Redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Stokes baby-hooks a bucket on his way to eight first-half points in the win Wednesday night over Vanderbilt at the O'Dome.
UF Reserves to the Rescue in Win over Vandy
Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Their two leading scorers missed 17 of 19 shots and the starting point guard was limited to just 16 minutes due to foul trouble.
The Florida Gators' backups came to the rescue Wednesday night.
All of them.
Forward Isaiah Stokes eclipsed his entire Southeastern Conference scoring total with a career-high eight points, all in the first half. Guard Deaundrae Ballard hit a 3. Guard Mike Okauru, scoreless over the previous six games, went for five points, including a timely 3-ball in the second half. Dontay Bassett scraped for 18 minutes while UF's senior center was saddled with fouls. And Jalen Hudson, the fifth-year senior, scored seven of his 10 points in succession over a pivotal second-half stretch when Florida took command of its Southeastern Conference game against Vanderbilt and eventually finished off a 66-57 win at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
All 10 UF players scored, as the Gators' reserves did a 29-7 number on the Commodores' backups, Florida (13-11, 5-6) snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in two weeks. That it happened against Vandy (9-15, 0-11), the only team still winless in SEC play, mattered not to a team that had dropped four of the previous five and needed something to positive to happen.
Yes, this counted.
"Odd that you win the game with your two leading scorers — who have really carried you in league play offensively — they go 2-for-19," UF coach Mike White said in reference to senior KeVaughn Allen and freshman Noah Locke, who came into the game averaging a collective 30.7 points against SEC competition, only to finish with nine. "You have to credit our bench. Our bench has struggled this year. They've been challenged daily and they were very good. We got contributions from a lot of guys in a game when we probably needed it the most. Hats off to those guys."
Freshman forward Keyontae Johnson, a starter, equaled his career-high with 15 points to go with nine rebounds, and a huge steal with two minutes to go — with UF ahead by just five — that led to two of his free throws, part of an 18-for-20 effort by the Gators from the line in the second half. Hudson was the only other UF player in double figures, as the team shot just 33.3 percent for the game and made only five of 22 from the 3-point line (22.7 percent).
"We needed everybody to do their part tonight," Hudson said.
UF coach Mike White said backup sophomore guard Mike Okauru might have played his best game of the season in scoring five points, with an assist and steal in 13 minutes, his most action in 11 games.
Vandy got a spectacular effort from freshman guard Aaron Nesmith, who had a game-high 26 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes. Nesmith was six of 13 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the free-throw line, but the remaining eight Commodores were 12-for-40 shooting and accounted for just 31 points.
"I know it wasn't a pretty game to watch," Commodores coach Bryce Drew said. "But I thought both teams competed at a really high level."
Florida led 18-7 when Nembhard joined senior center Kevarrius Hayes on the bench with a second foul. The Commodores later used a run of 10 straight points to tie the game, and Nesmith's 4-point play pushed Vandy up by five (part of a 23-7 run) inside of two minutes to go in the first period. UF, though, kept things manageable, with Stokes putting in a layup at the buzzer, as the Gators went to the locker room down 33-31.
"You have to seize the opportunity when it comes," Stokes said. "We stayed the course."
The Gators started the second half with 3s from Johnson and Andrew Nembhard, then a driving pull-up jumper from Nembhard (9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers) to go up by six and force a timeout by Vanderbilt three minutes into the period. The Commodores shook off the spree and kept the margin between one and four points over the next seven minutes when Okauru spotted up in the right corner and swished a transition 3-ball for a 48-42 advantage with just over nine minutes left.
The lead was 48-46 inside six minutes when a Hudson free throw started a 7-1 Florida run during which he accounted for all his team's points, five of them on free throws. His lone field goal in the spurt, a driving floater, put the Gators ahead by, 55-47, with 3:47 to go.
The margin was five with just over two minutes remaining and Vandy with the ball and a chance to make it a one-possession game. That's when Johnson came up with his big steal. His two free throws with 2:05 left, plus two more with 37.7 left — Johnson finished 6-for-6 from the line — helped ice the victory.
"We got stops down the stretch," White said.
Which too often hasn't been the case this season.
"This was important," Johnson said. "We had great practices all week, with great energy, and we tried to carry it over to the game by just competing as a team and having fun."
This was fun. The most the Gators have had in two weeks.
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