Vanderbilt upsets Alabama in SEC Tournament, advances to quarterfinals

The No. 11 seed Vanderbilt Commodores erased a 10-point halftime deficit, completely owning No. 6 seeded Alabama during the final 20-minute stretch to take home a 82-76 upset victory Thursday night. They’ll move on to the quarterfinals to take on No. 3 seed Kentucky Friday night.

“Coach [Jerry] Stackhouse came into the locker room and said ‘this is it, you know. Either we go home or play tomorrow, so it was fuel to the fire,” Scotty Pippen Jr. said during his postgame interview.

It was a 14-2 run that closed the distance midway through the second half for the Commodores thanks to a litany of turnovers. A breakaway dunk from Pippen with under half a minute left in regulation gave Vandy their largest lead of the night at seven, sealing the Crimson Tide’s fate and sending them home from Tampa earlier than expected.

Pippen finished the game with 26 points despite a 5-19 shooting night, but logged 7 assists to make up for his low-percentage shooting night, and 18 turnovers from the Crimson Tide aided Vanderbilt in their victory. Alabama will now wait to hear their fate come Selection Sunday, while the Commodores look to make a Cinderella run into the semifinals with a win Friday night.

With a third matchup against Kentucky this season Friday night, Pippen had some early thoughts on his game plan against the ‘Cats. “Just keep doing what we’re doing and get the win,” he said.

The last time these two squads matched up was in Lexington where the Wildcats won 77-70. The Commodores out-rebounded Kentucky 37-30 despite the loss, which is impressive given Kentucky is one of the top rebounding teams in the NCAA this season.

Pippen typically finds a way to play well against Kentucky, combining for 65 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds in both games against the Wildcats this season. The one problem — they both occurred in losing efforts. But as they say, it’s tough to beat a team three times in one year. Will that be the case in Friday’s quarterfinal nightcap? Or will the Wildcats roll on to the semifinals?

Tip is set for approximately 25 minutes after the 6 p.m. ET quarterfinal matchup between Tennessee and Mississippi State live on the SEC Network.