Vanderbilt needed Scotty Pippen Jr. to take over in the final minutes at Ole Miss on Saturday, and Pippen mostly delivered, scoring 22 points and six assists while leading the Commodores to a 63-61 win over the Rebels at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday evening.

Jordan Wright added 14 points, and Liam Robbins, 12 for Vanderbilt (15-15, 7-11 Southeastern Conference).

It was a relief for a team that had just lost three straight games in the final minute.

"The ball bounced our way tonight," Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse said.

"We had a lot better poise down the stretch tonight," Wright added.

Pippen made plays more often than not down the stretch, but also was in the midst of one nervous moment down the stretch.

The Rebels' Matt Murrell hit a step-back 3 with 53 seconds left to cut Vandy's lead to two. Robbins missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Murrell missed a 3 on the other end before Pippen secured the rebound and got fouled.

Pippen then missed the front end of a one-and-one and Ole Miss secured the rebound. But the Rebels' James White missed on a running jumper and though Ole Miss got the rebound, time expired before the Rebels got a second chance.

Vandy trailed by seven at half but wasted little time in chipping away. A Robbins 3, followed by Wright's transition lay-up in traffic, cut the margin to 35-33 with 16:16 left.

Then, the teams started trading baskets, with Vandy finally going ahead when Myles Stute drilled a 3 on a kick-out from Pippen with 13:51 left.

And soon, Pippen would take over. Threes at 7:09 and 5:14 helped extend the lead to 57-51.

Then, with the shot clock running down and Pippen playing mostly off the ball on the possession, Vandy got him the ball and he immediately had the attention of a pair of Rebel defenders. Still, Pippen stepped back and banked in a 28-foot 3 for the 'Dores largest lead of the night at 60-53 with 4:21 left.

After the Rebels cut the lead to two, Pippen threw a perfect pass to Robbins in traffic; Robbins finished that with a dunk, drew a foul and drained a free throw with 1:53 left.

For much of the night, it didn't seem as if a road victory was forthcoming.

Ole Miss’s Austin Crowley—a Vanderbilt signee who left after ex-coach Bryce Drew was fired—scored 11 first-half points, including a 3 at the 5:20 mark to give the Rebels their biggest lead (27-17) at that point.

Vandy didn’t lead in the first half from the 16:16 point on. Vandy made a late run in the first half on the backs of Wright and Pippen (11 first-half points), who combined for the ‘Dores last seven points in the final 2:48 of the half, with a Wright lay-up cutting it to 30-26 with 1:01 left.

But White hit a corner 3 to beat the buzzer and push the Rebel lead to seven at the break.

Vandy shot just 33.3% in the first period and hit just one 3.

The Commodores will play Georgia on Wednesday night in the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs went 1-17 in league play.

Pippen didn't score in the second half until he hit a lay-up with 8:15 left, meaning that the first 23 points of the half came from someone other than Vandy's leading scorer.

"He’s not the only one that takes shots," Stackouse explained. "Other guy take shots. They’ve just got to make shots and other guys made shots. … We made a decision to infuse a little more offense to start the second half and those guys made plays for us

What Stackhouse was referring to was the decision to start Trey Thomas in place of Tyrin Lawrence for the second half. Thomas played the entire second half, had six points and one assist, didn't turn the ball over and had a plus-9 for the period.

Pippen also played the entire period, with Robbins, Wright and Stute playing all but 11 of the remaining minutes.

Wright scored the half's first points with a lay-up, and then added a fast-break lay-up about three minutes to get Vandy within two. He spoke of the importance of Pippen to the offense even when he's not scoring.

"Scotty draws so much pressure and it’s on us to make shots," he said.

- Vanderbilt started Pippen, Lawrence, Wright, Stute and Quentin Millora-Brown.

- Robbins led the team with a plus-11 rating.

- Jamaine Mann and Rodney Chatman didn't play due to injury.