OXFORD, Miss. — Vanderbilt got 22 points and six assists from Scotty Pippen Jr. and survived a road test at Ole Miss with a 63-61 victory Saturday.
James White missed a runner at the buzzer for Ole Miss that would have sent the game into overtime, allowing Vandy to walk off the floor triumphant.
Jordan Wright finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Commodores. Liam Robbins came off the bench to score 12 points and collect six boards.
Vanderbilt (15-15) now turns its attention to the SEC Tournament in Tampa, Florida, where it will be the No. 11 seed and face 14th-seeded Georgia (6-25) at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at AMALIE Arena. Vandy beat Georgia twice during the regular season.
On Saturday at The Pavilion, both teams got off to a relatively slow start offensively. Vandy found itself in a 10-5 hole less than seven minutes into the game after an Austin Crowley layup.
Crowley’s floater from the left baseline put the Rebels up 22-15 at the 6:47 mark. A few minutes later, Crowley’s triple from the right corner allowed Ole Miss to enjoy a 27-17 lead.
Vanderbilt put together a 9-4 run right before halftime, but White hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the left corner for Ole Miss to make it 33-26 going into the break.
Pippen finished with 11 points and went 3 of 7 from the field. The rest of his team went 5-for-17.
Vandy put together a 9-2 run to begin the second half and tied the game at 35 on a Robbins shot that was goal-tended. Trey Thomas and Myles Stute, respectively, answered a pair of Ole Mis triples with 3s of their own to keep the game all square at 41 apiece.
Stute finally gave Vanderbilt the lead with a left-side 3 at 47-45. The Commodores wouldn’t score for another 3:51 until a Pippen steal and dunk gave Vandy a 49-47 lead.
Pippen’s 3 with 7:09 remaining gave the visitors a 54-49 lead. His shot-clock beating, bank-in triple with 4:21 to go gave the Commodores their largest lead at 60-53—a lead they would have to hold on to for dear life.
Crowley and Matthew Murrell each scored 15 to lead Ole Miss (13-18).
- Vanderbilt’s seven league wins is its most since winning 11 during the 2015-16 season.
- Vandy’s five road wins this season is the most since the 2016-17 campaign (5).
- Pippen has scored at least 20 points in seven straight games, since Dan Langhi scored at least 20 points in eight straight games in 1999.
- Pippen Jr. now is tied for the second-most made free throws (453) in Vanderbilt history. A.J. Ogilvy (first) made 471.
- Pippen Jr. has 616 points this season, the eighth-most in a single Vanderbilt season and the fourth-most by a junior in a single Vanderbilt season.
- Wright has now started 35 straight games for Vanderbilt.
- Thomas has now played in 55 straight games for the Commodores.
- Vanderbilt is now 3-11 this season when trailing at halftime and 14-7 when shooting at least 40 percent.
- The Commodores are now 78-48 all-time against the Rebels and 28-34 as the visiting team.
- Attendance on Saturday was announced as 6,173.
