Will Richard scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting to help sixth-ranked Florida rebound from its worst performance of the season with an 86-75 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday in Gainesville, Fla.
Alex Condon added 19 points and nine rebounds and Denzel Aberdeen scored 13 for the Gators (19-3, 6-3 Southeastern Conference), who were coming off a 64-44 loss at then-No. 8 Tennessee on Saturday. Richard scored 16 of his points in the second half after Florida trailed by one at the break.
Jason Edwards netted 20 points to lead the Commodores (16-6, 4-5), who have lost three of four. Devin McGlockton added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Jaylen Carey tallied 15 points and fellow reserve MJ Collins Jr. had 11.
The Gators played without leading Walter Clayton Jr. (17.4 points per game), who injured his ankle during the Tennessee game. That was one reason things didn’t come easy for most of the night for Florida, which trailed 50-49 with 12:08 left.
The hosts took a five-point lead on consecutive 3-pointers by Sam Alexis and Richard then later went up 63-54 on two more triples from Urban Klavzar. Alijah Martin tacked on a jumper with 7:41 left that gave the Gators an 11-point lead, the largest for either team to that point.
Carey went to the bench with 6:49 left after picking up his fourth foul and then, after a brief trip to the bench, fouled out with 4:47 remaining and the Commodores down by nine.
Vanderbilt never got closer than seven from there. Martin’s dunk with 3:26 left and Richard’s contested 3 to make it 79-65 with 2:45 remaining proved to be the daggers. Florida shot 64.3 percent in the second half and made 7 of 11 3-point attempts.
Martin, one of the Gators’ starting guards, went to the locker room with 10:22 left in the first half after colliding with a Commodores player.
That left Aberdeen to run the point and summoned Klavzar, who had played six minutes total in the Gators’ previous eight SEC contests but logged 10 in the first half.
The Commodores’ top two reserves, Carey and Tyler Tanner, also made temporary first-half exits due to bleeding.
Vanderbilt led 36-35 at the half thanks to 12 points from Edwards and 10 from Carey.
Condon led Florida with 11 with Aberdeen adding nine. Martin finished the half scoreless in 10 minutes but notched eight points in the second half.
–Field Level Media
