Florida Gators
Vanderbilt
Men's Basketball Falls Short At No. 19 Vanderbilt, 61-58
Saturday, February 16, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Freshman guard Nick Calathes (Casselberry, Fla.) and sophomore forward Dan Werner (Middletown, N.J.) missed potential game-tying 3-pointers in the final seconds as the University of Florida men's basketball team was edged by No. 19 Vanderbilt, 61-58, on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Gators (19-7, 6-5 SEC) have dropped four out of their last five games and were denied their 20th win of the season for the second straight contest. The Commodores (22-4, 7-4) maintained third place in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division standings with the win and remained unbeaten at home. Florida sits in fourth place in the division with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
Calathes and sophomore center Marreese Speights (St. Petersburg, Fla.) led the Gators in scoring with 11 points apiece. Junior guard Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) added 10 points, and freshman forward Alex Tyus (St. Louis, Mo.) chipped in seven points and a career-high nine rebounds in a season-best 25 minutes.
Vanderbilt, one of the league's premier perimeter teams, finished 8-of-27 behind the arc, which proved to be the difference in the game. Florida was held to a season-low 1-of-15 on 3-point attempts despite out-shooting the Commodores 39 percent to 38 percent from the field.
Werner provided a critical steal on an inbounds play in the game's waning minutes that allowed Calathes to convert on a lay-up and a free throw to tie the contest at 53 all. However, Hodge bumped into center A.J. Ogilvy and was called for a technical foul, Florida's fifth of the season.
Senior forward Shan Foster drained both free throws, and Calathes converted his to make it a 54-53 contest in favor of Vandy. Werner quickly responded with two of his seven points on the day to help the Gators regain a one-point advantage. The teams then traded a pair of free throws, but Vandy's Alex Gordon drew another foul through the lane with 0:24 left.
Gordon sank both from the charity stripe to give the Commodores a 59-58 margin. Calathes then committed a critical turnover as he was ruled for a backcourt violation that rewarded Vandy with the ball. Following a quick foul, Gordon buried two more free throws to stretch the deficit to 61-58 with 0:14 remaining.
Calathes missed a final 3-point attempt at the top of the key out of a timeout, and Werner, who recovered the offensive rebound, misfired on another beyond the arc as the final horn sounded in a game that featured 10 lead changes.
Foster finished with a game-high 19 points, and both Gordon and Ogilvy poured in 12 points.
Florida held a 26-25 lead at the half that quickly evaporated on an Ogilvy lay-up within the first 20 seconds of the second period. The Gators regained the lead on a dunk by Speights and a 3-pointer by Werner. After missing its first seven 3-point shots, Werner's bucket gave UF a 31-29 lead with 18:25 to go.
Neither team would hold more than a one-point lead over the next seven minutes until Vandy's shooters came alive. Foster came off the bench and scored the next eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to give the Commodores a 47-39 advantage with 10:37 left.
The deficit reached double digits in the ensuing minutes as Vandy held its biggest margin of 12 at the 7:17 point in the second half before the Gators responded with a 13-1 run to pull within striking distance.
UF trailed 6-0 at the start of the game and battled back to a tie culminating with a Hodge steal and fast-break lay-up before the first official timeout. The Gators took their first lead at the 12:40 mark on a jumper by Jai Lucas (Bellaire, Texas), and UF built a six-point advantage on a dunk by Speights and another steal and bucket by Hodge.
During the next four minutes, Vandy missed five straight 3-point attempts and turned it However, the Gators could not separate the score and the lead hovered at six points.
Leading 20-14 at the 6:39 mark in the first half, Florida was only able to connect for one field goal in the next five minutes on a lay-up by freshman Chandler Parsons (Casselberry, Fla.). Tyus had a dunk with 1:20 left, but the Commodores responded with a 3-pointer by Gordon and a jumper by Andre Walker to cut the Gator lead to one.
Florida looked to have taken a three-point advantage into the locker room after Calathes buried a shot with 0:34 left. In the final 10 seconds, Speights rejected Walker three feet from the basket, but Walker chased down the loose ball and converted a follow at the buzzer.
