NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Myles Stute scored a career-high 20 points as Vanderbilt cruised past visiting Mississippi Valley State 75-36 on Monday at Memorial Gymnasium.
Stute made the first bucket of the game for Vanderbilt, the last Vanderbilt shot of the first half and the first Vanderbilt field goal of the second half. His six 3-pointers set a career high, and the sophomore also pulled in six rebounds.
“I was really just out there hooping,” Stute said. “My teammates kept finding me and I just kept letting it go, finding myself in open spots, finding little gaps in the defense and I just kept shooting and it kept going in. It felt good today.”
Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 12 points to go along with his five assists and four boards.
Mississippi Valley State shot 20 percent. It was the first time since Dec. 2, 2015, that Vandy held an opponent to less than 25 percent shooting.
The Commodores (5-1) head back on the road this weekend to play at Southern Methodist (5-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Vanderbilt started Monday evening on a 12-5 run and got four buckets from four different Dores. Trey Thomas put Vandy ahead 20-12 with seven minutes to go in the half with a nifty baseline layup.
Mississippi Valley State made it 23-17 on Robert Carpenter’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:51 to go in the half. Stute answered that with a triple of his own 80 seconds later to put the Commodores ahead 26-17.
Vanderbilt shot just 32.1 percent in the first half and turned the ball over six times.
“I think we kind of eased into the game and let them feel comfortable,” Stute said. “That’s not what we wanted to do. So I think that second half we came out and just hit them a little harder. We got them to fold a little bit easier.”
The Commodores, however, put the game out of reach early in the second half with an 11-0 run. Stute hit three of his 3s in that span, while Tyrin Lawrence capped the outburst with a steal and an up-and-under layup.
Stute and Pippen, respectively, drained back-to-back triples to widen the gap to 45-18. The Delta Devils (0-4) had no answers the rest of the way.
Robert Carpenter led Mississippi Valley State with nine points.
“After a little bit of a sluggish start I thought we had a good second half. Our defense was really good in the first half again and that continued in the second half and we were able to pull away,” Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse said. “The ball was sticking again a little bit in the first half, but we got it moving. Stute has been sick the past the last couple days, hasn’t really been able to practice, glad he decided to show up. He was really good for us today.”
• Stute became the fourth Commodore this season to score 20 points in a single game (Pippen, Jordan Wright, Lawrence).
• Vandy last started a season 5-1 in 2019 and in 2018. It last began a season 6-1 in 2015.
• Vanderbilt is now 3-0 all-time against Mississippi Valley State
• The Commodores are now 13-0 against Southwestern Athletic Conference programs.
• Vanderbilt has forced at least 13 turnovers in all six games this season.
• Pippen is now 70 points from reaching 1,000 for his career.
• Wright has started 21 straight games for Vanderbilt.
• Thomas has played 31 straight games for the Commodores.
• Vanderbilt has now made at least two 3s in 45 straight games.
• Attendance on Monday was announced as 5,181.
