Scotty Pippen Jr. had 23 points and nine assists, and Vanderbilt rode a strong first half to an 85-77 victory over visiting Georgia in a Southeastern Conference game on Saturday in Nashville.
Jordan Wright had 15 points and five rebounds, and Rodney Chatman added 12 points for the Commodores (11-9, 3-5 SEC), who swept the season series from the Bulldogs. Vanderbilt posted a 73-66 victory at Georgia on Jan. 15, marking its first win in Athens since 2014.
Myles Stute added 11 points and six rebounds for the Commodores, who ended a three-game losing streak. Still, Vanderbilt has dropped five of its past seven games, with its lone two wins coming against Georgia.
Kario Oquendo scored 15 points — all in the first half — for Georgia (6-15, 1-7), which lost for the ninth time in its past 10 games. Braelen Bridges added 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting, while Aaron Cook and Noah Baumann added 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Vanderbilt shot 50.9 percent (28-for-55) from the field, including 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from beyond the arc, during its wire-to-wire victory. Vandy also scored 17 points off Georgia’s 13 turnovers.
Much as it has all season, Georgia struggled offensively. The Bulldogs shot 51.9 percent (28-for-54) from the field, including 23.5 percent (4-for-17) from distance. Georgia shot 17-for-21 from the free-throw line, but was dominated inside, as Vanderbilt outscored the Bulldogs 44-24 in the paint.
Vanderbilt dominated from the opening tip en route to leading by as many as 13 in the first half before taking a 46-36 lead into intermission.
Pippen Jr. had 10 points and six assists in the first half and Chatman added eights to lead an attack that shot 63 percent (17-for-27) from the field and a scorching 63.3 percent (7-for-11) from beyond the arc.
Oquendo tried single-handedly to keep the Bulldogs in the game early. He scored 15 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. But no other Bulldog scored more than four points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent (13-for-26) from the field, but struggled mightily from beyond the arc, where they connected on just one of their eight attempts. The Bulldogs went 9-for-11 at the free-throw line to prevent the Commodores from pulling further away in the first half.
–Field Level Media
