NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Missouri out-rebounded Vanderbilt by 15 and held Vanderbilt to six second-half field goals in a 61-52 win over the Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 19, and Saben Lee added 14 for the Commodores (9-19, 1-14 Southeastern Conference).

What what you do best gets taken away

Some credit for what happened tonight should go to Missouri, while some blame should go to VU also.

Say this for Cuonzo Martin's teams: They always play hard. They're physical and they defend. Missouri knew it couldn't let Scotty Pippen and Saben Lee beat them, and they didn't. Sure, the two combined for 33 points, but--and this is no fault of their own--Vandy needs at least 10 more combined from them to have a shot, because it has zero consistent punch anywhere else on the roster.

So what did the Tigers do? They made it terribly difficult for either to finish around the rim. The pair combined for 11-of-25 from the floor, which isn't the end of the world if you make foul shots. The two instead uncharacteristically combined to go 8-for-17, which blew any chance at a win.

Killed on the glass

The Tigers aren't a great rebounding team, but they were tonight, pounding VU by a 42-27 margin on the boards. What hurt was five fouls to Dylan Disu, who picks up six boards (all on defense) in 20:30 of action.

One particular Missouri possession seemed a back-breaker.

VU's Ejike Obinna hit a shot with 5:02 left, which got Vandy within 51-46. Missouri's Dru Smith missed a 3 with 4:35 left and the shot clock running down. The Tigers' Mitchell Smith snuck in and got a rebound with 4:35 left, and 11 seconds later, Xavier Pinson hit a lay-up.

Not only did Missouri have an eight-point lead, but just 4:21 remained, a very difficult comeback to mount given how little success Vandy had on offense.

Depth issues

Only six scholarship Commodores played on Wednesday. Walk-ons Braelee Albert, Jon Jossell and Drew Weiker combined for 25 minutes against Missouri.

Second halves are problematic

First half/second-half point differentials, working backwards from this gam to the plast six:

Missouri: plus-1/minus-10

Georgia: plus-6/minus 10

Tennessee: zero/minus-4

Florida: minus-29/plus-11

Kentucky: plus-11/minus-23

MSU: plus-5/minus-14