SEC Semifinal Stunner: Top Seed Florida Falls to Vanderbilt
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt Commodores hit 10 triples to stun the Florida Gators in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal Saturday in Bridgestone Arena.
The top-seeded Gators (26-7) had their 12-win streak broken in a 91-74 loss to four seed Vanderbilt (26-7) as Thomas Haugh left the court with tears in his eyes.
“Very disappointed to not be playing on Sunday,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “But, our goal at the beginning of the year is still in front of us in terms of being able to play for a national championship.”
The Gators, ranked No. 4 and seeking a second straight SEC tourney title, now turn their eyes to the NCAA tournament as they await their seeding. The bracket will be revealed on Selection Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS. UF, the reigning national champ, hopes its body of work during the regular season, which includes the SEC title, is good enough to hold an expected No. 1 seed.
The game came down to shooting. It was simple: No. 22 Vanderbilt simply could not miss and Florida did.
The Commodores shot 48% from beyond the arc and 55% from the field in a game that felt much like they were playing in their home court. Vanderbilt played much like Florida has all season: fast and physical, making it incredibly difficult for the Gators to compete in the paint.
“The physicality they played with bothered us,” Golden said. “We usually do that to other teams.”
Along with that, Florida struggled to match Vanderbilt’s shooting. The Gators shot just 29% from the 3 and 46% from the field. Florida fought to the very end but its late surge was not enough to cool down the red-hot shooting of Vanderbilt.
Loading ...Florida entered this game off of a rough 71-63 win against Kentucky in the quarterfinal. You could tell the Gators hadn’t shot on the Bridgestone Arena baskets as they only shot 38% from the field and 15% from beyond the arc. A theme that continued into the semifinal game.
The last matchup against Vanderbilt two months ago looked very different from this one. The Gators outshot Vanderbilt at home and knocked down nine triples. It was the turning point for the Gators season and a turning point for guard Xaivian Lee. The Princeton transfer had 20 points on 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and drained the 3 that put the nail in the coffin for the 98-94 win in Vanderbilt. In Bridgestone Arena, Lee had just seven points.
Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon got in foul trouble early in the second half and Tyler Tanner became too much of a force to stop. The freshman had 20 points on 8-for-10 from the field. Jalen Washington pitched in 17 points and Miles Duke 15.
“It’s fueling the fire for us,” Condon said. “It’s not the worst thing in the world to have a little wake-up call this time of the year.”
Haugh led the Gators with 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Boogie Fland added in 15 points and four assists.
The Commodores picked a vulnerable area for Florida all season: the turnover battle. Vanderbilt scored 24 points off of 14 Florida turnovers.
“When we are missing shots and turning the ball over, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Haugh said. “That’s what you saw today.”
Florida, per usual, dominated on the glass putting up an impressive 20 offensive rebounds, but couldn’t capitalize off of the offensive rebounding advantage, only scoring 14 points to Vanderbilt’s 11 in second-chance points.
Vanderbilt came out shooting early with two quick 3-pointers. Tanner came to play going 3-for-3 from the field by the first media timeout. The game was back-and-forth early as both teams were finding the back of the basket shooting 63% from the field each.
Vanderbilt came out strong defensively, pressing Florida full court for most of the first half. The pressing slowed down the fast paced Florida offense that they pride themselves in as they rank 28th in the country in adjusted tempo. The slowed down game forced Florida to get out of stride.
After the first media timeout, both teams went cold, missing a combined 15 straight shots. The drought didn’t last long for the Commodores as they went on an 11-0 run over 4:36 that came from an and-one three from Duke Miles, an offense foul on Condon and a Washington jumper over Chinyelu. The Commodore crowd rose to its feet.
The game got chippy as Chinyelu and Jayde Leverett battled in the paint and Todd Golden got a coach’s box warning. Chinyelu snatched an offensive rebound and stared down Leverett as he was fouled on the way up.
At halftime, Florida found themselves in unfamiliar territory: trailing 47-34.
“We didn’t have a good defensive effort out there today,” Haugh said.
The story of the first half was a foreshadowing to the second as Vanderbilt simply could not miss. The Commodores shot 46% from beyond the arc knocking down 6-of-13. Florida was shooting just 25%. Vanderbilt didn’t just find luck from beyond the arc, it found luck inside too shooting 52% to Florida’s 37%.
Florida dominated the first half on the boards and put up an impressive statistic, notching 13 offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds.
The Commodores made sure to capitalize as they scored 20 points off of nine Florida turnovers. Vanderbilt only committed two turnovers the whole half.
“They are too good of a team to play that way and win,” Golden said.
Both teams surprisingly shot 100% from the foul line, both making a combined 19 shots. Neither team had a player score in double figures.
The shooting trend continued into the second half when Vanderbilt still couldn’t miss from beyond the arc and Florida continued to struggle. The Commodores knocked down two quick 3s and Condon and Chinyelu picked up their third and fourth fouls, respectively.
Golden was charged with a technical as a Florida timeout was called after Devin McGlockton knocked down his third triple of the game. The Commodores lead extended to 23 with eight minutes remaining. The Gators looked frustrated heading into the timeout.
Condon finished with 13 points and Chinyelu scored 12.
It was Vanderbilt the rest of the way as it led for 34 minutes of the game. The Commodores will play three seed Arkansas (24-8), a 93-90 OT winner of Saturday’s other semifinal against 15 seed Ole Miss, for the title at 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball
