Florida Gators
Vanderbilt
Gator men regain SEC east lead 80-54 over Vandy
Sunday, February 10, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Matt Bonner scored 22 points to lead the Gator attack, followed by Udonis Haslem with 19. Brett Nelson, who went scoreless in the first half, scored the Gators' first five points of the second half and finished in double figures with 11.
The Gators jumped out to a 10-2 lead early in the first half, but Vandy came back to cut the deficit to 20-18 with 7:33 to go. The Gators outscored the Commodores 16-7 to lead 36-25 at the half. Justin Hamilton gave the Gators momentum with a three-pointer just before time ran out.
Nelson kept that momentum going in the second half with a trey and a followup steal and layup that began a 10-0 run and put the Gators ahead 41-25. Florida scored 16 of the first 17 points of the second half to open up a 52-26 lead.
"Sometimes when you get up (by 16) that early with that much time, you've got to keep playing," head coach Billy Donovan in said. "Sometimes you can lose focus a little bit, but I thought our guys did a pretty good job of remaining focused. We used our pressure in the second half to get some turnovers and some easy baskets."
Florida forced Vandy into a season-high 22 turnovers and held the Commodores to just 38 percent from the field and just 29 percent in the second half. Vandy managed just 3-of-15 shots from beyond the arc, its fewest three-pointers in a game this season.
The Gators now have won three in a row and coach Donovan traces his team's improved play to Nelson.
"He has been, and made, such an impact on our team by his shot selection and him sacrificing," Donovan said. "We've really become a lot better. He's not taking his 17, 20 shots a game. He's letting the game come to him."
Nelson was 4-of-10 from the field and made 3-of-6 three-point attempts to give him 200 three-pointers in his Gator career. He also had five of the Gators' 12 steals. Hamilton was a perfect four-for-four from three-point land for 12 points, all in the first half. He also dished out six assists and had two steals.
Matt Freije led the Commodores with 10 points.
The Gators improved to 18-4 overall. With Georgia losing to Auburn 75-72 earlier in the day, the Gators took over first place in the SEC East with a 7-3 record. Georgia is now 7-4.
"We've got probably the toughest six (SEC) games remaining of anybody in our league," Donovan said. "I look at it as a tremendous opportunity for our basketball team. Four of those games will be at Georgia, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Alabama."
The Gators, who swept the season series with Vandy for the first time since 1995, will have a showdown with No. 17 Georgia Tuesday, Feb. 12 in Athens. The game tips off at 9 p.m. ET.
