-18, managed to notch its tenth win on February 1. They then lost nine in a row, including a 62-point loss at Kentucky, but who's counting? You have to go all the way back to 1984-85 to find the last time that Vanderbilt was sitting at nine wins on Valentine's Day, and that team picked up its tenth win of the season on February 16 with an 85-82 win over Tennessee. To put the 1984-85 season in perspective, that was the year before Frank Kornet, Barry Booker, and Barry Goheen enrolled at Vanderbilt.

So... yeah, this is a brutal season, but Vanderbilt's actually favored in this one. The Mississippi State Bulldogs are 18-7 and 6-6 in the SEC, but granted, we probably could have gone 12-1 against Mississippi State's nonconference schedule. (Thanks, Stallings.) Tonight's game will have an early tip at 6:00 PM CT, with coverage on the SEC Network and the WatchESPN app. Roy Philpott and Brooke Weisbrod will have the television call; if you prefer Joe Fisher's call, as always that one is on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Network.