NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt got double-doubles from Jordan Wright and Quentin Millora-Brown on Tuesday and played stingy perimeter defense in a 70-62 victory over visiting Missouri in Memorial Gymnasium.
Wright finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Millora-Brown had 11 rebounds and 10 points. Scotty Pippen Jr., scored 19 points to go along with four assists, Myles Stute chipped in 11 and Rodney Chatman added 10.
Vanderbilt trailed 58-57 with 4:52 on the clock before getting seven free throws to get up by six points. Pippen’s off-balance runner with 1:27 left virtually iced the game at 66-58.
Missouri finished 5 of 25 from behind the 3-point line while Vandy went 24-for-35 from the charity stripe.
The Commodores (13-10, 5-6 SEC) next head to rival and No. 19-ranked Tennessee (16-6, 7-3 SEC) at 5 p.m. CT Saturday.
On Tuesday, Vanderbilt got off to a slow start defensively and went 4:05 without scoring at one point. Missouri was able to take advantage and build a 13-9 lead with 11:51 on the clock in the first stanza.
The Commodores scratched and clawed to their first lead of the game thanks to a Millora-Brown putback making it 17-16 with 6:33 on the clock. Missouri responded with a 6-1 run, but Vandy countered with an emphatic 9-0 spurt to take a 26-22 lead into the break.
Missouri went the final 4:21 of the half without a point and went 0-for-11 from distance in the first 20 minutes.
Vandy extended its lead to 32-24 on a Pippen layup on the early goings of the second half. Millora-Brown’s 10th rebound of the evening came on the offensive end and his kick-out pass to Pippen at the top of the key for 3 allowed the Dores to enjoy a 35-28 lead.
Missouri missed its first 15 3-pointers of the game before Trevon Brazile made on from the right corner with 13:23 to play, cutting the Tigers’ deficit to 38-33. Vandy scored the next five to build a 10-point lead as the clock crept under 12 minutes to play.
Shane Dezonie and Trey Thomas, respectively, knocked down back-to-back triples to keep Vandy’s lead at double digits.
The Tigers found a 13-3 run in their arsenal and cut the score to 52-21 with 7:18 to go. Pippen hit a long 3 before the end of the shot clock to give the home team a 57-55 advantage – and that set up the phrenetic final five minutes.
Javon Pickett (9-14, 3-7 SEC) led Missouri with 19 points.
- Vanderbilt’s five league wins is its most since the 2017-18 team won six.
- Vandy’s 13 wins is its most since the 2016-17 team won 19 games.
- Pippen Jr. (1,272) passed Jeff Turner (1,271) for 29th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list.
- Wright’s double-double was the sixth of his career.
- Millora-Brown’s double-double was the sixth of his career.
- Vanderbilt last had two double-doubles in the same game Feb. 16, 2019 against Auburn (Wright and Yanni Wetzel).
- The Commodores will try to win a third straight SEC game for the first since March of 2017 when they play at Tennessee on Saturday.
- Wright has now started 37 straight games for Vanderbilt.
- Thomas has now played in 48 straight games for the Commodores.
- Vanderbilt is now 11-2 when leading at halftime this season and 12-3 when shooting at least 40 percent from the field.
- The Commodores are now 7-8 all-time against Missouri and 6-2 as the home team in the series.
- Missouri had won four in a row in the series with Vandy’s last victory coming Feb. 10, 2016.
- Attendance on Saturday was announced as 6,406.
