NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt ended its nonconference schedule on the winning side of things with a 87-59 victory over visiting Alcorn State on Sunday at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Commodores (4-2) led by as many as 24 in the first half and cruised in the second half thanks to a balanced scoring attack.
Scotty Pippen Jr. led the way for Vandy with a career-high 30 points to along with four assists. Myles Stute made four 3s and finished with 16, Jordan Wright had 11 and DJ Harvey had 10 and four rebounds.
Vanderbilt (4-2) is now scheduled to open Southeastern Conference play at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Florida (3-1).
Vanderbilt made five of its first nine 3s Sunday and raced out to a 21-8 start. A 13-2 run highlighted that stretch in which the Commodores got scores from four different players.
Vandy kept launching from deep and the shots kept falling while Alcorn State went nearly five minutes without scoring. A Stute triple – this one from the top of the key at the 10:18 mark – made it a 27-8 game.
The Braves didn’t have too many answers from there.
A Maxwell Evans dunk with 4:43 to go in the half made it 33-13 and another Evans slam pushed the margin to 39-15. Pippen ended the half with a steal and slam to send the Dores into the break up 41-21.
Seven different Vanderbilt players scored in the first half, the Commodores made seven 3s and shot 53.1 percent from the field overall. Alcorn State was just 1 of 9 from distance, 9 of 30 overall and turned the ball over 12 times.
Alcorn State got within 50-32 and 52-34 early in the second half, but a Harvey 3 and a Dylan Disu fast-break dunk made it 57-34 with 12:45 to play. Stute’s third 3 of the night gave Vandy a 60-36 lead and virtually decided the Braves’ fate.
Jacoby Ross led Alcorn State (0-4) with 14 points.
Vanderbilt finished with 21 assists on 32 made baskets and shot 57.1 percent from the floor.
• Senior center Clevon Brown was unavailable to play for Vanderbilt on Sunday.
• Tyrin Lawrence, Disu, Pippen, Harvey and Issac McBride started Saturday’s game for the Commodores.
• Pippen, a sophomore, is now averaging 26 points, four assists and 8.75 made fields per game over the last four contests.
• Vanderbilt has now made at least four 3s in 21 consecutive games.
• The Commodores are now 3-0 all-time against Alcorn State and 11-0 against programs out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• Vandy is now 10-2 under head coach Jerry Stackhouse when scoring at least 80 points.
