It was all Vanderbilt from the get-go Wednesday night in Tampa. The No. 11-seed Commodores ended No. 14-seed Georgia’s season in blowout fashion by a score of 86-51.

Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt scorers with 14 points. Jerry Stackhouse rested many of his starters, including Pippen, who played just 23 minutes.  No VU player logged more than 24 minutes of playing time. Georgia’s Braelen Bridges was the game’s leading scorer, recording 15 points over 35 minutes.

UGA never led, with the game tied for just over 3 minutes of the first half, which ended with a 35-14 in Vanderbilt’s favor. The 14-point half was Georgia’s lowest-scoring half of the 2021-22 season. UGA was just 4-of-22 from the floor in the first period. The Bulldogs’ final field goal of the half came at the 12:11 mark of the first half on an alley-oop. Georgia finished the game shooting 30 percent (14-of-47) from the field.

Stackhouse presumably appreciates that the Commodores didn’t let up in the second half. Vanderbilt’s largest lead came just before the final buzzer, 86-49, with 1:01 left in the game. VU moves on to Round 2 to face No. 6-seed Alabama. The Dores played the Crimson Tide close on Feb. 22, falling 74-72 in Nashville.

Going into the SEC Tournament, it was already reported that Tom Crean would likely be fired upon the end of Georgia’s season. Crean has been at Georgia since 2018, going 47-75. The Bulldogs were 6-26 in 2021-22, dropping all but one SEC game.