1) Let's think about how Florida started Saturday's game. Exactech Arena was sold out. The Rowdies were rockin'. Everything was in place for an important bounce-back that the home team was favored by 13 points. But less than two minutes in, the Gators are down 8-0. Yes, they fought back. Yes, they even led by five at halftime and kept the cushion in that area (even took it out to seven) through the first 10 minutes of the second half before Vanderbilt began its comeback. But let's go back to those first two minutes of the first half. Vandy came in on a four-game losing streak, its collective confidence teetering, and now the Commodores were on the road to face, presumably, a blood-thirsty bunch opponent and its home crowd. Right? Yet, 30 seconds in, guard Matthew Fisher-Davis worked for short baby hook in the post. Then 7-foot-1 forward Luke Kornet rained in a 3-pointer. Timeout, Florida, at the 19:12 mark. The Gators proceeded to turn the ball over out of that timeout, give up an offensive rebound on the next Vandy possession, then watch point guard Riley LaChance capitalize with an open 3-pointer for some early second-chance points. To review: 101 seconds in, the Commodores' three best players — Fisher-Davis, Kornet and LaChance — had each scored and each had a nice little bounce to their games. They proceeded to each hit a trio of 3-pointers over the course of the game and we know the rest. A great opportunity went down the drain. Mike Whiteand his coaches thought they were seeing signs the last few weeks of some substance taking shape with this team; maybe even some toughness that was absent from the squad last season. After this very bad home defeat to a sub-.500 team, the UF coaches aren't quite sure what to think now.
2) White pointed a finger at himself during his post-game media session, saying he should have called a timeout when play was stopped with seven seconds left and UF had an inbounds situation on its baseline. He knew what play he wanted — the ball inbounded to hot-handed guard KeVaughn Allen (29 points) in the corner — and thought, if things didn't look good, he'd yell to his players to call one in the final seconds. When Allen got the ball, Fisher-Davis was on him, but there certainly was enough of a crease on the baseline for Allen to drive and maybe draw a foul. He didn't. Instead, he rose up quickly and shot a fall-away 3-pointer. The Commodores easily got the rebound and dribbled out the clock. A couple missed opportunities there.
3) In the eyes of the folks who look at postseason resumes, this was a "bad" loss for the Florida. Its first one of the season. The Gators began the day at No. 3 in the Ratings Percentage Index, compared to Vandy at No. 77. UF, though, fell just eight spots and will enter a very big week of two road games at No. 10 or thereabouts, outcomes around the nation pending. There are no bubble-busters in January, just like there are no locks for the tournament, either. You'd think the Gators would have learned some lessons the last couple years about being on high alert, especially against teams they're expected to beat. Another one of those games is coming up Wednesday night at LSU (9-9, 1-6), a team with just three Top 100 RPI wins (Houston, Texas Southern and College of Charleston) and currently on a five-game losing skid. The Tigers rank near the bottom of virtually every SEC defensive category. They can, however, score the ball, and the Gators have been pretty indiscriminate with their defensive generosity in SEC play (for more on that, read on). It's a game Florida has to win.
Billy DonovanTHUNDER UP THURSDAY
Speaking of this week's two-game road trip, the Gators will also head to Oklahoma to face the Sooners in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. The team isn't coming home between games.
Instead, Florida will stay over Wednesday night in Baton Rouge, La., then leave the next morning for Norman, Okla. That night, the Gators will bus 40 minutes north on Interstate-35 and catch up with an old friend. A couple, actually. That's right, the entire UF team will call on Billy Donovan (oh, and Russell Westbrook) when the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Dallas Mavericks (oh, and former Florida star Dorian Finney-Smith) Thursday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
How much time Donovan and his old team will be able to spend with another is uncertain. Both do have games to think about.
CHARTING THE GATORS
Obviously, the 0-for-17 debacle Wednesday night at South Carolina was the worst 3-point shooting by a UF team since the introduction of the line for the 1986-87. Can't do worse than zero percent, right? You can, however, tie it. Eight times over the last 30 years, the Gators are been skunked from distance, though this marked the first time since 1992 and a run of 850 games without at least one converted 3-ball. A search through the archives found that over the 31 seasons of 3-point hoops, the Gators have shot 10 percent or less 21 times. They actually have gone 10-11 in those games, all of which are listed below. The one at the bottom is still mystifying (and likely still stings a little).
Pct.
Opponent
Date
Att-Made
Outcome
.000
@South Carolina
1/18/17
0-for-17
L 57-53
Charleston Southern
12/4/91
0-for-7
W 57-52
@Kentucky
1/11/92
0-for-6
L 81-60
Illinois
12/5/89
0-for-4
L 74-69
@Tennessee
1/23/88
0-for-3
W 76-56
Ole Miss
2/5/89
0-for-3
W 78-67
@Ole Miss
1/2/90
0-for-2
L 75-60
vs Georgia Tech
11/23/87
0-for-2
W 83-69
.063
Southern Utah
11/20/08
1-for-16
W 64-50
vs Florida State
12/16/95
1-for-16
L 74-52
.067
@Vanderbilt
2/16/08
1-for-15
L 61-58
.071
LSU
2/5/92
1-for-14
L 70-50
.077
Florida State
12/12/87
1-for-13
W 71-48
vs Colorado State (NCAA Tournament)
3/17/89
1-for-13
L 68-46
@Ole Miss
2/20/10
1-for-13
W 64-61
Stetson
11/15/09
1-for-13
W 74-46
.083
@Miami
12/8/15
1-for-12
L 66-55
Bethune-Cookman
11/25/96
1-for-12
W 68-59
Ole Miss
2/3/90
1-for-12
L 83-63
.091
Jacksonville
12/2/92
1-for-11
W 80-77
.100
Connecticut (Final Four)
4/5/14
1-for-10
L 63-53
UF ALUM UPDATE
CATCHING UP WITH ... DEVON WALKER
Troy forward Devon Walker (25) skies for one of his team-high nine rebounds in a win earlier this season at Hawaii.
DeVon Walker was part of a four-man 2012 freshman class that saw none of the players last the duration. Guard Braxton Ogbueze transferred to Charlotte after one season. Guard Dillon Graham bolted midway through the 2013-14 season. Michael Frazier III made an early run at the NBA in 2015, but went undrafted and is now playing overseas.
Walker, though, is doing very nicely since heading to Troy University as a graduate transfer last summer. The 6-foot-6 Walker swingman played sparingly over his three UF seasons, averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds while appearing in 85 games, including 11 starts. Along the way, Walker saw some quality minutes during Florida's '13-14 Final Four campaign, but ultimately there wasn't going to be enough playing time.
So off he went to Troy, Ala., with UF degree in hand. Walker has started all 20 games for the Trojans, who are 10-10. He's averaging 7.8 points and team-best 6.6 rebounds, while shooting 48.2 percent from the floor, a far cry from his 26.3 percent as a Gator. He had nine points and nine rebounds in loss on the road against a very good Southern Cal team and opened his Sun Belt Conference career with 14 points and 15 rebounds in a 76-75 loss to rival South Alabama.
With the exception of the South Carolina game, when the Gators defended at 29-percent rate. Make that five of the previous six SEC games that opponents have shot at least 46 percent. Those are unsustainable defensive numbers. The team knows that.
@GatorsChris 4 or 5 games in a row now. Doesn't matter who is playing defense.
Everyone in the basketball building would take that right now, but when you lose at home to an 8-10 team there can be no assumptions made relative to future victories, home or certainly on the road.
Gators aren't playing well, but said all along 13-5 in SEC plus a win at Oklahoma and they would be fine. That would mean 23-8 reg season.
Kasey Hill
Through the first six SEC games, the Florida bench was averaging 32.1 points and had a plus-97 advantage over opposing teams. Against Vandy, the UF reverses were outscored 10-8, with Canyon Barry getting six of and Kevarrius Hayes the other two. For the second game in a row, redshirt freshman forward Keith Stonewas scoreless. The two games before that, Stone went for 14 and a career-best 17, respectively. If that sounds inconsistent, it's consistent with how some starters have performed of late. ... Vanderbilt jumped from 77th to 58th in RPI by virtue of beating UF on the road. It marked just the third win by an SEC team over an RPI Top 25 this season: Kentucky over North Carolina, plus South Carolina and Vandy victories this week over Florida. ... Against Vandy, junior center John Egbunu had six points, six rebounds and six turnovers. The give-aways usually came went attempting to dribble. He's most effective when he defends and let's offense find him. ... White fell to 0-3 against the Commodores. ... Against South Carolina, senior point guard Kasey Hill moved past Nick Calathes and into sole possession of fourth place on UF's all-time assist chart. With seven against the Commodores, he now has 461 and needs 33 to overtake Eddie Shannon for No. 3 on the list. Hill also had a pair of steals in the game Saturday and jumped into 10th place on the UF career list in that category with 160. With eight more, he can climb past Kenyan Weaks, Justin Hamilton, Andrew Moten and Scottie Wilbekin to No. 6. ... The loss to Vandy was a second straight at home for the Gators in the series. The Commodores had not won two in a row in Gainesville since the 1990 and '91 seasons, a run of 24 games. If that sounds long, it's not the longest such streak for the Gators against an SEC team. UF has not dropped back-to-back games against Mississippi State since the losing both games of a double-header in 1937. The two next met in Gainesville in 1947 and the Bulldogs, while winning 10 along the way, have not gone back-to-back on the road against the Gators over those 70 years.
"Thank You, Gator Nation!" | Urban and Shelley Meyer Reflect On Their Time In The Swamp."Thank You, Gator Nation!" | Urban and Shelley Meyer Reflect On Their Time In The Swamp.
Friday, November 21
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Wednesday, November 19
Florida Baseball | Orange & Blue Series RecapFlorida Baseball | Orange & Blue Series Recap
1) Let's think about how Florida started Saturday's game. Exactech Arena was sold out. The Rowdies were rockin'. Everything was in place for an important bounce-back that the home team was favored by 13 points. But less than two minutes in, the Gators are down 8-0. Yes, they fought back. Yes, they even led by five at halftime and kept the cushion in that area (even took it out to seven) through the first 10 minutes of the second half before Vanderbilt began its comeback. But let's go back to those first two minutes of the first half. Vandy came in on a four-game losing streak, its collective confidence teetering, and now the Commodores were on the road to face, presumably, a blood-thirsty bunch opponent and its home crowd. Right? Yet, 30 seconds in, guard Matthew Fisher-Davis worked for short baby hook in the post. Then 7-foot-1 forward Luke Kornet rained in a 3-pointer. Timeout, Florida, at the 19:12 mark. The Gators proceeded to turn the ball over out of that timeout, give up an offensive rebound on the next Vandy possession, then watch point guard Riley LaChance capitalize with an open 3-pointer for some early second-chance points. To review: 101 seconds in, the Commodores' three best players — Fisher-Davis, Kornet and LaChance — had each scored and each had a nice little bounce to their games. They proceeded to each hit a trio of 3-pointers over the course of the game and we know the rest. A great opportunity went down the drain. Mike White and his coaches thought they were seeing signs the last few weeks of some substance taking shape with this team; maybe even some toughness that was absent from the squad last season. After this very bad home defeat to a sub-.500 team, the UF coaches aren't quite sure what to think now. 
