NASHVILLE, TENN- While the Florida Gators (19-11, 9-8 SEC) are certainly focused on Saturday’s SEC regular-season finale against Kentucky (24-6, 13-4 SEC), it’s never a good idea to overlook any other conference opponents you may eventually play. Unfortunately, Florida seemed to overlook Vanderbilt (14-15, 6-11 SEC), who nearly upset the Gators and ruined their 2022 NCAA Tournament chances. In fact, Vanderbilt seemed to have the game wrapped up with 45 seconds left, leading 78-73 over Florida, but Florida would score the game’s final nine points to complete the comeback win. Despite this, a go-ahead three-pointer by Phlandrous Fleming with 6.3 seconds left keeps the Gators’ NCAA Tournament hopes alive with an 82-78 victory over the Commodores.
Game Recap
Fresh off a career-high 27 points in Florida’s 84-72 win at Georgia four days ago, Fleming had another great performance against Vanderbilt, posting 16 points, four rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks in 33 minutes. Standout Big-Man Colin Castleton led the Gators with 19 points and eight rebounds, while also shooting 6-15 (40.0%) from the field and 7-8 (87.5%) from the Free Throw line. Myreon Jones and Tyree Appleby were the only other Gators to finish with double-digit points, notching 13 and 12 points, respectively.
To no one’s surprise, Junior Guard Scotty Pippen Jr. lead the Commodores’ offense, recording a team-high 29 points, three rebounds, five assists, and three steals, while shooting 11-18 (61.1%) from the field and 5-7 (71.4%) from downtown. Outside of Pippen’s impressive performance, he didn’t receive much help from his teammates. Just one other Commodore finished with double-digit points (Trey Thomas with 17 points), and two more players finished with eight or more points (Myles Stute with 9 points, and Liam Robbins with 8 points).
As a team, the victory against Vanderbilt was one of the most complete and efficient shooting efforts of the season for Florida. In fact, the Gators shot 30-57 (52.6%) from the field, 10-21 (47.6%) from three-point range, and 12-14 (85.7%) from the free-throw line. The same could be said for Vanderbilt, as the Commodores also shot the ball well, going 30-53 (56.6%) from the field, 15-29 (51.7%) from three-point range, and 3-6 (50.0%) from the free-throw line. What made the difference were the personal fouls and turnovers committed by the two teams. While Florida committed just 12 personal fouls and nine turnovers in the game, Vanderbilt wasn’t as methodical, committing 18 personal fouls and 15 turnovers.
With the win at Vanderbilt, Florida has just one regular-season conference game left on Saturday against No. 7 Kentucky. With a win, Florida will likely solidify its place in the 2022 NCAA Tournament as it’ll avenge their 57-78 loss to the Wildcats on February 12th. If Florida is unable to beat Kentucky, then they’ll likely need to win multiple games in the SEC Postseason Tournament to firmly make March Madness as an ‘at-large’ team. As for Vanderbilt, they will look to end their disappointing 2021-2022 season with a conference win over Ole Miss (13-17, 4-13 SEC) on Saturday.
Tip Ins
- After going 0-3 in the first three SEC Conference games, Florida has gone 10-5 in the next 15 SEC Conference games to make a late-season run for the NCAA Tournament.
- The Gators have now won four consecutive games in Nashville against the Commodores for the first time in program history.
- Vanderbilt’s offense choked down the stretch of Tuesday’s game, as their final eight possessions netted just two points.
(Featured image by Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)