No. 24 Florida bounces back with win over Vanderbilt

What Happened

Florida junior guard Will Richard equaled his career high with five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 21 points to help pace the Gators to a 77-64 victory Saturday afternoon in their Southeastern Conference meeting against Vanderbilt at Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center. Junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. added 19 points, grad-forward Tyrese Samuel posted 15 points and six rebounds and backup freshman forward Alex Condon had eight points and nine boards, as UF won its eighth game over the last 10. The Commodores, with just two league wins, came into the game ranked near the bottom of the league in a slew of offensive and defensive categories and they didn’t improve any of them much, if at all. UF scored the game’s first five points, took an early eight-point lead, then withstood something of a drought before taking first double-digit edge at 23-13 at the 7:30 mark while Vandy was 11 of 13 field-goal tries. Florida led at halftime 35-20 after holding Vandy to 26-percent shooting and its lowest-scoring first period of the season. The margin went to 19 early in the second half, then down to 10 when the Commodores went on a run of five straight makes to close within 47-37 with just under 14 minutes to go. Five minutes later, the Gators were up by 22 on the way to shooting 54 percent in the second half. Vandy scored the game’s last seven points after UF emptied its bench, with the subs commiting four turnovers over the last two minutes.

What it Means

The Gators protected their home floor for the ninth consecutive game, improving to 12-1 at the O’Dome this season and guaranteeing no worse than a .500 record in SEC play for the ninth consecutive season. By days end, UF will remain no worse than in fifth place in the SEC standings, but could (pending results around the league) find itself in a tie for fourth place. That would be an enviable spot, considering the top four teams at season’s end get double byes in the SEC Tournament bracket.

In the Spotlight

Richard came into the game shooting 28.4 percent from the 3-point line in SEC play. He went 5-for-9 from the arc to go with four rebounds and three assists. If the Gators can get him back to anywhere near his career average of 35.0 percent from distance a really good offense could get even better.

Staggering Statistic

Clayton, with his 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 3-for-7 from deep, fell a single point shy of becoming the first Florida player since Dwayne Schintzius in 1989 to score at least 20 points in five consecutive games. That’s a long time, with a lot of good players having coming through here. Meanwhile, UF grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin finished with just two points (his first non-double figure outing of the season, but had six assists and just one turnover. Oh, and he was also a plus-25 in the box score, the highest plus/minus by a Gator in SEC play this season.

Up Next

Florida (19-8, 9-5) is back home Wednesday night for a second consecutive game a SEC cellar-dweller, this time against last-place and still-winless-in-the-league Missouri (8-19, 0-14), which got drummed at Arkansas 88-73 earlier Saturday.