Vanderbilt’s Season Comes To An End With Loss To Xavier In NIT

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Photo: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

Vanderbilt’s NIT run ended on Tuesday night after losing to Xavier 75-73 in the tournament’s quarterfinals.

The Commodores were red hot coming into the game, wining four of their last five games which included Belmont and Dayton. Vandy finishes their most successful season in five years with a record of 19-17.

“For the most part I thought our guys just stayed together and kept battling,” said head coach Jerry Stackhouse in a postgame press conference. “We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. We stayed together, we stayed the course, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Vandy had a lead for most of the game and held it tight late into the second half. The Commodores saw a nine-point lead disappear late and eventually went down 71-70 on an Adam Kunkel jumper with 2:01 to go. Kunkel, a former Belmont Bruin, then gave the Musketeers a 74-72 lead with a runner with 57 seconds on the clock.

The Musketeers ended the game on a 16-7 run and Vanderbilt went the final 3:10 without making a shot from the floor.

Junior superstar Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt in scoring with 28 points and a career-high nine rebounds and seven assists. The All-SEC First Team player scored over 60 points in the past two games and finishes the season averaging 20.4 ppg, 162 assists, and shooting 42% from the field.

“This is our first postseason in a couple of years. The guys feel good about the season,” Pippen shared. “It didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. We didn’t get to go to New York, but at the end of the day [we had] a 19 win season. Every year that I’ve been here, we’ve improved and improved. The players that’ve been here have grown up together. Although it’s a disappointing end to the season, there’s a lot of good to look back at.”

Pippen’s future at Vanderbilt is up in the air as he’s proven himself as a legitimate NBA prospect. He currently isn’t listed on any major NBA Mock Drafts and may spend his first year in the pros on a G-League team. If Pippen were to return for his senior year, he would definitely be one of the top players in the SEC for the 2022-23 season.

“If you look back at my first year here, we were the worst team in the SEC–an 0-18 team. I think we’ve improved and I think we’ve had a bigger jump than any team in the SEC,” Pippen added. “I’ve had a great career and I don’t know if it’s my last game but this isn’t the way I wanted to go out. But when I look back, there were a lot of good things. I just want to thank all the fans that supported me, coaching staff and everyone that’s been part of my journey here.

“It’s been a great ride but we’ll see,” he summed.

Steven Boero
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