NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Scotty Pippen Jr. joined Vanderbilt’s 1,000-point club, and Quentin Millora-Brown powered his way to a double-double as Vandy beat Austin Peay 77-51 on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.
Pippen, whose 3-pointer in the first half gave him 1,001 career points at the time, finished with 16 points to lead the Commodores. Millora-Brown had 14 rebounds—two away from his career high—and 13 points for his first double-double at Vandy.
Vanderbilt led for all but the first 11 seconds and saw 11 student-athletes score. The team shot 45.2 percent on the day and recorded 13 assists.
The Commodores (6-4) depart for Hawaii on Sunday to take part in the Diamond Head Classic. They are scheduled to face Hawaii (4-3) at 11 p.m. CT Wednesday in Honolulu.
“I thought that was a really good win for us,” Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse said. “I thought our guys came out with a lot of energy early on and competed. They went to a little bit of a zone in the second half, but we figured it out, was able to knock some open 3s down – the magic number of somewhere around 11 or 12 3s? We were able to get that tonight. And I thought we defended the 3 pretty well tonight as well.
“(Millora-Brown) was awesome. He was absolutely awesome. I’m just supper proud of who is and how he’s gotten better and better and worked his butt off to become the player that he’s showing right now. He was dominant on the boards, had a couple blocks, had offensive rebounds giving us second-chance opportunities. He did a lot of good things for us.”
Vanderbilt was sharp at the outset, making four of its first nine shots en route to an 11-2 lead. A Rodney Chatman layup put the Dores ahead 11 in less than 6 1/2 minutes.
Shane Dezonie’s steal and layup made it a 23-10 game before another Pippen bucket gave Vandy a 25-10 lead. Millora-Brown scored back-to-back buckets minutes later to make it a 31-12 lead for the home team.
Austin Peay put together a 9-0 run while Vanderbilt went exactly three minutes without a point, and the Governors got within 10 points at 33-23. But Pippen ended the half with a steal and dunk to give the Commodores a 37-23 lead.
Vandy shot 44.1 percent from the field and forced Austin Peay into eight turnovers in the first half.
“I think it was really our defense,” Pippen said of the fast start. “We had a different gameplay going into this game to try to limit their 3s. I think that just fueled our offense.”
After the break, Jordan Wright hit Vanderbilt’s first bucket of the second half, a left-corner 3 to give the Commodores a 40-25 lead. Pippen, after a Millora-Brown offensive rebound, hit a right-wing 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 43-25.
Trey Thomas got into the scoring column with a 3-pointer from the left corner that put Vanderbilt ahead 53-28.
Austin Peay (4-6) could not get much closer than that the rest of the way.
Caleb Stone-Carrawell led the Governors with 16 points.
• Pippen nows ranks 48th on Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list with 1,014 career points. Austin Bates is 47th with 1,020.
• Chatman, a senior guard, made his Vandy debut Saturday. The Dayton transfer checked in at the 13:48 mark of the first half and finished with two points and two assists.
• Vanderbilt and Austin Peay have now met 19 times, with the Commodores winning 18 of those matchups.
• Vandy has now won 15 in a row in the series. Austin Peay last won in 1939.
• Vandy had used the same starting lineup in all nine games this season before Jamaine Mann and Gabe Dorsey got the nod Saturday.
• Vanderbilt is now 65-9 all-time against programs from the Ohio Valley Conference.
• The Commodores have now made at least two 3s in 49 straight games.
• Thomas has played in 35 straight games for the Commodores.
• Wright has started 25 straight games for Vanderbilt.
• Attendance on Saturday was announced as 6,186.
