Vanderbilt Commodores vs Tennessee Volunteers Box Score on Jan 16, 2021

Tenth-ranked Tennessee led the entire second half and cruised past in-state rival Vanderbilt, 81-61, at Knoxville on Saturday.

John Fulkerson scored 15 points and pulled eight rebounds for the Volunteers (10-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference).

Tennessee also had help from Victor Bailey Jr. (11 points), freshman Keon Johnson (career-high 16 points) and Jaden Springer (10 points, seven rebounds, five assists).

Dylan Disu (19 points) and Scotty Pippen Jr. (18) led Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4) in scoring.

But Pippen was just 5 of 12 from the floor, with six turnovers and one assist as Vandy had 16 turnovers to the Vols' nine.

Vanderbilt closed within four on a pair of Pippen free throws with 15:45 remaining. But back-to-back 3s from Bailey, the last coming on a fast break with 12:33 left after Springer stripped Disu in the lane, gave Tennessee a 50-39 advantage.

Following a Vandy time out, a Johnson 3 gave the Vols their biggest lead to that point (53-39) just 29 seconds later.

It was essentially over when Pippen fouled out with 4:25 left and Tennessee leading 67-52.

The Volunteers led by 10 at half on the strength of a 16-3 run to close. Fulkerson scored 10 points and pulled six boards and didn't miss a shot from the field or the line in the period.

Tennessee raced to a 7-0 lead before Pippen's two free throws with 16:38 left in the half.

The Commodores took their first lead at 16-15 with 10:59 left in the period when Disu drove and hit a spinning one-hander in the lane.

Pippen, who averaged 21.6 points coming in, missed his first four shots. He didn't score from the field until Disu snagged a rebound off a Johnson free throw miss at 7:19, then hit Pippen with on the other end of the floor with a long baseball pass that led to a lay-up.

That put the ‘Dores up 21-18 with 7:15 left.

But Tennessee re-took the lead when Santiago Vescovi picked off a bad pass from Pippen and fed Josiah-Jordan James for a two-on-one fast-break followed by a free throw, that made it 23-21.

Johnson's three-point play with 46 seconds left gave Tennessee its first double-digit lead at 34-24, which was the score at half.

Disu was 4-of-5 from the field in the first half, but his teammates were only 4-of-21.

Vandy's Clevon Brown, its starting center to begin the season, made his first appearance since Dec. 22 exactly five minutes into the first half. Brown had missed the last four games with an injury. He played 23 minutes but didn't score.

--Field Level Media