NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Uros Plavsic's short jumper with 55 seconds left broke a tie at 60, and 24th-ranked Tennessee scored the final eight points holding off in-state rival Vanderbilt 68-60 Tuesday night for the Vols' ninth straight win in this series.
None of the Vols on the current roster have lost at Memorial Gym. Tennessee (12-5, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) wound up winning its 11th in 12 games with its sixth straight inside the SEC's oldest basketball gym.
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee with 14 points. Plavsic and Kennedy Chandler each added 13. Zakai Seigler had 11.
Vanderbilt (10-7 2-3) has yet to win a SEC game at home despite being 2-0 on the road in league play. Coach Jerry Stackhouse now is 0-5 against Tennessee.
Scottie Pippen Jr., who came in tied as the SEC's leading scorer, led the Commodores with 18 points. Jordan Wright added 15, and Trey Thomas had 12.
This was a tight game with 10 ties and 17 lead changes. Vanderbilt last led 44-43 near the midway point of the second half on a long 3 by Thomas. Tennessee was up 60-52 when the Commodores reeled off eight straight points. Pippen's 3 tied it up with 1:22 left.
Plavsic's jumper put Tennessee ahead to stay. Then Zeigler stole Jamiane Mann’s inbound pass and hit two free throws. Vescovi and Ziegler added two free throws apiece for the final margin as Vanderbilt didn't score again.
Tennessee led 33-32 at intermission after the Vols forced a flurry of late turnovers, but Plavsic fouled Pippen on a last-gasp try. Pippen hit two of three free throws for the halftime margin.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: Starting guard Josiah-Jordan James played four minutes with one rebound and one assist before going to the bench with an unspecified injury. He didn't return. ... John Fulkerson, held without a point or a rebound in the Vols' ugly loss at Kentucky, had two points and six rebounds coming off the bench. ... The Vols came in eighth nationally in steals and forced 21 turnovers with 14 steals. They scored 19 points off those turnovers. ... The Vols went 25 of 29 at the line, including 18 of 20 in the second half.
Vanderbilt: The Commodores scored only nine points off the Vols' turnovers. ... They went 6 of 10 at the line in the second half and 10 of 23 overall.
PLAYING IN NASHVILLE
The Vols got to play this game after going home on three of their last five trips to Nashville without playing a game. That includes the 2020 SEC Tournament, a game against Vanderbilt that was postponed last January by the Commodores’ COVID issues and a December game was canceled within 90 minutes of tipoff by Memphis’ COVID issues.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 13 LSU on Saturday night.
Vanderbilt starts a two-game road swing at Florida on Saturday afternoon.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
