Vandy shuts door on Florida 77-67 in Nashville

The No. 13/16 Florida Gators entered Memorial Gymnasium on Senior Night in Nashville, TN looking to right the ship after a rough loss to Georgia and pull out a tough road victory. Though Florida (22-8, 10-5 SEC) dropped their second-straight game by double digits in a 77-67 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores (21-9, 10-5 SEC), the Gators did play with the energy and passion that head coach Billy Donovan was searching high and low for just three days ago.

Despite Florida’s renewed intensity, Vanderbilt’s three-point shooting was too much for their visitors to handle. The Commodores shot 12-of-24 from beyond the arc and were led by an impressive performance from guard John Jenkins, who finished 6-of-9 from long range and netted the first five treys he attempted.

Jenkins’s 22 points were a team-high for Vanderbilt, which also got double-digit scoring efforts from forward Jeffery Taylor (18 points) and center Festus Ezeli (11 points). The Commodores had 14 assists on 23 baskets and made 19 free throws, while the Gators had just seven dimes and hit just seven shots from the charity stripe.

Senior point guard Erving Walker scored 15 points with some impressive plays in the paint for the Gators, but freshman G Bradley Beal led the way with 16 points.

Junior G Kenny Boynton scored 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting from downtown, and sophomore C Patric Young had a team-high eight rebounds with four points coming from put-backs on two offensive boards.

[EXPAND Click to expand and read the rest of the Florida-Vanderbilt game story.]Vanderbilt started hot by scoring the first seven points of the game and leading 10-2 as Florida shot a paltry 1-for-6 from the field. The Commodores extended their lead to a game-high 12 points as the Gators continued to struggle by hitting just 3-of-12 shots and committing four early turnovers.

Seven-straight points from Florida cut their deficit to five midway through the half as Vanderbilt went on a scoring drought that lasted nearly five full minutes. The Gators then used an 11-2 run including eight points from Walker (a four-point play and two dazzling layups) and a corner trey by sophomore PG Scottie Wilbekin to knot the game at 27 with 1:04 remaining until the break.

Taylor nailed a long triple for the Commodores with 35 seconds left in the half, spotting his team a three-point lead as the squads headed into the locker rooms.

Beginning the second half the same way they did the first, Vanderbilt scored five-straight points and increased their lead to eight. Florida was quick to answer this time, however, using a three-point play by Walker off of a steal as part of a 9-3 run that cut the home team’s advantage to three with 14:30 left.

The Gators kept the pressure on the Commodores and used a 5-0 scoring stretch including a three by Boynton and a dunk by sophomore F Casey Prather to take their first lead of the game at 50-49 with 10:34 remaining.

Vanderbilt refused to relent though, continuing to drain threes and quickly taking back the lead from Florida. The Commodores used a 9-3 run to go up seven points as the Gators missed five-of-six attempts from downtown over a two-minute stretch.

Another three from Boynton cut Florida’s deficit to four with 4:01 to play, but it was too late for the visitors as the home crowd and an energetic Vanderbilt team pulled away for the decisive victory.

The Gators outscored the Commodores 34-20 in the paint but could not match their host’s efforts from three. Florida also scored 17 points off of 12 forced turnovers and had 12 bench points, neither of which was enough to beat Vanderbilt in the end.

UF will look to put a halt to their two-game skid on Sunday when they host No. 1 Kentucky on Senior Day in Gainesville, FL. The game will air live on CBS at noon.[/EXPAND]