No. 2 Auburn 94, Vanderbilt 80

Auburn freshman Jabari Smith left a strong impression on Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stack-house, even if the young forward wasn't all that dazzled by his own hot shooting.

Smith scored a season-high 31 points and made seven 3-pointers to lead No. 2 Auburn to a 94-80 victory over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. It was the most points by a Tigers freshman since Toney Douglas had 32 in 2005.

“There wasn’t anything to it,” Smith said. “I just got hot a little bit.”

More than a little bit.

Walker Kessler added 22 points to help Au-burn (24-2, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) overcome a slow start against the Commo-dores (13-12, 5-8).

The 6-foot-10 Smith did most of his damage from outside. He was 7 of 10 from 3-point range, launching over defenders and making most of them.

“He’s such a good catch-and-shoot player,” said Stackhouse, a former NBA standout. “He’s as good as advertised. There’s no doubt he’ll be one of the first two or three picks in the draft this year and he really stepped up and showed why.”

It was close most of the way but Vandy had no answer for Auburn's two star big men.

Kessler handled much of the work inside. He blocked seven shots and had seven rebounds while shooting 8 of 10 in a follow-up to his second triple-double of the season.

Auburn also got 12 points, nine assists and seven rebounds from Wendell Green Jr. But it was Smith who kept firing away after a cool start.

“Obviously, Jabari was spectacular,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said. “You can see what an amazing jump shooter he is. I think he missed his first two and we just kept on yelling to him to keep shooting it.”

Scotty Pippen Jr., the SEC's leading scorer, almost kept pace with Smith. He led Vandy with 29 points and made 14 of 16 free throws. Jordan Wright scored 15.

The Commodores got off to a great start, scoring the first 11 points — with a technical against Pearl as a bonus. The Tigers closed the gap with Smith's 12 straight points.

They didn't take their first lead until the final minute of the first half but went into the locker room up 42-38.

Smith hit three 3s early in the second half to help Auburn keep up that momentum and eventually build a 20-point lead.

The Tigers made 17 of 24 shots in the second half, a torrid 70.8%.

Commodores starting guard Rodney Chat-man missed the game with a hamstring inju-ry. Stackhouse said he's hoping Chatman can return by the SEC Tournament.

The Vandy coach went with three big men, starting graduate transfer center Liam Rob-bins for the first time. Robbins had played in only three games and totaled one point com-ing off a foot injury but scored seven against the Tigers.

But the Commodores couldn't keep up with the former No. 1 team in the nation.

“They feed off turnovers and bad shots, and I think that’s what allowed them to come back into the game,” Pippen said. “Jabari Smith took a lot of tough shots but he made them and his teammates fed off that and the fans fed off that.”

Auburn has struggled against some unranked teams lately and did early in this one, but it looked unstoppable in stretches. They made 11 of 22 3-pointers and shot 31 of 53 (58.5%) overall.

Vanderbilt hung close with another top team much of the way, just as it did in single-digit losses to No. 4 Kentucky and No. 16 Tennessee. But the outcome was another loss and ultimately not a particularly close one.

No. 1 Gonzaga 86, Pepperdine 66

Drew Timme scored 19 points, Chet Holmgren had 18 points and 17 rebounds and Andrew Nembhard added a career-high 14 assists to lead Gonzaga over Pepperdine.

Timme threw down an alley-oop dunk on a pass from Nembhard just six seconds in, and it was that kind of game for both teams.

Gonzaga (22-2, 11-0 West Coast Conference) never trailed and has won 15 consecutive games since its last lost against Alabama in December.

The Bulldogs have also won 32 straight against WCC opponents, the longest conference winning streak in the country.

Pepperdine (7-21, 1-12) got nine points from Houston Mallette in a 20-11 spurt that trimmed the margin to 57-49 in the second half. Timme answered with a three-point play inside and Gonzaga turned back the Waves.

No. 5 Purdue 70, Northwestern 64

Zach Edey had 14 points and eight re-bounds, and Purdue moved into first place in the Big Ten with a rugged victory over Northwestern.

Capping a stretch of eight games in 21 days, the Boilermakers (23-4, 12-4) shot 45% from the field and committed 14 turnovers — a sluggish performance by one of the country’s most efficient teams. But they held the Wild-cats to 35% shooting and controlled the glass with a 39-34 rebounding advantage.

Mason Gillis and Eric Hunter Jr. each scored 11 points as Purdue moved a half-game ahead of No. 12 Illinois for the top spot in the conference. The Boilermakers swept their season series against the Illini.

Robbie Beran had 13 points for Northwest-ern (12-12, 5-10).

No. 25 Alabama 80, Mississippi State 75

Jahvon Quinerly had 21 points and eight assists to lead Alabama to a win over Mississippi State.

Charles Bediako scored 15 points. Jaden Shackelford added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Darius Miles finished with 12 points. JD Davison added seven points and 10 rebounds for the Crimson Tide (17-9, 7-6 Southeastern Conference).

Iverson Molinar led the Bulldogs (14-11, 5-7) with 22 points and four assists. D.J. Jeffries and Cam Carter each scored 15 points.