Scotty Pippen Jr. dealt with a cold shooting night, and 3 Alabama starters suffered foul trouble midway through the second half. The nightcap of the second round in the SEC Tournament produced a thrilling finish thanks to a ferocious finish by Vanderbilt.

Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt’s star guard began 1-for-8 shooting, but made his living at the foul line going 7-for-8, as the first half was a bit of a slog as there were 23 fouls combined with 4 minutes left in the first half.

A fast-paced sequence came when Pippen had a fast-break dunk with 22 seconds remaining, but Alabama quickly answered with a 3-pointer from Darius Miles.

Despite a poor shooting night, Vanderbilt somehow became a second-half team, and prevailed 82-76 on Thursday night as the Commodores outscored the Crimson Tide 54-38 in the second half. The Commodores will advance to play Kentucky on Friday night. Pippen finished with 26 points on just 5-for-19 shooting from the field to lead 4 players in double figures.

After Alabama took a 10-point lead at halftime, Vanderbilt made it interesting in the second half when the Commodores had a 14-2 run over 3 minutes, and then another 6-0 run in less than a minute. That helped Vanderbilt secure its first lead of the game with 9:11 to go. Alabama led 51-36 with 14:09, but since that point, Vanderbilt outscored the Crimson Tide by 20 points.

Alabama’s Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford were on the bench with 4 fouls each as Vanderbilt made its comeback. Then Keon Ellis picked up his fourth foul with 7:59 remaining. Those were notable absences because Shackelford made 6 3-pointers and had 14 points in the first half.

Quinerly fouled out near midcourt on a reach-in foul with 1:05 remaining, and Shackelford, who finished with 21 points, fouled out with 45.5 seconds remaining.

A couple clutch plays late came from Rodney Chatman, who drilled a pair of 3-pointers as Vanderbilt seized the momentum with 2:48 to play.