Vanderbilt entered its Wednesday home game with LSU in the midst of the worst losing streak in Southeastern Conference history. The Commodores exited with a stunning victory over the league's top team.
Saben Lee scored 33 and Maxwell Evans poured in a career-high 31 as Vanderbilt snapped its 26-game SEC losing streak with a 99-90 victory over the visiting Tigers, which entered as the last unbeaten team in the SEC.
Ultimately, the loss will be a blow for the prestige of the SEC in what is already a down year for the league after it placed seven teams in the NCAA Tournament a season ago. The conference entered Wednesday night's action with just five teams in the top 40 of the NET. The loss will be a blow to the resume of LSU (17-5, 8-1 SEC), which suffered its first loss against a Quadrant 3 team. The Tigers were projected as a No. 6 seed by Jerry Palm on Monday.
For Vanderbilt (9-13, 1-8), the win highlights a rough season under first-year head coach Jerry Stackhouse. The Commodores lost their top player and a potential first-round NBA Draft pick in Aaron Nesmith to a foot injury early in the season. Though Nesmith could return late in the season, the Commodores have struggled without him, averaging just 59 points per game through their first eight SEC contests.
They nearly matched that total in the first half on Wednesday as they jumped out to a 52-47 lead at the break behind 25 first-half points from Evans. The junior guard entered with a career-high of 16 but blew that figure away quickly as he caught fire from beyond the arc. The career 31.7% 3-point shooter made 7 of 12 tries from 3-point range to ignite the crowd at Memorial Gymnasium, which had not hosted a Vanderbilt league victory since Feb. 17, 2018.
It was Lee and Scotty Pippen Jr. who proved unstoppable in the second half, though, as the duo combined for 14 points in the final four minutes.
