Commodores Sweep Gators from SEC Tournament in OT

Friday, March 10

Nashville, TN

7 PM

Florida Gators

Vanderbilt

KeVaughn Allen scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, but the Gators only scored four points in overtime in losing to the Commodores for a third time this season.

Commodores Sweep Gators from SEC Tournament in OT

Saturday, March 11, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery by Frederick Breedon

A late rally in regulation goes for naught as UF goes cold in overtime.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn — This time hurt even worse than the previous two. This time, Vanderbilt took its time — as in overtime — in turning back an emotionally charged rally by 17th-ranked Florida and tortured the Gators with their gut-wrenching defeat of the season.

The Commodores went a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor in overtime, hitting a couple dagger 3-point shots, and thus went a perfect 3-for-3 against UF this season in sweeping the second-seeded Gators from the Southeastern Conference Tournament with a 72-62 quarterfinal defeat just three miles from the Vandy campus at Bridgestone Arena.

Junior point guard Riley LaChance led all scorers with 18 points and accounted for half his team's 14 points after regulation by hitting an OT-opening jumper and a 3-pointer to go with and an assist to forward to Jeff Roberson, who finished with 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting and eight rebounds. UF, meanwhile, made just one of six shots in the extra period and turned the ball over twice.

For the Gators (24-8) the end result was a third loss over the previous four games — including back-to-back defeats against the Commodores (19-14) over the last six days — and put in serious question UF's hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament seeding in the regional pod at Orlando. It also was the third straight year Florida failed to reach the SEC Tournament semifinals, but the first time in nine scenarios since 2004 the Gators were eliminated from the quarterfinals as the higher seed.

"We had our opportunities that we just didn't take advantage of," UF coach Mike White said after falling to 0-5 in his two seasons against Vandy, the only SEC team he has yet to beat. " We struggled offensively against a Vanderbilt team that's really defending at a high level. And I thought that we defended them at a pretty high level ourselves."

Freshman forward Keith Stone scores on Vandy's Luke Kornet.

For much of the game, yes, but not enough to finally solve the puzzle that is the Commodores, a team that not only ranks first in the league in shooting 3-pointers and can make them from all five positions, but also has 7-foot-1 forward Luke Kornet, who can post in addition to setting up on the arc. Vandy worked the UF defense on both fronts, going 6-for-12 from distance to open a 33-28 halftime lead, but also getting Kornet (12 points, 10 rebounds in 44 minutes) on the block in mismatch situations via switches.

Commodores guard Matthew Fisher-Davis hit his third 3-ball with 5:28 remaining to push his team in front 54-47. A minute later, another jumper by Fisher-Davis, this one for two, made the score 57-49.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, and if only momentarily, the Gators found a spark from an offense that shot just 34.4 percent for the game and went 6-for-23 from the arc (26.6 percent).

First, guard Chris Chiozza sped up the floor before the Commodores could set their defense after the Fisher-Davis bucket and got a layup to make it a six-point game. After a timeout and forced turnover, UF forward Devin Robinson (11 points, 10 rebounds in 41 minutes) grabbed a long offensive rebound that led to his first 3-pointer of the night to make it a one-possession game.

And after Florida guard Kasey Hill (16 points) intercepted a LaChance pass, fellow guard KeVaughn Allen (16 points) swished a 3-point from the corner with 1:42 left to tie the game.

"They're prideful," White said. "These guys played really, really hard."

And they had chances to finish the game off in regulation. Both teams did.

At Vandy's end, Fisher-Davis missed a 3-ball, got the rebound and missed a second trey inside a minute to. UF's next possession ended with Robinson being fouled driving to the rim with 24 seconds left. He bounced the first free throw, but hit the second for a 58-57 lead.

With 11 seconds remaining, Kornet was off with a 3-pointer, but Roberson gathered the board, was fouled and made the second of two free throws. It was 58-58 with 9.7 seconds left when Vandy called a timeout to set its defense.

"It was the third time we've played them when it's been a one-possession game [at the end]," Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew said. "We wanted to stick to our defensive principles and make them earn a shot and not go over us."

Instead, the Gators tried to go through them.

The plan was for Hill to get a head of steam and attack the rim, preferably with Kornet, an All-SEC defender and outstanding rim-protector, being picked off in the high post.

"Space the floor. We've got one of the fastest guys in college basketball getting downhill," White said. "They actually picked him up a little bit higher than I thought, which was good for us. We were actually hoping we could set a high ball screen and space and pull Kornet out as far away from the basket as possible."

Hill shot through the defense, but Kornet was able to drop and contest the layup.

"It was good look," Hill said. "I just missed it."

Sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes, though, gathered the rebound and went up for the putback, but the ball was blocked by Commodores forward Joe Toye and time expired.

In overtime, UF opened with a bad possession that ended with a bad shot. Vandy opened with a jumper from LaChance. On the Gators' ensuing possession, Hill slipped and lost his dribble. The steal by LaChance set in a motion a transition opportunity that ended with a 3-pointer from Nolan Cressler, his only basket of the game.

From there, the Gators never challenged.

Less than three hours later, the UF team was on a flight back to Gainesville pondering an opportunity that slipped away and wondering where it'll be when the NCAA Tournament opens next week.

"I don't think we've lost any momentum," Allen said when asked about UF's late-season troubles. Hill responded the same way to the same question.

White heard the answers and chimed in after the player had left the post-game podium.

"I disagree with my guys," he said. "We obviously have lost momentum."

The next few days will be about finding it again.