Freshman Jabari Smith scored a career-high 31 points to help No. 2 Auburn survive a challenge from visiting Vanderbilt in a 94-80 win on Wednesday.
Auburn (24-2, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) pulled two games clear of Kentucky and Tennessee for the top spot in the league with five games to go. Vanderbilt (13-12, 5-8) dropped into a tie for 10th with Texas A&M.
The Tigers trailed 11-0 after 2 1/2 minutes and had to battle for most of the night, but Smith’s 10-of-16 shooting and Walker Kessler’s 22 points allowed Auburn to pull away from the Commodores. Smith made 7 of his 10 3-point attempts, including 4 of 5 in the second half as Auburn was extending its lead.
SEC leading scorer Scotty Pippen Jr. was his usual self for Vanderbilt with 29 points, six assists and five rebounds. Pippen was particularly dominant on the inside, where he drew fouls all night with his drives to the rim. He went 14 of 16 from the free-throw line.
Foul shots on the whole were very prevalent for both teams in what was a physical game. Vanderbilt made 25 of 32 attempts from the stripe while Auburn was 21 of 26.
Auburn quickly erased Vanderbilt’s 11-point lead with a 14-3 run, and the game was tight for the rest of the first half. The Tigers went into the locker room holding a 42-38 advantage.
A 63-58 Auburn lead with just over 11 minutes remaining ballooned into an 82-63 advantage over the next five minutes, ending Vanderbilt’s hopes of an upset.
The Tigers wound up with a 33-26 rebounding advantage, and the hosts hit 58.5 percent of their field-goal attempts to the Commodores’ 44.6 percent.
Vanderbilt will be back at home on Saturday to oppose Texas A&M, the same day Auburn will look to maintain its advantage atop the conference when it travels to Florida.
–Field Level Media
