Both No. 6 Florida and Vanderbilt hope to erase painful memories of Saturday’s blowout losses when the two meet Tuesday in Gainesville, Fla.
The visiting Commodores (16-5, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) blew a 13-point first-half lead in a 97-67 loss at Oklahoma, while the Gators (18-3, 5-3) led most of the first half at No. 8 Tennessee before being outscored 40-23 after the break in their 64-44 defeat.
Vanderbilt’s chances of an upset will be heavily determined by whether it can stop the high-powered Gators offense led by double-figure scorers Walter Clayton Jr. (17.4 ppg), Alijah Martin (15.6), Will Richard (13.0) and Alex Condon (10.4). Saturday’s game was the first time Florida had been held under 70 points since last year’s SEC tournament championship game.
Defending a powerful offense has been a problem lately for Vanderbilt, which allowed 103 points to Alabama in a Jan. 21 defeat.
Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington reflected on the troubles in defending Oklahoma on Saturday.
“We couldn’t guard a guy, no matter what defense we were in,” Byington said. “So it’s guys who can guard, but we did not compete well (Saturday) — and that’s on me. We’ll get it fixed. This league is unforgiving, and this team was unforgiving.”
The Commodores lack size, which could be a big issue against Florida because the Gators boast a +10.0 rebounding margin — fifth-best in the country and tops in the SEC. The Gators’ trio of Condon (8.0), Rueben Chinyelu (7.0) and Thomas Haugh (5.8) will be a handful for Vanderbilt, which is led underneath by 6-foot-7 Devin McGlockton (7.9).
Florida had blown out Tennessee in their first meeting by a 73-43 score in Gainesville. On Saturday, the Vols were down two starters in ace on-ball defender Zakai Zeigler and starting forward Igor Milicic and had just seven available scholarship players, but managed to hold down Florida in a way no one had.
“We’ve been amazing offensively all year, and we looked terrible (Saturday), and I think a lot of that had to do with the way they guarded us — clearly — and they deserve a lot of credit for that,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “Again, they dictated from start to finish, and we just weren’t able to adjust with the way they played.”
Some of that may have been aided by the fact that Clayton appeared bothered by an ankle issue suffered in the final moments of the first half. He’s capable of spectacular scoring nights, having registered at least 25 points in six games this year.
The Commodores present some stylistic headaches, too, due to a cadre of quality veteran guards that include Jason Edwards (17.5 ppg), AJ Hoggard (10.7) and Tyler Nickel (10.2).
Vanderbilt takes care of the ball (18th nationally in turnover rate at 14.3 percent) and ranks 13th in forcing turnovers (22.4 percent) thanks to five players who average at least 0.9 steals per game, led by freshman guard Tyler Tanner (2.1).
The Commodores probably need extra possessions, plus a big scoring night from Edwards, who has scored in double figures every game but once this year and has reached the 20-point mark six times, including last Saturday’s 21.
Vanderbilt also needs a good game from McGlockton (11.4 ppg), who shoots 62.2 percent from the floor and has four double-doubles this season.
This will be the only meeting this year between the teams.
–Field Level Media
