Missouri earns first SEC road win, 61-52 over Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Xavier Pinson scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, and the Missouri Tigers beat Vanderbilt 61-52 Wednesday night for their first Southeastern Conference road win this season.

The Tigers (14-14, 6-9) had not won a conference game away from Columbia since a victory at Georgia on March 6, 2019. Now Missouri has won four straight against Vanderbilt, giving the Tigers their longest current winning streak against any SEC team. Third-year coach Cuonzo Martin also improved to 6-2 all-time against the Commodores.

Reed Nikko added 14 points for Missouri.

Vanderbilt (9-19, 1-14) lost its sixth straight after leading by as many as nine in the first half. The Commodores went cold, making only one bucket in 12:27 spanning the end of the first half and deep into the second.

Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt with 19 points and Saben Lee added 14.

Vanderbilt jumped out to a 28-17 lead thanks to Pippen scoring 15 in the first half, his last coming with 3:59 left. But the Commodores went cold and didn’t make another bucket the rest of the half. Missouri scored seven straight to pull within 28-27 at halftime.

The Commodores’ shooting woes continued in the second half. Lee’s layup with 19:06 remaining was the only made bucket by Vanderbilt until walk-on Drew Weikert’s layup with 11:32 left. Missouri went on an 11-1 run and led by as much as 42-33 on a three-point play by Nikko with 13:31 to go.

Vanderbilt stayed close at the free throw line. Ejike Obinna dunked to pull Vanderbilt within 53-48 with 3:40 remaining. But he missed the free throw after being fouled, and the Commodores never got closer down the stretch as Missouri padded the lead to as many as 10 in the final two minutes.

BIG PICTURE

Missouri: The Tigers came in ranked 22nd nationally defending the 3, allowing teams to shoot only 29.4%. They held Vanderbilt to 19% (4 of 21) outside the arc. … They also outrebounded Vanderbilt 42-27.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores rank 10th in the SEC at the free throw line, shooting 69.3%. They shot only 55% against Missouri (16 of 29). They were even worse shooting from the floor in the second half, making only 6 of 18 (33%).

UP NEXT

Missouri hosts Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon.

Vanderbilt starts a two-game road swing Saturday at Ole Miss.