Scotty Pippen Jr. says Vanderbilt is excited to get another shot at Alabama. The No. 11-seed Commodores defeated No. 14-seed Georgia 86-51 in Wednesday’s second game of the SEC Tournament in Tampa. Vanderbilt will now face No. 6-seed Alabama in Thursday’s second round. The Crimson Tide defeated the Commodores 74-72 on Feb. 22. Pippen called Alabama “very beatable” heading into the rematch.

“It was a very winnable game for us,” Pippen said of last month’s loss. “It was a close game down the stretch. Jordan (Wright) and I both made some mistakes. We’ve been talking about that that we want to take back. We were right there. We go into this game with a chip on our shoulder. They’re a very beatable team, a team that we wanted to play. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Jordan Wright shared similar thoughts.

“I agree with that,” Wright said after Pippen. “I mean, down the stretch, we guarded them pretty well. The last 4 minutes of the game, that’s how we pretty much got back in the game the way we guarded. The effort that we had those last 4 minutes really helped us get in position to have a chance to tie the game up at the end. Like Scotty said, it’s kind of a revenge game for us, the way it left a sour taste in our mouth the way we went out the last game, so we’ve been looking forward to this game.”

Commodores coach Jerry Stackhouse said it felt like his team “gave one away” when UA won in Nashville.

“I just remember we lost it,” Stackhouse said of the February game against the Tide. “I mean, I don’t spend a whole lot of time. I know we have some moments in the stretch where we didn’t handle the pressure well. I think those type of situations that you have during the course of a season, they help you in moments like that when you see those opportunities and those moments come up again. And we’re looking to — you heard those guys. I mean, they got a little chip on their shoulder about it. We felt like we gave one away at home. That was right in the 3-game stretch there that we lost. That could have easily changed our season …”

Vanderbilt will head into Thursday’s relatively fresh for a team that played on Wednesday night. Stackhouse was able to rest his starters during VU’s 35-point win over Georgia. Pippen played only 23 minutes, with no player logging more than 24 minutes in the game.

“I think it’s a credit to what we worked on all year, trying to build our depth,” Stackhouse said in his postgame press conference. “We had a lot of this and that said about our younger guys playing, minutes during the regular season, but this is what it’s for, when we have these opportunities to get some extended breaks doing a tournament during the conference tournament or possibly postseason tournament. You look forward for those opportunities, and I thought our bench guys stepped up, and they kept the defense going, stepped up and made shots. I think that’s a credit to what they’ve been able to — the ups and downs they’ve had during the course of the regular season allowed for them to step in with confidence in this game tonight.”