Auburn Travels to Vanderbilt Tonight in Hopes of Earning First SEC win

Jared Harper (1) taking a shot against Georgia on December 29 (Photo: Auburn Athletics/Dakota Sumpter)
Auburn Men’s Basketball opens the 2017 portion of their schedule on the road Wednesday night at Vanderbilt. The Tigers look to not only pick up their first conference win of the season, but to snap a 12-game losing streak to the Commodores, and to earn their first win inside Memorial Gymnasium since 2000. In their last game, Auburn held a lead as large as 13 points on Thursday at home against Georgia. However, the Bulldogs took a lead and ultimately pulled away late in the game to defeat Auburn, 96-84. Georgia stars Yante Maten and J.J. Frazier combined to score 58 points in the win. Four Tigers had double-digit scoring nights, including Mustapha Heron. The freshman has scored at least 10 points in each game that he has played in his Auburn career (13), and is one double-figure scoring outing away from tying the Auburn record that was set by Wesley Person. Vanderbilt enters the contest with a 1-0 record following a 96-89 win at LSU on December 29. Vanderbilt was led by Riley LaChance’s 24 points and five assists. Not far behind LaChance, was Matthew Fisher-Davis’ 23 points. The Commodores shot 50% (16-32) from beyond the three-point line. Vanderbilt has three starters who average double-digit scoring per contest, Luke Kornet, and Jeff Roberson joins Fisher-Davis in that regard. Roberson leads the team in rebounds with 7.7 per game. Vanderbilt is 7-6 on the year with one win in conference play. Their key wins over LSU, Chattanooga, and Belmont have contributed to Vanderbilt’s ranking of 60 in the RPI. Auburn is projected to start Danjel Purifoy at forward, Austin Wiley at center, with Jared Harper, Mustapha Heron, and T.J. Lang get the nod at guard. Auburn faces Vanderbilt tonight at 6 P.M. at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.