GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- As if playing a rugged Southeastern Conference opponent on about 36 hours rest wasn't trying enough, the Florida Gators had three starters, including both front-court players, on the bench late in the first half Saturday against Vanderbilt and were forced to roll out a rather unconventional lineup.
Try 6-foot-2 Scottie Wilbekin at the power forward spot.
“Sometimes it just takes guts,” senior point guard Erving Walker said.
Both UF and Vandy showed plenty, but in the end it was the 12th-ranked Gators who dug deep and made the plays down the stretch, including a perfect 14-of-14 from the free-throw line in the second half, to hold off the 25th-ranked Commodores for a 73-65 victory in front of 11,270 at the O'Connell Center.
Junior guard Kenny Boynton scored 18 points and freshman swingman Bradley Beal shook off a 1-for-5 start to make all but one of his six second-half shots on the way to 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Walker threw in 11 points and five assists, with junior guard Mike Rosario (who also did some minutes at power forward) pitching in 10 first-half points off the bench.
All those numbers helped the Gators (19-4, 7-1) win a seventh straight -- as well as their 19th in a row at the O'Dome -- but it was UF's defensive energy, particularly in the fullcourt press, that triggered a key second-half spurt. Forward Will Yeguete, positioned at the top of the press, was his usual disruptive and discombobulating self, tipping balls, harassing ball-handlers and making life miserable for the Commodores, who turned it over 17 times.
“I just feel like any time during the game we're going to make a run at some time,” said Yeguete, who had eight rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot off the bench. “Our press today helped us make that run.”
Vanderbilt (16-7, 5-3), which lost its second straight and fell two games behind Florida for second place in the SEC standings, got a game-high 25 points from forward Jeffrey Taylor, but Florida's ability to make the pace chaotic prevented the Commodores from getting in their disciplined halfcourt sets. Without them, conference scoring leader John Jenkins, averaging 19.9 points per game, was held to just 15 points, his second-lowest output in SEC play this season.
“We didn't do a very good job of attacking their press, and it was disruptive,” Vandy coach Kevin Stallings said. “We did a poor job with our spacing and our ball-handling and it caused problems.”
UF had its share of problems in the first half. Center Patric Young, starting for the first time in six games, got his second foul early and played only three first-half minutes. Forward Erik Murphy got his second around the 8-minute mark and Beal his with just over five minutes to go. At one point, the 6-6 Yeguete was the tallest player on the court, surrounded by Wilbekin and Rosario at forward, and Boynton and Casey Prather at guard.
Not long after that, Florida's 10-point lead began withering away as the Commodores closed out the half by cutting the margin to three points, 37-34.
Walker opened the second with a 3-pointer, but Vandy went on a 9-0 blitz and three times scored to hold leads of three points. That was when Beal came to life, scoring eight of the next 10 points, as the Gators -- unfolding their full-court pressure -- reeled off 12 straight to take a 58-49 lead with just over nine minutes remaining.
“I thought the press at least got the game going up and down, and got it going to a style that was probably more conducive to us,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “And I think because there were so many runs going back and forth by both teams, it was almost who dominated the style of play [at that time]. When it got slowed and got stagnate in the half-court, it was probably in their favor. When it got up and down, it was probably in our favor.”
Two free throws from 6-11, 250-pound center Festus Ezeli (11 points) made the score 66-62 with 1:32 to play. The Gators ran precious seconds off the clock on the ensuing possession, with Walker driving to the lane as the shot clock wound down, firing a pass from beneath the basket back out to Boynton, who nailed a trey to push the lead to seven with 58 seconds to go. Safe, right?
Taylor nailed a three at Vandy's end nine seconds later. Timeout, Vandy.
Two free throws from Beal with 38.6 seconds padded the lead back to six. In Vanderbilt's halfcourt, the Gators sent a trap at point guard Brad Tinsley near the top of the key. Tinsley facing right, wheeled to his right and fired a nearly blind pass for Jenkins on the left side of the court -- but the pass left Tinsley's hands just as Jenkins took off on a back-door cut.
The ball sailed out of bounds with 29 seconds to go, almost hitting Stallings on the Vandy sidelines.
Boynton's two free throws iced the game. Florida finished 16-of-17 from the line (94.1 percent), helping survive a second straight game of less than 40-percent shooting from the floor. The Gators shot 37.3 percent in Thursday late-night win against South Carolina and just 38.3 against Vanderbilt.
But they both won, anyway.
And without a lot of time of time in between.
“I think throughout the whole season, we've shown we can bounce back when a team throws a punch at us,” Boynton said. “With a minute to go, Taylor hit that big shot. After that, it came down to free throws. We'd been struggling earlier in the year on free throws, but now, when it matters we're making them.”
Speaking of doing things when they matter, the Gators next will put their seven-game winning streak on the line -- and on the road -- by visiting No. 1-ranked Kentucky in an ESPN game Tuesday night at Rupp Arena, a place they haven't won since a couple guys named Noah and Horford and Brewer wore the orange and blue. At least they'll have almost three days to prepare for that one.
And a few hours to savor a pretty good one Saturday.
“We needed that,” Beal said. “We were tired ... but we hung in and fought.”
