Photo: Scott MacCord/UAA Communications
At the Buzzer: Florida 71, Vanderbilt 55 (Instant Breakdown)
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
FLORIDA 71, VANDERBILT 55
FLORIDA 71, VANDERBILT 55
WHAT HAPPENED: Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard had another near-perfect shooting night on the Southeastern Conference road on his way to a game-high 19 points, as the Gators mopped Memorial Coliseum with the host Commodores for their most lopsided win in the Music City in 10 years. Nembhard finished 7-for-8 from the floor, hit all three of his 3-point attempts and had three rebounds, plus two assists in 37 minutes. Reserve guard Jalen Hudson scored a season-high 17 points and senior center Kevarrius Hayes also had a season-high with 14 points on 4-for-4 from the floor to go with four rebounds. Florida now has a five-game SEC winning streak that matches its longest since 2017, as well as its first road win in the series since 2014. Nembhard hit the first basket of the game, a 3-pointer, and the Gators never trailed. They incrementally padded the margin, with a 3-ball and run-out fast-break slam from Hudson, followed by a 3 from freshman hard Noah Locke to make it a double-digit lead, at 20-8, that never got smaller than eight the rest of the half. The margin stood at a dozen at the break when Florida started the second period by scoring six of its first eight points and eventually pushed the lead to 18. The Commodores, though still winless deep into the conference season, were too proud to let things get too out of hand. They had a couple mini-runs left in them and trimmed the UF lead to as few as 10, at 56-46, with just under 10 minutes left. After a Florida timeout, though, Hayes accounted for all the points in a 6-0 run that made it a 16-point lead inside six minutes and the Gators finished the job from there. For the game, UF shot 48 percent, including 8-for-19 from deep (.421). The Gators limited the Commodores to 41 percent for the game, forced 14 turnovers and held freshman guard Aaron Nesmith, who ripped UF for a career-high 26 earlier this month in Gainesville, to just six points on 2-for-10 shooting, with his second field goal coming in the final minute.
WHAT IT MEANS: The five-game winning streak equals UF's longest in SEC play since reeling off eight straight midway/late into the 2016-17 season, and furthered the late-season quest for NCAA Tournament at-large consideration. With the victory, the Gators secured themselves no worse than a break-even record in conference play and pulled into a tie with South Carolina, Mississippi State and Ole Miss for fourth place in the league standings, which means a shot at a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament when the Gators come back to the Music City in two weeks. Florida also swept Vanderbilt in a regular-season series for the first time since 2011. My, how things have changed from earlier this month.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: With all due respect to Hayes, who is a tremendous leader on the floor and behind the scenes, this is turning into Nembhard's team. He runs the show. He sets the pace. And when the Gators have needed him to score of late, he's been wildly efficient.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: UF coach Mike White came into Memorial Gym with an all-time record of 0-9. Broken down: 0-2 as a player at Ole Miss, 0-4 as an assistant at Ole Miss and 0-3 as head guy at Florida. As for the Gators, it had been eight years since the they last beat the Commodores on the road by double digits. The last time was an 86-76 victory here on March 5, 2011. The final margin Wednesday made for the most lopsided road win at Memorial since a 94-69 blowout on Feb. 25, 2009 behind 27 points from Chandler Parsons.
UP NEXT: Florida (17-11, 9-6) is back home Saturday night with a chance to reach double-digit wins in conference play when the Gators face Georgia (10-18, 1-14), which lost at home to Auburn late Wednesday night. The game will be a second straight against an SEC cellar-dweller (the Bulldogs sit in next-to-last in the league standings, just ahead of Vandy), as well as the next-to-last home game for UF this season.
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