Mississippi Rebels vs Vanderbilt Commodores Box Score on Feb 27, 2021

Vanderbilt pulled a surprising upset of visiting Ole Miss by a 75-70 score at Nashville's Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon, dealing a major blow to the Rebels' NCAA tournament hopes.

Vanderbilt (7-13, 3-11 SEC) put five players -- Trey Thomas (14 points), Max Evans (13), Issac McBride (13), Jordan Wright (12) and D.J. Harvey (10) -- in double figures.

Vanderbilt was without its top two players as Dylan Disu and Scotty Pippen Jr. were both out with injuries, and played two walk-ons Saturday. The Commodores' leading remaining scorer was Wright, who averaged 8.3 points coming into Saturday.

Somehow, the Commodores shot 53.1 percent (and 47.8 percent from 3, with 11 makes) against a defense that allowed opponents to shoot just 42.2 percent before this one.

Devontae Shuler scored a game-high 25 for Ole Miss (13-10, 8-8). Romello White added 17, and KJ Buffen and Jarkel Joiner had 10 each. But the Rebels were just 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from 3-point range.

A Joiner jumper with 1:24 left got Ole Miss within five at 72-67.

The Rebels' Luis Rodriguez grabbed a defensive board on the next trip, raced down the floor and hit a fast-break lay-up as the whistle blew with 43 seconds left. But the officials called a charge on Rodriguez and ruled the basket didn't count.

The Commodores failed to hit the front end of a one-and-one, and Shuler answered with a corner 3. Vandy's Clevon Brown hit a free throw and then the Rebels missed two 3s before fouling Brown again, who hit both this time for a five-point lead with 10 seconds to play.

The Rebels trailed by two at half, and tied the game at 36 on a Buffen 3-pointer, the first Ole Miss 3-pointer of the day, with 19:01 left.

The Commodores went back ahead on a McBride 3 for the ninth lead change of the day with 16:50 left. McBride's fast-break lay-up off a turnover gave Vandy a 48-41 lead with 13:37 left, its largest of the day.

The Rebels came back to tie, but then Thomas bounced in a corner 3 with 7:37 left for a 60-51 lead and another 3 from McBride with 6:56 left extended it to 10.

Ole Miss had a four-point possession when Joiner hit his first free throw and missed his second before Buffen grabbed the rebound, put it back, got fouled and hit the free throw with 5:38 left to get within five. The Rebels got within two but never took the lead from there.

Ole Miss defended Vanderbilt aggressively on the perimeter with a 1-3-1 zone while taking it to the Commodores inside offensively.

White and Shuler went a combined 11-of-15 from the floor (all but one attempt from 2) while scoring 24 first-half points.

But the Rebels were 0-for-2 from 3 and had just three first-half assists while the Commodores were 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) behind the arc. Harvey, who didn't score the previous two games, led Vandy with 10 at half.

The Rebels took a 27-20 lead on a Shuler lay-up with 4:36 left, but Vandy went on a run and led 34-32 at half.

--Field Level Media