Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Vanderbilt Commodores Match Player Stats On Jan 09, 2021

Mississippi State clobbered Vanderbilt in the paint en route to an 84-81 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn.

Iverson Molinar had 24 points and eight rebounds, while Tolu Smith (18), D.J. Stewart Jr. (16) and Jalen Johnson (10) also scored in double figures.

Vanderbilt's Scotty Pippen Jr. collected 18 points and 12 assists to record his first career double-double.

The Commodores were potent from 3-point range (15 of 33, 45.5 percent) but had no answer for the Bulldogs' size and dribble penetration.

The Bulldogs (8-4, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) outscored Vanderbilt (4-5, 0-3) in the paint, 42-18, and won the rebounding (34-30) and shooting (60.8 to 41.7 percent) battles. They turned it over just three times in the second half.

Trey Thomas (17 points), Dylan Disu (16) and D.J. Harvey (13) also scored in double figures for Vandy.

Mississippi State led the entire second half, however, Vanderbilt wouldn't go away. Thomas and Disu hit 3-pointers with 18 and 8 seconds left, respectively, to cut the Bulldogs' lead to one.

Johnson hit one of two free throws on the ensuing possession, and Mississippi State's Cameron Matthews stripped Pippen in the back court and hit one of two foul shots with 3.0 seconds left.

Jordan Wright missed a 70 footer shot at the buzzer.

The Bulldogs were shooting 68 percent from the field when Quentin Post hit a 3-pointer with 13:43 left, giving Mississippi State a 57-48 lead.

Mississippi State pushed the lead to double digits at 61-50 after Deivon Smith canned a pull-up jumper in transition with 11:01 left.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Thomas and Myles Stute and a pair of Wright foul shots with 8:18 left cut it to 61-60.

Mississippi State outshot Vanderbilt by 31 percentage points (62.5 to 31.4) in the first half, had an 18-17 edge in rebounding and a 20-6 advantage in points in the paint. Despite the advantages, the Bulldogs led just 36-35 due to a 9-4 turnover deficit.

Vanderbilt was 7-of-18 from 3 (38.9 percent) in the first half, with Thomas canning three.

Mississippi State was sloppy early, turning it over four times in the first seven minutes as Vanderbilt took a 14-8 lead.

Pippen didn't get off a field goal attempt until 10:51 left in the first half, but canned a 3-pointer from the right side at that mark to give Vandy a 22-15 lead to that point.

But the Bulldogs punched back quickly, with Molinar hitting a jumper, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Johnson, to give Mississippi its first advantage since 4-3.

The Bulldogs padded that lead slightly as the Commodores went though a field-goal drought of 4:01 until Pippen's layup with 2:59 left cut the lead to two.

--Field Level Media