Jones, Vandy Manhandle Gators

Tuesday, February 23

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt 7-foot center Damian Jones throws down on UF's Dorian Fiiney-Smith for two of his 27 points.

Jones, Vandy Manhandle Gators

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

The loss was UF's third in four games and made the Gators' NCAA Tournament chances all the more precarious.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Josh Henderson, a backup 7-foot center for Vanderbilt who plays about 11 minutes a game, grabbed the ball from the air with about three seconds left in the first half, then wheeled and launched it from the free-throw line.

Eighty feet later, it fell through the rim at the buzzer.

Yeah, it was that kind of night for Vandy. That kind of night for the Florida Gators, too.

"It was a bogus play," UF forward Devin Robinson said. "It happens in basketball."

Something that hasn't happened in Florida basketball for a long, long time played out for the balance of Tuesday night's 87-74 loss before 9,035 at the O'Connell Center. The Gators surrendered their most points in five years -- since a 104-91 double-overtime win at Georgia on Jan. 25, 2011, a run of 191 games -- as Commodores 7-foot center Damian Jones absolutely feasted (and beasted) on the home team on his way to a career-high 27 points on 12-for-13 shooting. Guard Jeff Roberson had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while guard Matthew Fisher-Davis went 4-for-8 from 3.

Vandy, in utter desperation mode relative to its NCAA Tournament hopes, shot 57.7 percent from the floor and bombed in 10 of 20 from the 3-point line to surge ahead of UF in the Southeastern Conference standings. The Commodores also won at the O'Dome for the first time since 2010.

The Gators (17-11, 8-7), with two straight losses and three in the last four games, have now played themselves into a precarious position as far the projected NCAA bracket goes. They may have even swapped places with the "bubbling" Commodores (17-11, 9-6), who could be tied for second in the league pending Wednesday night outcomes. UF, meanwhile, sits in a two-way tie with Ole Miss for sixth place, but with two of its three remaining games against opponents above in the standings, starting Saturday at LSU.

"We need to focus and fix some things," Florida junior forward Justin Leon said.

Leon led the Gators with 15 points and sophomore center John Egbunu had 14 more to go with four rebounds all the while dealing with Jones. Devin Robinson came off the bench to score 11 points.

Notice anyone missing?

UF's two leading scorers, senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith and freshman guard KeVaughn Allen, combined for just 10 points on 1-for-14 shooting (with Allen missing all seven of his field goals). Vandy keyed on both players by extending its defense and daring other Gators to do damage.Florida finished at 40 percent for the game (not bad by its inconsistent standards), but went just 5-for-19 from the arc. The Gators only turned it over seven times, but there was never a sense they were going to seize control of the game.

"The two guys we count on scoring the most, obviously, had rough nights," Gators coach Mike White said. "In their defense, Vanderbilt's defense had a lot to do with that."

Vanderbilt never trailed, scoring the game's first six points and setting a tone by challenging -- successfully -- the Florida defense with hard-line drives to the basket. Jones was 7-for-8 in the first half, scoring on dunks, driving layups and even soft bankshots on the block. He wasn't the only one, as the Commodores hit nearly 55 percent for the period.

And yet, the Gators chopped away at the lead and actually had the ball with a chance to tie and the clock winding down in the half when Kasey Hill drove it, got the Vandy defense to collapse and bounced a perfect pass to backup center Schuyler Rimmer under the basket. The 6-10 Rimmer went up as 6-5 guard Matthew Fisher-Davis came with help defense from the baseline. Fisher-Davis not only challenged the 1-foot shot -- that would have tied the score -- but blocked it into Henderson's hands.

Then came the circus 3-pointer that is probably airing on SportsCenter at this very moment.

"Five-point swing," UF coach Mike White said. "Am I doing the math right?"

He was.

What should have been a 37-all game was 40-35, instead.

"We had a couple lucky plays," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, also referring to a banked-in 3 at the shot clock buzzer in the second half that Fisher-Davis threw in without even seeing the basket. "But we always tell our team that when you're the aggressor it's amazing how many of the times those balls go in."

The Commodores were definitely the aggressors all night long.

The Gators, despite never finding an answer for Jones, twice cut a margin that swelled to as much as 10 to two in the second half, the last time when Brandone Francis-Ramirez (7 points) cut back door for a layup to draw UF to 69-67 with 6:37 to play.

"They had everybody spreading out so they could get some ball screens," Jones aid. "It was working for them pretty well. It was hard to guard."

After the Francis-Ramirez bucket, the Florida defense got stops in each of the next three Vandy possessions.The Florida offense, however, failed to score on its next six possessions (seven of eight, actually), as the Commodores took the lead back out to double-digits.

"We tried to section out a couple people to go at, and it was working for us," Robinson said. "Then they started picking up what we were doing and it just stopped working. We stopped hitting shots and they finished the game."

Whether they finished Florida's NCAA Tournament hopes is question the Gators will answer.

Nothing bogus about that, either. It happens in basketball.