Gladys Knight may have had her Pips, but so does Vanderbilt Basketball , as if’s Vanderbilt Basketball and the Pip.

Scotty Pippen Jr., our first team All-SEC selection point guard, poured in 22 points and added 6 assists and led his Commodore teammates to a thrilling 79-68 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in the opening round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

With the victory, the Dores, 9-15, will now face the Florida Gators in the second round today at 1:30 PM CT on the SEC Network.

What a victory by Pip and the guys. With his dad , the great Scottie, Sr.,watching from the stands, Scotty was only 3-of-17 from the field and 1-of-8 from trifecta, but he made so many things happen for his team, both on the offensive AND defensive end. And he was 15-of-15 from the charity stripe,. Wow. D.J. Harvey, who added 17 points, was 6-of-8 from the line, so we finished 21-of-24 from the stripe, 88%, which wins you a lot of basketball games, if you also make enough shots, defend and rebound, which we did.

Max Evans was also into the act as Max finished with 12. Our great sophomore Jordan Wright and great freshman Trey Thomas each had 9. Jordan’s ability to drive to the basket and score is as good as any other player in the conference. He’s special. And the engine that could, Trey, connected on 3 huge trifectas in the 2nd half. Trey’s just an excellent, hard working, blue collar player for us, who is going to keep sinking big 3 after big 3 for us in the rest of this tournament, hopefully into the big tourney, and into next year and the future. Excited about our future under Stack.

Clevon Brown had a slam, 5 boards, and 2 blocks. Clevon really made his presence felt down in the block. Max, D.J. and Quentin Millora-Brown each pulled down 5 rebounds as well. Good to see the big fella, Quentin, getting into the act. He keeps on improving every game. Jordan, Myles Stute and Pip each pulled down 4 caroms. Myles also hit a pair of big triples. Good stuff from our talented freshman. Isaac McBride didn’t score, but he always hustles and has been playing very well. We’ll need Isaac today versus the Gators. Isaac’s shooting and hustle are necessary for this team’s success.

We held our own on the boards with 36 to their 38. We sank 12-of-34 threes, 35%, and they connected on only 7-of-25, 28%. They were 41% from the field, we were 42%. The difference was our defense,. Stack said he mixed up a lot of different defenses against the Aggies and they were all effective. We also shot “threes and frees,” as CBS’s Clark Kellogg says. And we held our own on the boards. We were even in turnovers with 13, so a wash there.

So, awesome effort by the guys last night. Now, it’s onto the Gators. We lost to them twice this year, but the second game at Florida, we gave them everything they wanted after being down by over 20 in the first half. We came back and cut it to 5 or 3, and ended up falling 78-71. But that game gave us confidence and renewed energy for the rest of the season. I think we’re ready to break through against them today. They are led by Tre Mann, who averages 15 per game. He’s a guard. Their big man, Colin Castleton averages 13.8 and pulls down nearly 6 rebounds per game. Mann is 6’5”, 190, and Castleton is 6’11,” 230. So they have some very good players. Pip is averaging 20.7 per game, Jordan is at 9.1 and Max is averaging 8.7. It’s just Pip and by committee. This team is finding a way. to get the job done. i like us to find a way today.

VU 75, Florida 72

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