NASHVILLE Tenn. — Vanderbilt made 12 3-pointers Saturday and eased past visiting Georgia 85-77 at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Commodores (11-9, 3-5 SEC) completed a regular-season sweep of a Southeastern Conference opponent for the first time since 2017, snapping a three-game losing skid.
Scotty Pippen Jr. led four Dores in double figures with 23 points and nine assists. Jordan Wright added 15, Rodney Chatman scored 12 and Myles Stute chipped in 11. The Commodores racked up 17 assists on 28 made shots.
Vanderbilt goes back on the road next week to play at No. 12 Kentucky (17-4, 6-2 SEC) at 6 p.m. CT Wednesday.
The Dores came out sharp Saturday. They took a commanding 18-9 lead that forced a Georgia timeout after Chatman hit a one-handed runner from the left side of the lane. Trey Thomas came off the bench a few minutes later and drained a long 3 to put the Commodores ahead 24-16 with 9:40 on the clock.
Pippen’s long 3-pointer from straightaway made it a 32-23 game, and the junior followed that bucket with three made free throws to give the Commodores a 12-point advantage.
Georgia built some momentum and got within six points just before the half, but Chatman buried a left-corner triple to make it 43-34. Tyrin Lawrence’s buzzer-beater made it a 46-36 game at the break.
Vanderbilt shot 63 percent and recorded 10 assists on 17 made field goals.
Vandy took a 59-44 lead with a little less than 15 minutes to go when Pippen slipped a pass to Quentin Millora-Brown for a dunk that turned into a three-point play. Four minutes later, Stute sank Vanderbilt’s 11th 3-pointer of the night to put the home team ahead 65-47.
Noah Baumann made a long 3 with 8 1/2 minutes to play to get Georgia within 65-57, but that would be as close as the visitors would get down the stretch.
Braelen Bridges scored 14 points to lead Georgia (6-15, 1-7 SEC).
- Chatman, a senior guard, started Saturday’s game for the Commodores after missing the previous five contests with an injury.
- Pippen Jr. (1,213) is now 33rd on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list. Matthew Fisher-Davis (1,219) is 32nd.
- Pippen is now eighth in Vanderbilt history with 379 made free throws. Kevin Anglin (415) is seventh.
- Vandy is now 94-55 all-time against Georgia and 50-13 as the home team.
- The Commodores are now 8-2 this season when leading at halftime, 7-0 when scoring 75 points or more and 10-2 when shooting at least 40 percent from the field.
- Thomas has played in 45 straight games for the Commodores.
- Wright has started 35 straight games for Vanderbilt.
- Attendance on Saturday was announced as 6,887.
