How Vanderbilt basketball, Jerry Stackhouse plan to replace Scotty Pippen Jr.'s production

Vanderbilt basketball faces a tough challenge trying to replace Scotty Pippen Jr., the SEC's leading scorer in 2021-22. Likely, there won't be one player who does everything Pippen could do. But that might be a good thing.

"Ideally, that's not how we want to play in our system, we really want distributing point guards, still want guys who can be able to score," Stackhouse said Tuesday. "Scotty Pippen, no doubt about that, as good a career as anybody that has come through of course, but I think we've got some really good options and different types of point guards than what Scotty was.

"Scotty was more of a combo I think we have some real natural point guards. I'm excited about what their skill set can really do for us."

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With that in mind, Stackhouse had good things to say about Ezra Manjon, a transfer from UC Davis, who was first-team All-Big West a season ago. He said on defense Manjon had a similar skillset to former Vanderbilt guard Rodney Chatman and on offense brings an ability to get to the basket.

Stackhouse referred to true freshman Paul Lewis as the backup point guard. Lewis, from Woodbridge, Va., was mentioned as someone who should pick up the offense right away but could struggle on defense.

Vanderbilt to play Wofford, HBCUs

While the Commodores have not released their full schedule, several non-conference opponents have already been revealed, including Pitt, VCU, Temple, St. Mary's, NC State and the opener against Memphis.

But Stackhouse also revealed another non-conference opponent: Wofford. Stackhouse also said there would be HBCUs on the schedule to help the cash-strapped programs.

"(We're) trying to find quality teams to play to give us a good test. Wofford's on our schedule, that's a team that's frequently been a tournament team," Stackhouse said. "We're excited about our non conference schedule."

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jerry Stackhouse: Vanderbilt basketball point guard options post-Pippen