Notes on DePaul game

by Barca Blog

Vanderbilt men's basketball will take on DePaul Saturday at 3 p.m. CT inside Memorial Gym. Fans can watch a free live webcast of the action on vucommodores.com and also get score updates on Twitter @VandyMBB.

Here are a couple of notes to get you ready for tip-off:

*Before the Missouri win, Coach Stallings mentioned that the Commodores needed to do a better job of rebounding. Coach got his wish as the 'Dores dominated the boards by outrebounding the Tigers' 47-26 Wednesday. The +21 rebounding margin was the best single-game margin since 2004 (VU outrebounded Appalachian State 55-32).

Prior to that contest, VU had lost the battle on the boards in four of their five games.

* With 18 points and 11 rebounds against Missouri, Jeffery Taylor became the first Commodore to post back-to-back double-doubles since Matt Freije did it in January of 2004.

*You can expect the polar opposite of Wednesday's fast-paced style of play. DePaul will try to slow down the pace of the game to limit possessions and keep it a low-scoring affair. The Blue Demons have a 5-1 record but score only 59.3 points per game on offense. How do they win? They've held their opponents to under 60 points in five of six games. That stat includes SEC power Tennessee, who beat the Blue Demons by four points, 57-53, in the Paradise Jam in November. It was the Vols' lowest scoring output of the season.

*DePaul forward/center Mac Koshwal will miss Saturday's game -- his fourth straight -- due to an injury to his left foot. Koshwal, a junior and team captain, has been a force in the middle for the Blue Demons during his career with 18 double-doubles. He was averaging 15.0 points and 13.0 rebounds in three games this season.

*Player to watch: senior guard Will Walker. Walker leads DePaul with 17.3 points per game. With Koshwal out, Walker has picked up his scoring in the last three games, averaging 22 points per game while shooting .500 (8-of-16) from behind the arc.

*Articles from Around the Web on today's matchup:
VUcommodores' official preview and notes
VU trying to work out kinks
Stallings wants 'Dores to hold lead
DePaul travels to Vanderbilt

*I'll close with the video of the day courtesy of Rob van Winkle. Since DePaul will try to slow things down today... let's look at some vintage turtle clips.

What's more disturbing: the lyrics to this song, the fans dancing along in the crowd, or how scary the real-life ninja turtles looked back in the day? I'll let you decide.