John Jenkins hit five 3-pointers and Vanderbilt cruised in its SEC opener, pounding Auburn 65-35 in Nashville, Tenn.

Jenkins finished with 17 points and Jeffery Taylor added 16 points for the Commodores (11-4, 1-0), who won their fifth in a row by using two big first-half runs to open up a 38-19 halftime advantage over the punchless Tigers (10-5, 0-1).

Down 3-1 two minutes in, Vanderbilt scored 10 unanswered points, capped by Taylor’s 3-pointer with 16:14 left in the half to put the Commodores up 11-3.
Later in the half, Vanderbilt used a 17-5 spurt to take a 30-11 lead on another Taylor 3-pointer with 7:26 remaining before halftime.

Taylor, the SEC’s fourth-leading scorer, finished 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Jenkins, who leads the conference in scoring, shot 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Brad Tinsley finished with 12 points and six assists.

Auburn, which shot just 27.3 percent from the field (15-for-55) and scored a season low in points, was led by Chris Denson’s seven points.

Vanderbilt plays Tuesday at South Carolina. Auburn, which has lost four of its past six, hosts No. 2 Kentucky on Wednesday.